An industry recruitment consultant says that companies within the printing and packaging industries need smart strategies for attracting and retaining good staff.
Viv Poppelwell, director at VPR recruitment, says a multi-industry skilled labour shortage looms for the country and managers need to take a longer term view in their hiring decisions and they need greater flexibility in terms of who they hire, especially in the area of sales. She says, “The expectation of the industry that it will be supplied by fully trained, ready to go employees is not realistic. For instance, when people move from one company to another within the industry, they often face a restraint of trade restriction, which means they are severely hampered in bring in new clients immediately.”
She says employers should be looking at good sales people in related industries; young people who have a wide range of contacts, for instance, and who are enthusiastic and creative in the way they approach business. She says, “While I understand that ‘restraint of trade’ restrictions are necessary sometimes, it does mean that a new sales person within the industry cannot be expected to pull in the equivalent of their salary within a short time frame. If companies were prepared to take on someone who is very capable in sales, but just not within the printing industry and invest in a bit of technical training, they could hugely widen their customer base by utilizing that person’s extensive contact reach.”
She adds that companies need to deal with a range of issues such as advances in technology. She says, “Employers need to recognise the importance of social media and those who are internet savvy. It’s a whole new way to do business that companies need to tap into. We should be pulling in those people.” “It is unrealistic to expect a return on investment in terms of new business within 12 months. Cold calling can be very disheartening for new staff if they are unable to follow up existing clients or bring business over with them.”
Salary and wage disparity counts as another issue for the industry. Poppelwell has seen wages falling behind other industries in some sectors. She says, “It’s an industry wide problem along with the perception that printing is not a technically exciting industry to work in. Collectively the industry needs to change that image because print is still very much needed, for instance, in the arena of direct mail marketing.”
Andrew Tribute
