Pickings Lush In Hiring Field

Their rationale: They can choose from the best pool of potential talent available in a long time.

"Now's the time you should add quality people," said Michael Fanelli, western regional manager at solution provider Sales Strategies, Metuchen, N.J. "Sure, business is slow. But it's time to prepare for when business starts to come back."

Fanelli, who has hired five people in the past six weeks, said his customers are using technology to cut personnel costs and their equipment is wearing out.

MSI Systems Integrators, Omaha, Neb., just hired new sales representatives in Kansas, Missouri and Wisconsin, said Joe Wurtz, vice president of the solution provider's eServer division.

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MSI recently posted an opening for a customer service representative and received resumes from sales managers, operations managers, project managers and other overqualified applicants, Wurtz said. "Nine months ago, we maybe got one or two hits and were scraping the bottom of the barrel. This time, we got 100 to 200 hits and wound up with a great person."

Stephen Allen, president of Integrated Technology Systems, a New York-based solution provider, said he is investing in good salespeople to boost his company's chances of inking deals. In the current environment, a request for proposal (RFP) process might average 30 to 60 days, as customers spend more time considering proposals before buying, he said. "So I found the best way as a VAR to increase business is to increase the number of RFPs out there."

Not every solution provider is eager to add to the payroll. Hope Hayes, president of Alliance Technology Group, said although the Hanover, Md.-based solution provider's sales expectations are strong for 2002, it is not actively hiring.

Still, Hayes said she won't turn away a really good applicant. "If the right person comes by, we'll hire."