ISP - July/August 2013 - 6

busIness
ManageMent

recruiting and retaining
staff gets specialized
rock laManna
LaManna Alliance

Why do people complain about a lack of
jobs in America? If you talk to anyone in
the world of industrial printing, the real
issue is the lack of talent. Finding and
retaining top personnel, from management
to sales to operations, has become a tall
order. It may not be of much comfort, but
other skilled industries are experiencing
similar shortages.
According to a 2011 survey by the
Manpower Group, one in three employers globally (34%) experienced difficulty
filling positions due to a lack of available
talent. That number may be even higher
in a specialized industry such as industrial
printing. Finding people who understand
the world of membrane switches, specialty
printing, RFID, OLEDs, photovoltaics, and sensors isn’t easy. When last

we checked, these topics aren’t featured
prominently on most college and techschool syllabi.
Instead, you have an industry that
largely develops and trains its own personnel. With such a limited talent base,
recruiting and retaining is exceedingly difficult. To provide you with some strategies
for competing in today’s business environment, we tapped into the thoughts of
three top business strategists, both inside
and outside the industry.
the bIg challenge: It’s not you, It’s Me
Wouldn’t it be nice to run a classified ad
in the Sunday paper for a million-dollar
sales producer with a solid understanding
of exactly what you do and the markets
you sell to? That’s basically a fantasy, but

our sources:
MIchael brenk

Michael is the Managing Partner with Global Recruiters
of Clarendon Hills.

Jeff IgnatowskI

Jeff is the Director of Sales with the Emerald Corp.

doug wIck

doug is the president of Positioning Systems and
a certified Gazelles Business Consultant.

6 | IndustrIal + specIalt y prIntIng www.industrial-printing.net

many CEOs treat it like reality. They give
their HR department marching orders to
bring in the big gun, and then they return
to their business and wait for the results.
It’s the primary reason why many companies never land the big fish.
“Your HR department isn’t a good place
to start,” says Jeff Ignatowski, director of
sales with the Emerald Corp. “They don’t
have the breadth of knowledge or the
network of contacts to find a real skilled or
niche position.”
The sentiment is echoed by Michael
Brenk, managing partner with Global
Recruiters of Clarendon Hills. He notes
that a typical HR department is responsible for multiple tasks, such as employee
disputes, tax forms, hiring processes, and
much more. Strapped for time and without
the freedom to truly network within the
industry, they’re quite often relegated
to posting jobs on Monster.com and
searching through hundreds of unqualified resumes.
That’s not entirely the root cause of
the problem, however. Even in companies
where there are recruiting personnel, the
decision makers are truly the ones who
need to be intrinsically involved in the
process.
“HR departments don’t know where
the real pain is,” Brenk says. As a recruiter, he usually needs to spend several hours
with top management trying to pull out
the key attributes a company needs when
searching for a new hire. Before you even
get to the recruiting process, however,
it’s important to define your company as
much as you expect a recruit to define
him or herself.



ISP - July/August 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ISP - July/August 2013

ISP - July/August 2013
Contents
Editorial Response
Product Focus
Business Management
Printed Electronics
Quantum Dots: The Next Generation of Displays
Maintenance for Screen-Printing Presses
Perspectives on the Future of Flexible Displays
The Joy of Specs: A Discussion About Custom Systems for Industrial Applications
Printing Methods
Ad Index
Shop Tour
ISP - July/August 2013 - Intro
ISP - July/August 2013 - ISP - July/August 2013
ISP - July/August 2013 - Cover2
ISP - July/August 2013 - Contents
ISP - July/August 2013 - Editorial Response
ISP - July/August 2013 - 3
ISP - July/August 2013 - Product Focus
ISP - July/August 2013 - 5
ISP - July/August 2013 - Business Management
ISP - July/August 2013 - 7
ISP - July/August 2013 - 8
ISP - July/August 2013 - Printed Electronics
ISP - July/August 2013 - 10
ISP - July/August 2013 - 11
ISP - July/August 2013 - Quantum Dots: The Next Generation of Displays
ISP - July/August 2013 - 13
ISP - July/August 2013 - 14
ISP - July/August 2013 - 15
ISP - July/August 2013 - Maintenance for Screen-Printing Presses
ISP - July/August 2013 - 17
ISP - July/August 2013 - 18
ISP - July/August 2013 - 19
ISP - July/August 2013 - Perspectives on the Future of Flexible Displays
ISP - July/August 2013 - 21
ISP - July/August 2013 - 22
ISP - July/August 2013 - 23
ISP - July/August 2013 - The Joy of Specs: A Discussion About Custom Systems for Industrial Applications
ISP - July/August 2013 - 25
ISP - July/August 2013 - 26
ISP - July/August 2013 - 27
ISP - July/August 2013 - Printing Methods
ISP - July/August 2013 - 29
ISP - July/August 2013 - 30
ISP - July/August 2013 - Ad Index
ISP - July/August 2013 - Shop Tour
ISP - July/August 2013 - Cover3
ISP - July/August 2013 - Cover4
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com