Why Disgruntled Lawyers Might Make the Best Solution Providers

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Hiring employees is quite possibly the most challenging part of building and running a successful business. That is as much the case for solution provider companies as any other businesses. So where does the channel look for new talent?

Dell’s Frank Vitagliano said it’s not a matter of not having the talent available, but actually finding it and attracting it to the channel. He said the problem is informing young, smart people about job opportunities in the channel.

’There’s a lot of smart people today, in school, that will be coming out,’ he said. ’They’re not coming out thinking, ’I’m going to go work for a VAR. I’m going to go work for a solution provider.’ Because 95 percent of them don’t even know what they do.’

Cisco has taken the approach of training partner salespeople alongside their own employees.

’One of the things that we have done that’s been very successful is that we have a program that takes kids out of the university and trains them for two years,’ said Cisco’s Bruce Klein. ’We took that program, shortened it down, and created a partner sales academy.’

IBM's Tami Duncan said one solution provider she works with has found an interesting pool of candidates. ’They’re hiring disgruntled lawyers,’ she said. ’They’re hiring kids who went through law school, who are bright, aggressive, articulate, and absorb information very well.’

PUBLISHED SEPT. 25, 2014