Systems Alliance, views staffing services. needs. “We service the client relation- report slim pickings and huge demand
“When you look at the value proposi- ship through its life cycle,” Neikirk for specialists in areas such as Micro-
tion of staffing, it’s a way to maintain a said. soft’s SharePoint and Cisco voice and
high-value relationship with the client Demand for full-time placements networking products, storage engi-
month in and month out,” Hughes has spiked during the past 12 months, neers, and system administrators with
said. “Sooner or later, they’re going according to Neikirk. MRE has found Microsoft and Unix backgrounds.
to have staffing requirements, and I that businesses with maturing IT With years of recruiting experi-
want Systems Alliance to be the first shops want experienced profession- ence and a robust database of con-
company they call.” als on staff. At the same time, the tacts, Beckett said she believes ITG’s
Today, Systems Alliance recruiting arm differentiates
offers IT services primarily to ‘For us, staffing is the company from the com-
midmarket businesses and has petition. “We also have vast
two regional offices, in Alabama about growing resources at our fingertips to
and North Carolina, in addition the business and help the channel find talent,”
to a Maryland location. Inter- she said.
estingly enough, the company maintaining our However, like every other
started in 1993 as a staffing IT staffing company, ITG is
organization placing IT pro- client base.’ spending more time engaged
fessionals; eventually acquired in active and passive recruit-
a software company; and, in JOHN SARZOZA
PRESIDENT, MNIT CONSULTING ing, spreading as wide a net
2003, after identifying gaps in as possible in its search for IT
the IT services marketplace, professionals.
positioned itself as an IT consulting recruiter said more job candidates are The shortage of IT talent means
company for midsize businesses. choosing full-time permanent posi- these companies must also set realistic
Staffing has accounted for almost tions over consulting gigs. expectations for their clients about
25 percent of the company’s annual “Five years ago, we had hundreds of what they can and can’t do. “We know
revenue for the past three years. “In résumés in our database, but now it’s that many of our clients are using mul-
the past, that figure was higher, but down to a crawl,” Neikirk said. tiple sources for filling IT positions,”
our professional services business has ITG’s Beckett reported that the aver- MRE’s Neikirk said.
grown,” Hughes said. age job candidate is in the market Given the gyrations of the economy,
for about a week, is presented with as well as the ups and downs of IT
Balancing act 70 opportunities and receives seven staffing and technology spending,
as advantageous as it may be to job offers. offering a combination of IT services,
have a staffing service in addition to The channel accounts for about 40 consulting and staffing cushions many
IT consulting and infrastructure ser- percent of ITG’s recruiting business solution providers from the swings of
vices, in today’s tight IT labor market and has a different set of IT needs the marketplace.
just about everyone is struggling to from those of corporate IT positions, Ensynch’s Holmquist said he views
fill positions. which make up the other 60 percent of the combination of offerings as a three-
“Our staffing business grew 25 the company’s recruiting business. legged stool. “It’s a good hedge based
percent last year, but there’s a lot of Skill shortages inflicting the most on economic conditions,” he said.
permanent placement business we pain in the reseller community involve With years of IT staffing under their
weren’t able to do because of the short- individuals knowledgeable on EMC’s belts, these IT solution providers are
age of qualified candidates,” said Dru VMware and CommVault’s storage certain their comprehensive business
Neikirk, managing partnerof technol- solutions, Cisco Systems certified strategies contribute to their over-ogy consulting and staffing at MRE CCIE and CCNP engineers, Micro- all success, both financially and in
Consulting. soft MCSE and MCSA engineers, and the relationships they’ve been able to
MRE specializes in the energy sec- SharePoint specialists. The channel is develop with their clients.
tor and is no newcomer to the staffing also recruiting for positions in sales,
business. A $30 million IT consultancy system administration, security and Lynn Haber is a freelance writer in
started in 1994, the company positions storage engineering. Norwell, Mass. She can be reached at
itself as a resource for all its clients’ IT On the corporate side, recruiters lthaber@comcast.net.
