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Staff turnover in the channel tends to be far higher than in other sectors

Staff recruitment is one of the few constants in the channel. But getting the right person for the job, not just on paper but in terms of personality as well, can often prove more difficult than you might think.

Not only is there the ongoing hassle from all those recruitment companies pummelling you with candidates whether suitable or not (which leads me to wonder: are recruitment consultants the new estate agents?), but you have to find the time for interviewing and then make the final decision.

According to a study from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), it takes on average more than nine weeks to fill a position. If you consider that most staff have a notice period of just four weeks, an awful lot of questions from partners and sales phone calls go unanswered in that interim five-week period.

This doesn't even figure in the near £7,000 it costs to replace a manager, or the fact that 62 per cent of respondents to the CIPD study said they find high staff turnover has a negative effect on a business.

Staff turnover in the channel tends to be far higher than in other sectors. This could be down to the fact that the channel is faster-paced than many other markets, with outside forces often having an impact on channel players' businesses.

It could also be down to the levels of expectation in the higher echelons of management, or the fact that promotion and career development has risen on people's agenda and company loyalty has fallen.

This week it emerged that Roger Lavenhagen, Trend Micro's UK managing director, has left the company after about 18 months, while Clive Sawkins, UK managing director of Avaya, has departed, defecting, it is rumoured, to a major rival. He has already been replaced by Buddie Ceronie, formerly of 3Com.

Koby Amedume, marketing communications manager at Kyocera Mita, has left to go to Konika Minolta, Andy Palmer has parted company with Foundry Networks and Graeme Allen has joined Alcatel from Tarantella as its new vice-president for northern Europe. All of this happened in just one week.