Like many tech-focused businesses, EasyIT saw an increase in their workload as a result of the pandemic.
The 23-year-old company started by brothers Eric and Kurt Hoeft to fully manage or co-manage IT services for small, medium or large businesses has seen growth over the last 15 months, with many companies realizing their current IT providers could not handle their level of remote work or seeing an increase in cyber-attacks at the onset of the pandemic.
CEO Kurt Hoeft said the company has had 20-30% more service tickets than it would have without the increase in remote work.
“We had to support thousands of users, leaving their office and working from home,” he said. “We just got busier and busier, which has driven our need for staff and one of the reasons we’ve gotten creative with how to fill our talent pipeline.”
EasyIT has worked with a few Central Ohio technical career centers for help in filling its talent pipeline, including Tolles Career & Technical Center in Plain City.
What’s been especially helpful is the channel of Computer Network and Support Technology program students, specializations that comprise the vast majority of EasyIT’s hires, said Kurt.
Those programs include students post-high school as well as adult learners, both of which are welcome at EasyIT.
“We see a lot of value in bright people coming out of school that you can just help bring along,” he said. “Maybe someone’s in their mid-20s and decides that they want a different career and they’re going to go into technology. Well, fantastic! That sort of person can be highly motivated and very trainable, and we love that idea.”
Kurt said some of EasyIT’s greatest success stories with staff members have been people who came through these pipelines early in their career or as interns going on to be managers and filling other leadership roles at the company.
“Schools like Tolles are community treasures and they tend to be undervalued by the community, or at least not well-known,” he said.
Eric and Kurt Hoeft know that first hand. Their father taught at a vocational school for 30 years, and was a huge proponent of the trades and trade schools.
Those values instilled by their father influenced their interest in trade schools as a way to fill their talent pipelines, and also influenced their interest in giving back.
Kurt said an unrelated conversation with Columbus Rotary Club’s president led to EasyIT providing much-needed opportunities to trade students.
“We feel very blessed in this pandemic time and we’d like to give something back to the Rotary,” said Kurt.
The Rotary works with Columbus City Schools, where some students cannot afford the basic tools and uniforms they need for their education in the trades.
“For lack of what may be less than $1,000 worth of stuff, they can’t proceed in their education. So they can’t really get into a trade school and they’re not going to go to college. And they’re stuck,” he said.
The Hoefts decides it was the perfect opportunity to honor their dad and give back, and EasyIT became the anchor grant in the Career Path Awards Program.
“We had the ability when they identified the need, and it just came together,” said Kurt.
He said the need for trade and technical schools is not going away. Even for EasyIT, there are gaps between the work they do and the background many potential hires have.
Kurt said Tolles and the many other Central Ohio trade and technical schools are key to meeting the needs of their growing company.
“A lot of kids will not think of that as a path, but it’s a great path for a lot of people,” he said.
For more information on EasyIT, visit easyit.com.
Our technology series is presented by our partners in the City of Dublin.
Dublin is a city of more than 47,000 residents located just northwest of Columbus, Ohio. The City of Dublin Economic Development team has a vision to make Dublin a Midwest IT Magnet through business leadership and sustainable workforce development. This commitment goes beyond short-term skills training to include long-term strategic and cultural support for the entire Dublin business community. Dublin is one of America’s Top 20 Creative Class Cities and is home to more than 20 corporate headquarters, an entrepreneurial center, 3,000+ businesses, world-class events and the urban, walkable Bridge Street District.