Channel Insider content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.

Even as unemployment has reached a 16-year high, solution providers still find it difficult to fill their open jobs – but one distributor is looking to help ease the burden.

Avnet Technology Solutions HP Solutions group is offering a new program designed to help HP solution provider partners recruit qualified talent to fill their open jobs. Avnet’s Talent Acquisition Referral Services (TARS) will provide a dedicated team to help partners through all the steps of the recruiting and hiring process, according to Avnet.

"Various partners we have in the market space and our partner advisory council all said this was a problem where they could use Avnet’s help," says Phillip Privett, vice president of marketing, HP Solutions with Avnet Technology Solutions. "We built a program where we use Avnet’s current talent acquisition infrastructure…We found a lot of our partners were looking for help in this area."

The program will be offered on a flat yearly-fee basis, regardless of how many candidates the partner interviews or hires. While Avnet declined to disclose the fee, Privett said it was less than half of what a typical headhunter fee would be for the same service.

Participating partners work with a dedicated program manager who will help create, post and manage job descriptions; develop a resume submission and review process; conduct prescreening calls with candidates; perform background checks including education, criminal records, employment, drug screening, assessment testing, and other areas as required by the job description; and ultimately provide the partner with a short list of qualified candidates.