Just got off a call that I have had four times in the last two weeks. Different companies, same conversation.
They need a service manager. Not a senior technician who wants to try management. Not someone from outside the industry who has run a field team. A real service manager with electronic security experience, who can run effective dispatch, manage technician utilization, handle customer escalations, and understand the difference between a T&M call and a contract visit.
They cannot find one.
This is not a compensation problem, though comp is part of it. It is not a geography problem, though that is part of it too. The real issue is structural, and most companies are not looking at it clearly.
The pipeline dried up a long time ago.
For most of the last decade, the path to service manager in this industry was: become a strong technician, get noticed, get promoted. There was no formal development track. There was no training on how to run a P&L or manage people or have a difficult conversation with a customer who is threatening to cancel. You just got promoted and figured it out.
A lot of people promoted that way burned out or moved sideways. Some became great managers. Most did not get the support they needed to make the transition stick.
What that has left us with is a generation of technicians who are good at their jobs and have no interest in management, and a very thin layer of actual service managers who have been in their roles for years and are not going anywhere.
The companies that are finding service managers right now are doing two things differently. They are developing from within, intentionally, with actual mentorship and a defined path. And they are looking at how they can make the role more fulfilling so they are an attractive option for top talent.
The companies still waiting for the perfect resume to come across the job board are going to keep waiting.