I thought I would throw my hat in the ring with a couple of notes.
1 - This thread makes me feel like there is a good opportunity for a small, independent recruiter. Travel around to the modern marketing tours, network with people to find out the best candidates (both looking and not). Troll Topliners etc... And then pop in when someone is looking to hire.
2 - I can share some experiences. I used to be involved in a lot of interviews for people in both Support and Professional Services. It was back in the day, when people didn't necessarily have "Eloqua" on their resume, so we almost always hired people with little to no experience. The good news is it's possible. We did it sucessfully many times. The bad news is that it takes time for people to ramp up (as Zee Jeremic mentioned in a different comment). My learning's:
The character traits that I found were the best leading indicator where:
- Slightly to extremely nerdy. Usually follows the trends, and has pretty strong opinions about something in tech (Apple vs. Android for example)
- high propensity to learn things on their own. I used to like to ask about software that someone had learned and more specifically WHY they learned it. So, you know excel? Why? What did you learn. You know how to use a CRM system or a BI tool? Why. Sometimes you get answers specifically related to a previous job requiring it, but sometimes you get something really interesting. I once had a guy walk me through building a weather balloon. Was really cool (although we didn't hire him).
- Looking for was to improve processes or activities (You had to go from x events to y events, how did you do that?"
I also agree that sticking someone in the app and watching them do something is a pretty good learning experience.
So, to bring it back to the origional question, you could probably hire someone with less experience, pay them less and get them to stick around to learn. You have to invest in someone like that, which would include Eloqua Experience and roadshows, as well as local user groups.
Now, if I was hiring someone with experience, I would probably ask them about the Markies. Did they ever submit one? If so, what personal impact did they have on that project. What would they have done differently. If not, what have they worked on that would make a good markie submission.
I have a feeling that caring about the Markies is a pretty leading indicator about someone actually being passionate about Eloqua.