Address: 1025 S. 108th St. Suite 205 West Allis, WI 53214
Website: www.selecttechnicalstaffing.com
Year founded: 1997
Product or service offered: Recruiting/staffing firm that specializes in the placement of skilled, technical and professional personnel on both a contract and direct basis.
Projected 2012 Revenue: $2.5 million
Leadership: David Balistreri, president and founder
Target clientele: Any business looking to add additional staff on a temporary and/or permanent basis
Business organization memberships: Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, Wisconsin Association of Staffing Services, NFIB
What has fueled your company’s growth? “The economic recovery that has been going on since the recession. Milwaukee’s manufacturing sector has been booming recently and has been on a steady recovery since about the spring of 2010. We continue to benefit from the uptick in business.”
What is the biggest obstacle to your company’s growth? “I’m sick of saying it, but the lack of skilled and technical candidates for the types of jobs we typically get from manufacturers.”
Do you plan any changes in your company in the upcoming months? “Nothing too different, but we’d like to enhance our web presence. Unfortunately we paid someone to do our new site, but we are in a legal battle trying to recover our money because it was never completed. We have an existing site so we may just decide to improve that, but otherwise we will have to work hard to match how we did the second half of last year. We have the orders to do it, but finding the talent continues to be our biggest challenge.”
Who are the business people, locally or nationally, whom you admire? And what traits do those people exhibit that make you admire them? “On a local level I don’t have to look too much farther than the members in my COSBE roundtable group. Older members like Ken Cook who has perservered through the downturn and is now experiencing record sales by providing new technology. Or young members like Bobby Kraft who has grown his printing business at a time when the industry is shrinking. On an international level one of my former salespeople, Chris Finley, left in 2003 to join his brother in founding SurveyMonkey.com. They moved the business from Madison to Portland, Ore. and a few years ago sold out their majority interest for several million dollars. All of these people are smart, tenacious, committed and willing to perservere through many business challenges to achieve their goals.”
What is the outlook for the business conditions of your industry over the next several months? “Our industry will continue to grow as the economy continues to recover. I believe this recovery will take longer than any of the previous ones that I have been around for. Also, because of the volatility in the business marketplace and the cost of health insurance, companies will be more prone to add contract employees before hiring employees directly on to their payroll. The percentage of contract workers relative to permanent employees continues to grow in the USA. We are nowhere near the percentage in Europe, but it will continue to increase over time.”
What is your company’s key strategy for rising out of the recession? “Perserverence.”
