Engstrom Inc., a Two Rivers-based staffing services company, recently entered the metropolitan Milwaukee market by opening a satellite office in Mequon. The new office at 11402 N. Port Washington Road is the first satellite office for Engstrom, which wants to provide quality employees for companies in Ozaukee County, said Engstrom president Cherie Campion.
The company was founded by Ginny Engstrom in 1980 as a temporary help service that focused on office positions. Campion joined the company in 1985 and purchased the firm in 2001, when Ginny announced plans to go into semi-retirement.
Since Campion took over as president, she decided to grow the company to expand outside of Manitowoc County and into other market sectors.
Engstrom serves as a recruiter to businesses looking for temporary and permanent help and it also serves as an employment agency to job seekers.
At the Two Rivers headquarters, Engstrom also offers a medical transcription service and a companion caregiver service for Manitowoc County.
Engstrom has 10 permanent employees at its Two Rivers corporate headquarters and two employees at its Mequon location.
The company experienced a growth spurt last year when Campion decided to add employment services for the industrial sector to Engstrom’s list of specialties, Campion said.
"Until 2005, we only offered industrial job placement for a select number of clients, and it was not something we did full-force," she said.
Engstrom put a sales associate and a recruitment professional on the job to start catering to the industrial services sector, which ranges in positions from assembly line workers and computer numerical control (CNC) operators to executive management positions, Campion said.
"I had a feeling the business was going to grow fast, but it happened much faster than I had anticipated," she said.
The industrial sector of the staffing services company was growing fast because of the high demand for industrial workers, Campion said.
"Some companies would want us to find them 20 people," Campion said.
Engstrom received a $200,000 Small Business Loan Guarantee (SBG) in February from the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA) to help offset expenses and provide
the working capital needed for the expansion into Mequon.
The loan guarantee will also help Engstrom create five new jobs and retain 15 existing jobs, according to Antonio Riley, executive director of WHEDA.
Campion hopes to open a second satellite office for Engstrom in the future.
"Our philosophy is that we like to work closely with our client to satisfy what they need in employees," she said.
