Staffing Software and Profitability Interview

It seems almost an axiom in the staffing services industry that it is the first to feel the effects of a recession but also the first to experience the inevitable recovery. “Inevitable recovery”, you ask? OK, it may be tempting to add a little gallows humor, but really, beyond the diviners of doomsday and various “talking heads” feeding on fear, there will be a recovery! What we are concerned with is what happens in between?

During the current recession there are two major priorities of progressive staffing companies. Priority number one is, of course, the logistics of simple business survival. The recovery means nothing unless you’re there when it arrives.  A second priority, but related, is the increased use of executive time to evaluate all company resources, with a view towards their contribution to both the survival of the company and its ongoing profitability.

Does staffing software contribute significantly to agency survivability and profitability? . . . To answer those questions we recently had a series of three, in-depth interviews with Scott Fiore . . . . managing partner at Tri-Starr Staffing in Lancaster, PA.

With those two issues in mind we wanted to know how staffing software was being evaluated by industry professionals. Does staffing software contribute significantly to agency survivability and profitability? If so, then how, specifically?

To answer those questions we recently had a series of three, in-depth interviews with Scott Fiore. Scott is the Vice President and managing partner at Tri-Starr Staffing in Lancaster, PA. Scott is a young, experienced, energetic executive with innovative marketing and management insights. His company, like many others in the current environment, is in both a tough competitive marketplace and an equally tough business environment.

Although Tri-Starr engages in broader areas of the Temp and Temp to Perm markets, Scott refers to his company’s place, within the staffing industry, as a “Boutique shop” specializing in quality clerical and professional staffing, plus consulting on HR issues. Scott’s “boutique” description of their business also seems a perfect match for the very charming professional building and stylish offices they occupy in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  (See insert)

On the afternoon of our first interview it was a warm sunny Friday, late in April. I suggested it might be a perfect afternoon for golf. “Not me” he laughed “with three children and a business to run, golf just takes too much time, maybe later”. Good, I thought. Here was not only a staffing executive and business owner, but a hard working, hands-on manager who was short on time. He would most likely have at his fingertips, some realistic, detailed assessments of every asset of Tri-Starr’s business including his staffing software.

We agreed on a straight interview format and got down to business quickly.

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