Welcome to The Fordyce Letter:
From the giant IPO-bound staffing firm Staffmark Holdings, to Indianapolis’ 14-person HR services firm FlashPoint, 156 self-described human resource companies made the annual Inc. list of the 5,000 fastest growing businesses in the U.S.
Inc. ranks the companies, all privately held, by growth rate; the faster revenue increased over three years, the higher the company ranks. By that measure, HR staffing and services firm Nextaff was first among the HR companies that volunteered to participate. (Participation requires companies to divulge annual revenue, employee counts and growth, etc. Only some companies are willing to publicize that kind of proprietary information.)
In August 2001, my dream of going back to work for the US Government fell through, and I was subsequently adrift without a backup career plan. At this time I entered graduate school full-time with the goal of becoming better educated while trying to determine the next step in my working life. In December 2001, while feeling the disappointment of not having a definitive career goal, I went to go see my parents’ next-door neighbor, who just happened to own a search firm, seeking career advice. I figured he could point me in the right direction or somehow give me a professional epiphany. Low and behold, after several conversations I was offered a position in his firm. In January 2002 I started my career as a professional recruiter. I worked for this boutique search firm until November 2004 at which time I transitioned onto the corporate side of the “recruiting desk”.
