Placement Pros: Putting Temporary Staff in Place on Demand

By George Walsh, Hacienda Network Staff Writer

Estimating the appropriate number of employees to have on staff can be a difficult undertaking. If you have too few staffers, your customers may not receive the service they deserve. If you hire too many permanent employees, you may incur unnecessary expenses. Variances in human resource needs are one of the many reasons that companies use agencies like Placement Pros at 5674 Stoneridge Drive.

"We are an elite and thorough placement firm whose goal is to establish long-term relationships with each of our clients," says Joel Smith, regional manager for Placement Pros Pleasanton office. "We smoothly handle large volume orders for companies needing temporary employees. Even if you need 100 people on staff tomorrow, we can handle the job."

Placement Pros has been in business for over 15 years. It's a nationwide enterprise that is a part of the Vedior Group of companies. Vedior, headquartered in Amsterdam, is an international staffing services firm that operates in 43 countries worldwide. Each of the eight U.S. companies that comprise Vedior addresses different staffing sectors. Because Vedior serves a number of different markets, including accounting and information technology, the different placement companies often act as points of referral for each other. Placement Pros' specialties are in the clerical, industrial, and security industries. The Vedior subsidiary has 40 offices including five in Northern California and the Bay Area.

In the Bay Area, Placement Pros primarily focuses on security and clerical positions. In order to be a security company in California, Placement Pros came up with its own syllabus and curriculum that it submitted to the State of California for approval. The company is now officially licensed as a school with training and a complete course outline to license security guards within the state. "Security is a really big part of our business in the Bay Area," Smith says. "We provide security for most of the major events in the East Bay and San Francisco. We have an exclusive contract with the City of Livermore for all of its parades, including the Fourth of July festivities. When the city was called to provide security for the Extreme Home Makeover television show, they called us. In San Francisco, we provide services for the Macy's Passport Fashion Show every year, as well as the Chinese New Year's Parade."

Security isn't the only field that Placement Pros serves. The company also places insurance professionals and warehouse production staff. In the area of professional office staffing, Placement Pros acts as a resource for those who need people to perform duties ranging from data entry to executive support, including staff experienced in the fields of accounting and banking. The company's strict screening process is performed by its own internal background checking company to be sure that all temporary staffers are qualified before being sent out on assignments.

While the customer is the key focus of Placement Pros' business, Smith makes it clear that the company's temporary staffers are also treated quite well. "We offer weekly pay, incentive bonuses, and a 401k plan," he says. "We also offer health insurance to qualified applicants, attendance incentives, and referral bonuses. We even offer snacks on payday. When the temps come in to get their paycheck, they will always be greeted with a warm welcome accompanied by gourmet treats, cookies and beverages."

In addition to serving as the Pleasanton office for Placement Pros, the facility on Stoneridge Drive is also the company's headquarters. The Pleasanton branch office has 18 employees in its 5,000 square foot office and, overall, Placement Pros has a staff of 248. The staff is extremely efficient, placing in the area of 6,300 temporary employees each day from its 40 offices nationwide.

Photo: Placement Pros' staff includes (front row, l to r) Joel Smith, regional manager; Colleen McLaurin, risk management claims specialist; and Efa Wina, operations billing supervisor.

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