Expertalent is a boutique recruiting firm located in Addison, Texas, a suburb on the north side of Dallas, Texas. Owned by Roz Ackermann and Sam Harrison, eXpertalent is smaller than many of its competitors, but its strong relationships with clients like Southwestern Airlines, Lockheed Martin, the Southland Corporation (the parent company for the 7-11 chain of convenience stores), and Microsoft make it a trusted source of candidates in the IT sector. I selected this business because a friend of mine was recruited by eXpertalent to fill a six-month contract with Southland a couple years ago, and the position became a permanent hire; the entire experience was so positive for my friend that he has sung eXpertalent’s phrases ever since.
The company’s website is http://www.expertalent.com. The home page has a section for potential employment candidates and another one for employers looking for candidates in positions. The “About” page has a basic profile of the company, and the “Contact” page tells the user how to get in touch with the company, either to post a position for which the user wants to screen candidates, or to find specific jobs for which to apply. The “Current Openings” page has a list of positions available, all of which are with companies that are eXpertalent clients. Potential candidates can click on the link for each position to read more information about it, and to apply for it. eXpertalent conducts the initial interviewing and screening before sending candidate resumes on to the company, assuming those candidates have met the initial requirements for the company and have shown promise in their initial interviews.
eXpertalent is a private partnership with just two full-time employees (Roz is the CEO, and Sam is the President). In busier times, they have hired a part-time secretary, but at the present time they do not have one. The company makes money when Roz or Sam places a candidate with a client firm: the firm pays eXpertalent an agreed percentage of the candidate’s salary each pay period, for the length of the contract. If eXpertalent finds a candidate for a permanent position, instead of a contract position, the client firm pays a one-time fee instead of an ongoing percentage.
Because the company is private (and because, frankly, times have not been as good during this economic downturn), the CEO did not want to discuss revenues or profits with me. The president indicated to me that cash flow was fairly tight but did not elaborate further. Based on the number of postings, client relationships remain strong, but hiring across the sector remains down, and there are many candidates for each position – meaning that client firms are outsourcing with multiple recruiters, and so eXpertalent is not making as many placements as it has in years past.
In addition to its website, eXpertalent does most of its marketing through word of mouth. It does not place any ads in print, radio or other media outlets. According to the CEO, two-thirds of its placements involve candidates who have heard about the company from co-workers or friends, and all of the client firms have been with eXpertalent for at least five years.
SWOT Interviews: Roz Ackermann (CEO) and Sam Harrison (President)
Strengths. The company has strong client relationships with all of its firms – and the firms all have a history of stability. This means that ongoing orders are likely to keep coming in the future, even in a recession. Another strength is the sector – while many sectors are shrinking, IT continues to fare as well as, or better than, just about any other sector in the economy. A third strength is in savings – even with orders down, the company has nine months’ expenses in reserve, even if orders shut down altogether.
Weaknesses. The company is in a position where, if things worsen, they will basically have to close – or at least work from home. The office space is minimal, with many interviews being conducted at a local Starbucks because there isn’t room for both Roz and Sam to have their own work space as well as a separate interviewing area. Also, both of the owners are over 65 years old. While they don’t have a lot of employees depending on them, they talk about continuing growth but have not brought in any younger partners. Finally, the company needs to upgrade its server and computers to work with Internet Explorer 8 and some of the proprietary software that Lockheed requires, but Roz and Sam haven’t been able to agree to make the purchases. This could hurt the organization going forward.
Opportunities. Dallas is a strong market for IT businesses, and there are many potential client firms that eXpertalent could develop, so the existing clients don’t have to be the only sources for business. There is also additional space in the building where eXpertalent has its lease, so the company could expand to create a more attractive space for interviewing prospective candidates. Finally, with the glut in potential employees out there in recruiting, it would be easy for eXpertalent to bring in commission-based recruiters who are independent to start building a larger clientele – and to start getting younger.
Threats. Sam and Roz have a hard time agreeing on decisions. This makes moving forward difficult, and will make transitioning to a younger managing group hard. Both of them have had health problems in the past year, so the company has really slowed down when it could have taken some big steps by adding clients. Finally, its lack of savvy with social media is costing it a lot of exposure.
Works Cited
http://www.expertalent.com
Ackermann, Roz. Personal interview. 12 November 2011.
Harrison, Sam. Personal interview. 12 November 2011.
