In 2006,
Poly Placements was founded in the kitchen of Virginia Poly. She based her recruiting firm's philosophy on the novel prospect that when it comes to recruiting, "people should actually like the process. Our clients, the candidates, they should enjoy it."
Poly's observation that too many companies viewed a looming job opening as a dreaded task to be done rather than an exciting opportunity to make the business better led to the development of the firm's "
ROI of Happiness" philosophy, which, she says, "is not some airy-fairy hippy thing about eating organic vegetables together. It's about really improving your bottom line."
The work seems to be paying off. The company reports 2,600 per cent revenue growth in just a few years, and made it onto PROFIT magazine's list of the fastest growing startup companies in Canada in 2009. The company has grown, Poly says, from a single employee in 2006 to 55 staff this year -- including about 10 hires in recent months. "At the rate we're growing, by the end of 2011 it will probably be closer to 100 employees," she says.
In addition to the company's difference in approach, Poly attributes the growth to a difference in the business arrangement. Since about the recession of 2008, she says, companies have been giving big contracts for multiple hires over a period of time -- sometimes for the staffing of an entire department -- to the company rather than hiring the recruiters for a single opening at a time. "These are big contract with big clients. That's been huge."
Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Virginia Poly, Poly Placements