Making Headway

In the 1970s, a brash 23-year-old, Linda Elder, clad in cowboy boots and a cowboy hat answered a job ad that simply asked, “Do you like people?”

After two weeks of barraging the owner of the recruitment and staffing agency with phone calls, Elder finally got a job as a recruiter. In 30 days, she was the best salesperson at the company.

More than 20 years later, Elder is the executive vice president of the company, which was bought by Headway Corporate Resources in 1998.

That longevity is typical at Headway, a staffing firm specializing in administrative, accounting, insurance and light industrial warehouse employees. Elder runs the Newport Beach and Las Vegas offices for Headway, which is based in North Carolina. Although about half its business places temporary workers, the company’s goal is to provide its business clients with permanent and, most important, well-suited candidates.

To do this, candidates — Headway is a free service to job seekers — are screened, not only for their specific skill sets like computer programs or accounting management, but are also given what they call an in-depth emotional screening.

Recruiters interview each candidate thoroughly, whether he or she is applying for a temporary or permanent position, asking questions about family, hobbies, activities and career goals.

“The candidates are screened heavier in all areas,” she said. “We want to find out if they’re whole; if they’re broken, that’s what causes employers a lot of stress later.”

The extra screening comes at a price, which Elder thinks her business clients are ready to pay more for, comparing her firm to Nordstrom and other staffing companies to J.C. Penney, both of which are useful in today’s market.

“There are tons of people who want to look at J.C. Penney and pay their prices,” she said. “With our structure we are not a thrifty, low-market staffing firm. We’re more of a boutique, high-end firm.”

Mercedes-Benz Credit probably gets about 25 new employees from Headway each year, center operational manager Tamara Beverly said.

“They take a lot of pride in making sure they select good, quality people to send to us, and they really, really go the extra mile,” she said. “And if they treat all their other clients like they treat us, it just speaks to their level of commitment to their business and to us.”

The company charges employers anywhere from $6,000 to $10,000 and guarantees their candidate for 90 days. But as they are a boutique and want to make sure their clients keep coming back, Elder extends that on a case-by-case basis.

The Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce is a client of Headway — Elder said her firm is represents a huge part of the market share in Newport Beach — and has found several candidates through Headway.

More than two years ago, Stephanie Cole was looking for a job and heard about Headway through a friend who had been placed in a job she enjoyed. Cole met with recruiters who eventually connected her with more than one job opportunity without wasting her time on jobs she wouldn’t like.

“They really want to meet you and get to know you,” she said. “It’s more like an interview process — they learn your personality to know what would be a good fit for you.”

With the recruiters’ help, Cole started working at the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce as an administrative assistant and was almost immediately promoted. She’s now the chamber’s membership services director.

Elder said that by the time the candidates make it to the potential employer’s desk, it should simply be a matter of whether the personalities mesh. Headway does complete screenings, will do background checks and drug tests and whatever else the company requires.

Headway itself is a model of a harmonious workplace. Elder serves as the matriarch of an office predominantly made up of women who constantly are given incentives for performance. The group not only works together, but plays together too, something Elder said is essential to her workplace environment.