Susie went to Penn State earning two degrees in Finance and Economics with the intention of eventually owning her own financial firm. In an unexpected turn of events while Susie was in college, her mother became an original Kelly Girl under what was then Monroeville recruitment. Fast forward a few years, and Susie’s mother worked her way to became a regional manager at Monroeville and eventually opened up her own light industrial recruitment agency, TOPS Staffing. A year after graduating, Susie started working for her mom at TOPS, launching her own career in the recruitment industry.
Now, Susie has six company brands; TOPS Staffing, AllTek Staffing and Resource Group,e-Staff Consulting Group, AccountStaff, Sterling Office Professionals and TVS. Typically, companies have one umbrella company, instead of creating six separate company brands. Susie shares why the separate brands have been pivotal to the success of each company, and describes her decision to create six separate brands as, “a success that came from failure.”
Originally, Susie and her brother, David, wanted to break into the technical services industry. They started a tech division under TOPS Staffing, but quickly found that TOPS was only known for light industrial and trying to have clients understand they were also tech staffing experts cost them credibility. They rebranded to AllTek where they were exclusively known for technical services, and grew over 400% four years in a row. With the success under their belt, they started their four other staffing brands, focusing on specific skillsets and achieving explosive growth.
When it comes to hiring decisions, Susie believes we should look at everyone from their skills on their resume — not their gender or ethnicity. She says people are more complex by nature and their gender doesn’t make them more or less qualified for certain roles.
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