Cesar Romero: Okay. All right. We're live. Well, welcome. Welcome everyone. Before we get started it give people a few minutes before we officially get started, but in the chat, please share with us, where are you joining us from? I'm always curious about where people are tuning in and it'll also help you get familiar with the chat punch in Charleston, South Carolina, Minnesota, New Hampshire, where St. Louis Miami. Oh, that Caesar. From India. Wow. Seattle, Atlanta, Rhode Island. Welcome. Welcome everybody . 

Angela Alberty: We have somebody from texas. 

Cesar Romero: There we go. I, wasn't going to say

Angela Alberty: Thank you guys all for joining us today. 

Cesar Jimenez: Yeah, by the way, I like Danny Turner. I love that. And they have a talent city. I liked that.

Cesar Romero: That's awesome. We'll give a few more seconds here as people trickle in, but thanks for sharing where you're joining us from. Cool.

Cesar Romero: And as people trickled in, one important thing I want to highlight for our session is that we want to make this as engaging and as interactive as possible. So if at any point during our session, you have a question or a comment or an idea, feel free to use the chat function or the Q/A function and we will make sure to get through those questions. 

Angela Alberty: Yes. Please do not leave your questions until the end. Please feel free to pop them in the chat and interrupt us as we go along. We love that feedback. 

Cesar Romero: Yes. Yes. It's a conversation. Ultimately what over. 

Bryan Pena: After the slides will be made available to everybody after the session so don't feel like if we don't get through everything, it's not a failure.

Cesar Romero: I actually can say that a win.

Cesar Jimenez: Yeah. I love it. All right. So, well, keep this casual. Let's do what we do. Yeah, 

Cesar Romero: We'll go ahead and get us started. First of all, thank you so much for joining us today and taking time from your day. And with this session, we'll really want to have a conversation around the disruption that's happening in the staffing industry.

Cesar Romero: So if you are a staffing firm owner, or if you work for a staffing firm, you know, this is highly relevant to you. And we wanted to bring on a session where we talk about the traditional versus the new model of doing business, right. And how, as a staffing firm, you can navigate this disruption and ultimately grow your impact.

Cesar Romero: Right? So with that we'll put together a panel of industry practitioners and we want to make sure that at the end of the session, you walk away with tips, strategies, and practical tips that they could put into place. And think about how you move forward, right. With all this disruption happening.

Cesar Romero: So to kick us off we'll do a quick 30 to 60 second background intro and I'll start with you Angela. 

Angela Alberty: Okay, good morning. Good evening. Good afternoon. Wherever y'all are coming in from my name is Angela Alberty. I am a co-founder and Chief Business Operator at myBasepay. We specialize in, you know, the back office oversight for staffing agencies.

Angela Alberty: Just like many of you in this chat room. I did not grow up wanting to be in staffing. I didn't know what the staffing industry was, but it's an industry that finds you and I'm very happy to have been a part of it for the majority of my career. My specialization has lied in the operational oversight for temporary staff personnel.

Angela Alberty: So fun things like onboarding offboarding, the time sheet management, the payroll, the compliance they're in and the invoicing and the collections thereafter. That's been what has been the brunt of my career. And I'm very happy to be a part of it. As Ramiro and Cesar Romero said, please feel free to drop your questions as we move along.

Angela Alberty: And I'll hand it over to Cesar Jimenez, the other Caesar of the group. 

Cesar Jimenez: Thank you. Thank you, Angela, for that. Just like Angela said, I think we all probably gonna say the same thing. They're close, like, you know, we didn't go to staffing university schools or anything like that. We couldn't find any back then.

Cesar Jimenez: This kind of thing finds you. Right. So we'll talk a little about that later, but I've been in the staffing industry for 25 years. You know, I still absolutely love this industry every single day. I mean, it's very rewarding or, you know, an industry to be in. I'm really excited about the future where it's going, because the adaptation of where things are evolved to, it's just extremely exciting about where this industry is headed.

Cesar Jimenez: So happy to be here and explain what we have going on and share some different practical strategies that, hopefully you guys can implement. 

Cesar Romero: Thank you, Cesar. Bryan 

Bryan Pena: Thank you, Romeo, I am at Defiant Solutions llc. We are a small boutique consulting firm specializing in helping platform businesses and the staffing firms implement new go-to-market strategies and approach the business maybe a little bit differently. I've been in this industry for 25 plus years first as a practitioner, then as a research analyst for my time at SIA.

Bryan Pena: And then prior to that, I was the Chief of Market Strategy for MBO partners. So my perspective comes from all sides of the business from buying contingent labor to running the research, to selling the services. And now I have the privilege of working with some really cutting edge companies on changing the way work gets done, super excited to be here.

Cesar Romero: Thank you, Bryan. And I guess it's my turn. I'm the Head of Marketing for myBasepay, which means I oversee the content strategies, partnerships, and community. And if you also handle marketing for your staffing firm or for your business, let's connect because I love talking about all things, marketing and community.

Cesar Romero: And that's it. I have a question for the audience. Why are you in the staffing business, right? What is your prime motivator in this business? And for me the way I fell into Staffing is because I really love people. And to me, staffing is about connecting enterprise organizations with top talent.

Cesar Romero: Right? So to me that there's. Rewards me then seeing an organization and an individual thrive as they co-create and collaborate together. Let's see Hardy says he is in the staffing industry to help people connect to opportunities. Yes, I, a hundred percent agree with that. Stephanie to make my community a better place to live and work 100%. I get behind that. That's absolutely a win to bring a focus of inclusion to the extended workforce. I love that. Thank you. When Jeff says what an amazing panel,

Cesar Jimenez: That's my guy. 

Cesar Romero: So I can see the theme, you know, it's a, it's about making an impact. It's about creating opportunities. It's about connection, right? And I think you know, Angela, Brian's, you certainly will, you'll have the same theme throughout your introductions as well. So with this, I wanted to pass it on to Caesar to kind of walk us through.

Cesar Romero: He's humble beginnings in, in the staffing industry. 

Cesar Jimenez: Wow. 

Bryan Pena: Their screen immediately to see the

Cesar Jimenez: That's a whole, that's a long time ago. 

Cesar Romero: Oh, and sorry. Went. Yes. At the end of the session, we'll have a slide with our QR codes, so you can just scan those and it'll take you to our LinkedIn, so you can connect that way. But you know, thanks for the question. Sorry Cesar. I just wanted to ask the real question.

Cesar Jimenez: I got to stop looking at the chat because it's going to make me laugh. Cause I noticed that, wow, that's such a long time ago. Thank you for that. You know, I, actually, my mom saved this picture and made sure she got it over to my wife. I actually made sure that we give it to Angela to put on this, nothing like a mother's love to remember your memories.

Cesar Jimenez: Right. Wow. Such a long time ago. The pro source story it's love talking about it. It just amazes me, but right here, I would start with, I was coming out of the Navy as a, basically a wartime vet back in ninth that they must serve my country from 1990 to 1994.

Cesar Jimenez: Got out the service you know, I knew how to work hard to know what to do. And it became, you know, I fell into like, like we all like in the beginning, like, why are we in the staffing industry? Right. I knew how to take orders. I knew how to work hard and you know, and I like dealing with people. So they gave me an opportunity.

Cesar Jimenez: I have to plug somebody because I do every time, anytime I give an opportunity, I wanted to working for a really large global staffing organization when I first got in the industry. And after the eighth. This wonderful woman named Cindy Lackey gave me an opportunity to come to the door. And I never forget that too, because my mother's behind the scenes praying that I actually get into this career, because when you're coming out of the service, you're a little lost.

Cesar Jimenez: You don't really know not a whole lot of job placement services at that time in that year. So it was a great opportunity for her to give me a shot. So, and one thing I definitely want to mention about the staffing industry is that it's, like we said, we don't fall into it. Like we fell into it, but it's more like, why did I stay in the staffing industry?

Cesar Jimenez: And why did I stay in the staffing industry is because you love helping people. It's very rewarding. And to get people jobs, it's cool that everybody makes placement fees and money, but at the end of the day, those relationships, it's a very intimate relationship. It becomes really real and unlimited growth, right?

Cesar Jimenez: Unlimited growth. And just one of the things more than ever over the last 10 years, as I got to really understand this business and take it to another level, it's just being an advocate for workers. That's what. So that's to kind of get a little about why I've stayed in respect to the pro source story.

Cesar Jimenez: I spent a lot of lessons learning. I would tell you that I learned through failure. I failed out basically a number of different times. And one time when we first started our first staffing company, I was partners with a couple of people and we had the greatest intentions in the world. We were a great salespeople and we quickly learn that it takes a whole lot more experience and a lot more skill outside of just being a sales person with relationships and recruiting experience, to deliver our business from a back office operation perspective, it will actually it can cripple you if you don't really know what you're doing.

Cesar Jimenez: So to kind of take that. I started in a business in 04. We had a lot of great growth till about 07. Oh, wait, no 09. If you guys are in the industry on this path as well. Some of us in this panel here, probably some of the people in the chat, but oh wait, no. Nine was a very trying time in the US with a financial meltdown and the economy and everything, and our business just didn't survive.

Cesar Jimenez: And then when you kind of look at that and I left and it had basically nothing, you know, I left with zero nothing. And you kind of look back and say, what I should have could have, would have been different. Right. You know, we all have those moments. And one of the things that I decided to do was I've always been very intrigued with this EOR model.

Cesar Jimenez: So I started researching the EOR model. So when I started ProSource over again, in 2010, I came out the gate with an EOR model. I'm a huge advocate because it basically gave me. An entire staffing operations infrastructure and gave me the firepower that I need or my business, because when I came out of that, you know, the epic failure, you know, the first firm that I had was I came out with a lot of relationships, you know, I was, you know, great in sales.

Cesar Jimenez: I had a lot of relationships, but I needed a model that was able to help me deliver on those relationships. I know I could recruit and I know I can actually find business, but the other aspect, you know, funding, right. That's a big aspect. You know, cash flow is king in the staffing industry. We have to pay all our consultants on a weekly basis.

Cesar Jimenez: I didn't have any investors at the time to basically find and give equity in anything like that. I didn't have the credit to be able to go to credit lines and get unlimited funding. And I certainly don't want to deal with any factoring organizations whatsoever. Right. So, I started with the EOR and since then we had, you know, double digit growth year after year.

Cesar Jimenez: Just last year alone, just because it allowed us, we grew 60%, we have 31 new clients added to the portfolio and you don't look back because outsourcing is a key component of what a business should be doing on what is not their core. Most of our clients outsource functions that are not their core.

Cesar Jimenez: And I want that to keep the main thing, right? That's the biggest lesson I learned. What am I, what is our firm strong in? What are we here to do? We're here to serve our clients, right. And what are we good at? We're good at building relationships, we understand the requirements and recruiting and delivering those requirements.

Cesar Jimenez: Everything else that we do, you know, can be outsourced by professionals that actually do this for a living, you know, when we had our, you know, we had our first company. We were dealing with issues that were very foreign to us, right? Like, you know, a lot of compliance issues. That's a lot of complexity when employment law is, you know, you start putting people in different states, it's a whole different, you need oversight.

Cesar Jimenez: You could have the best intentions in the world, but you could be doing different things wrong. It can wind up catching you. You know, we didn't have the credit facility, you know, in order to, so we've got to deal with factoring agents, factoring companies that just hamstring the organization with, you know, holding reserves and not paying on time.

Cesar Jimenez: And, now, your interest sounds low at the time, but all of a sudden, every payment, you know, it goes up, it's like the meter starts. As soon as that receivable is funded, right. With a model that we moved to, you know, now it's like, it's straightforward. You know, you get your cash, you know, exactly.

Cesar Jimenez: You know, cash flow is addressed. That biggest pain point is addressed. You get to not have to hire a lot of operational oversight, you know, employees that are going to take care of that. And you take that operational and you repurpose that operational cash flow that you would have in, let's say AR and AP and the controllers and everything.

Cesar Jimenez: And you put in a revenue that hires more recruiters. That's the model. So, you know, those were the things that we learned and, know, through you know, unfortunately through, through to failure, but you know, failures, the biggest lessons, what lessons you can come out of it. So like, you know, one thing that it's easy to, it's painful while you're going through it, but it's easier to talk about today because, you know, we have a really successful organization now and I attribute it to the model itself and learn along that journey.

Cesar Jimenez: I've learned a ton of different things about the EOR business. I tried a lot of different providers. I saw where the gaps are as far as what could be better. And, you know, and we'll get into a little story, you know, later about, you know, what you should be doing for you and how they should partner. At the end of the day, a new area should provide you with firepower.

Cesar Jimenez: You need to be able to grow your business so you can focus 1000% on your clients and your consultants, because that's the lifeblood of your organization. 

Angela Alberty: All right. Thank you for that testimonial Caesar. What we wanted to do is just portrayed to you guys, a vivid visualization of how this actually works.

Angela Alberty: If you draw your attention towards the bottom, that we're going to walk you through a tale of two temporary employees on the left, we have project Patty she's on a nine month engagement. She's looking to reassess some systems and get a new implementation kicked off. And then to the right, we have temporary Tom and he's on a 52010 current conversion.

Angela Alberty: He is working to probably sit it out for three weeks. What we wanted to do is just show you guys really how this is visualized through the operational stack of two different staffing agencies on our left. We have agency one they're going with the traditional site. Has anyone in this chat ever heard of the saying, well, that's the way that we've always done it on those on the left is that's the way that we've always done it.

Angela Alberty: Right? So the consistency of this side is basically a 50 50 makeup. We have 50% of our staff overseeing the revenue generating competencies. They are finding the new clients, getting set up the supplier, finding the candidates for those requisitions. And the other 50% of their staff is composed of those that are overseeing the operational staff.

Angela Alberty: Everything that happens after a candidate has been identified is the onboarding, the offboarding, the time sheet, the time sheet chasing. The call-ins, the, payrolling the invoicing, the collections. And that's the way that it's always been done. The staffing agency has done this model for probably about the last 50 to 60 years towards the right we're coming through that new wave of how agency to, and what a little bit timing and on what Caesar has mentioned has decided to operate through the outsourcing of the non-general resonating competencies to a third party.

Angela Alberty: They have a hundred percent staff dedication to revenue generating competencies. So their six person staff is all dedicated to finding the new clients, engaging those clients, setting up as a supplier, getting those requisitions and feeling those requisitions in these interesting times. So this is the biggest differences we've if we visualize it and although the staff by count is the same on a side to side comparison, Agency to has increased revenue by 25%, not only because they are completely dedicated to finding revenue and building revenue, but more so than that, because they have an aligned infrastructure that can make them say yes to the placement in Idaho or in India and be able to have the infrastructure in place for those very complex requirements that they need to fulfill on the client side and also on the statutory compliance side.

Angela Alberty: So this is just a little bit of a walkthrough of what we wanted to show you guys that is basically. Also a testimonial to Caesar's story. It's showing you what he once was and what he has done in the last 10 years. 

Cesar Jimenez: Yeah. Yeah. Something I'm sorry, just to add to that you know, the biggest thing there is, you know, when you look at these two models, when I first started, when I entered it, the relationship with EOR said, you know, I'm going to try this out and I'm going to use this model until I maybe have enough cash flow to stop bringing this stuff in house.

Cesar Jimenez: And, you know, I set up the relationships, but what I found when I found during that journey, I was like, wow, you know, this is working too well. I'm literally like, you know, I have this organization that's supporting me to allow me to do what I'm gonna do. And there's a lot of theories out there. If you get to a certain level, it's better than bringing it in house.

Cesar Jimenez: And I would argue that all day long the company has grown tremendously and I believe we're thriving even more with more growth using that same playbook. So I've challenged anybody that out there that, you know, says that, you know, you can only use you aren't a provider to a certain level, and then you get economies of scale.

Cesar Jimenez: We should grow. I'll tell you, you know, I think that companies that have a model of this have more focus. On what they're supposed to be doing and more than ever right now, with the talent, you know, what the talent leads the market community, who it is, it's already harder to find people. So you need that waking moment to be staring at finding out, you know, finding resources for your customers right now, taking on all, absorbing all that operational overhead, which would, it's like playing in the tug of war with your organization.

Cesar Jimenez: It's very difficult. 

Cesar Romero: Thank you. See, there's a question from Avneesh in the audience you know, is the recession fuel for the staffing industry? 

Cesar Jimenez: I love that question. I believe the recessions that, in my opinion, I think recessions provide opportunities. I think that's where you want to really rely on contingent workforce to be able to supplement those gap areas because they've got a great deal of flexibility and agility for an organization, you know, from a financial perspective.

Cesar Jimenez: So I think there absolutely is a great opportunity as it is definitely few. 

Cesar Romero: Thank you Cesar, and Laurie thinks we're coming. You know, we want it to start with Caesar's personal story because it relates to the audience here. So I'm happy that it resonated with you. And I agree, these are questions that we should be asking, right.

Cesar Romero: From a business perspective, but also for, you know, for the teammates as well. 

Angela Alberty: Yeah. I think every woman, this audience always can go back to their why and why am I doing this? Why, what motivates me every single day? It's the ability to change. I mean, at the end of the day we have people's livelihoods in our hands and there's something very sacred about that.

Cesar Romero: Yes. Yeah. Thanks for the questions and the comments, please keep coming. That's our fuel for us during the session

Cesar Romero: Brian. 

Bryan Pena: Yeah, I think this slide really speaks to some of the transitions that are happening in the economy. Some of these things are cyclical. Some of these things are structural. The great question by Avneesh about recessions being good for the staffing industry. The answer is yes and no. No in a lot of ways, because what we see is most organizations have in the past reduced or adjusted their contingent, the first sign of economic difficulties, but good in the context of usually staffing industry as the first to come back and right now, more than ever anybody could just open their news prefer to source of news, either via Google or anything else.

Bryan Pena: Look on LinkedIn and you'll see disruptive headlines like this, that talk about how difficult it is for more organizations to fill those roles. And I think when we think about you know, I think Angela said, that's the way we've always done it. I always think about the seven words on the other side of that, which is there has to be a better way and every single transition in the world whether it's the invention of the wheel or the building of the pyramids or the invention of fire are predicated with somebody deciding there has to be a better way.

Bryan Pena: And out of what we're seeing here is these tectonic changes in the way people work that are leading to new ways of getting things done, which I think is. The most fascinating element about this time is we have the privilege of really being at the front end of a complete revolution in the way work gets done and how not just we're going to be working, or our kids are going to be working, but how their kids and their kids are going to be working.

Bryan Pena: All of those things that are going to fundamentally alter the landscape of how companies or people and individuals collaborate to create, you know, create something new and amazing. We're going to be the front end of it. And that's why I'm super excited to really be a part of this and to contribute to this conversation.

Bryan Pena: But out of these things come a lot of opportunities and significant challenges, the least, which is this notion here. So you can go ahead with your, 

Cesar Romero: No, thank you, Bryan. I want to take the opportunity to run this poll for the audience and I'm going to publish it in a second here, but I just, I'm just curious to know, like where do you and your staff are spending most of your time? So, So cast your votes. 

Cesar Romero: We'll give about a minute. But yeah I'm curious. I'm curious to see. 

Angela Alberty: Yeah. And just so you guys know, we decided to omit the entry option of putting out fires because that just kind of became standard for every single day. We're also signed to part-time firefighters.

Cesar Jimenez: Yeah. 

Bryan Pena: It doesn't matter the models. 

Cesar Romero: Yeah. It comes with it's part of the package. 

Cesar Jimenez: Cool. 

Cesar Romero: Interesting. Filling roles is the majority, which is great. Right? That's what I want to be focusing on. Boring, especially today,

Cesar Romero: I'll give about.30 more seconds here. And then we can talk about the results like this audience has their priorities straight, I would say based on the, of the results 

Cesar Romero: So far. Yup. Let's see.

Cesar Romero: Close it. I'll give five more seconds. 

Cesar Romero: We got 25 votes.

Cesar Romero: Alright.

Cesar Romero: Alright. Polls close. And 52% filling roles. That's amazing. Congrats.

Cesar Jimenez: It makes sense right now in this climate everybody's hiring. So 

Angela Alberty: Yeah, Laurie says filling roles, number one on that list, but retaining and developing internal talent is where the majority of the time is spent. I was actually on LinkedIn a couple of months ago, and recruiters compared to Bitcoin because they are a hot commodity in today's market.

Angela Alberty: So I can only understand what that effect has been like for entrepreneurs when it comes to their business and potentially their internal. All right. So the reason why we want it to go back to this poll is as the saying goes, and if it feels like we're filled with a lot of these things, but time is money.

Angela Alberty: And these are interesting times that we're in Bryan highlighted this perfectly. It's one thing to know that you've been a part of an industry that has stayed consistent, but what we're at right now is on the cusp of some rapidly changing times. Many feel like the contingent workforce is probably going to be the majority of the workforce within the next five years.

Angela Alberty: And we could be looking at it. Full time employee model here very soon. So what are we doing to take advantage of our time? Right now is pivotal in terms of new client growth. There has never been an easier entry point than there is now for enterprise organizations to feel more enticed, to bring new suppliers, knowing how strong this candidate driven market is and knowing how hard and difficult it is to fill roles.

Angela Alberty: So are you spending time establishing SLS and looking for new clients? Because if there's one thing that we know for certain, when there's a candidate driven market on one side of the land, we can expect for the other part to have it slow down and be a little bit more difficult for us to find new clients maybe 10 years from now.

Angela Alberty: So what are we doing to take advantage of that? What about globalizing our remote operations has now become the new standard. What are we doing to be able to say yes to workers all over the globe all over the country and not only say yes and them, but say yes, in a compliant manner in this ever evolving compliance landscape that we are in we're in the most regulated industry that is out there and that's the industry of human capital.

Angela Alberty: So am I preparing my business to be able to say yes to remote workers on a compliant basis? And what am I doing to further invest into my agency's value proposition? How am I going to stand up? From the major industries and agencies out there to really set myself apart, whether that's coming up with more competitive wages, enticing, more enhanced benefits model, how am I going to stand myself apart?

Angela Alberty: All of this to say it really, not only am I trying to throw a real, what am I trying to do the next level in this interesting time that we're in right now?

Cesar Jimenez: That's great. Thank you. Angela has a lot of that. I think between this slide and the previous one, they kind of correlate really well, but you know, a great question is, is your money working for you? It is kind of going back to the, in the beginning and the model You know, one of the things that's challenging when, you know, you have an in-house model is we have, you know, your capital basically tied up in receivables and that's challenging.

Cesar Jimenez: That is challenging because it's challenging in a sense because typically clients pay perfectly. That is, you know, you're basically, you're leveraging all that capital into that. So you're not able to use other capital to grow your business. Right. And one of the things that, you know, from the EOR model perspective that we enjoy is that, you know, we're not paying a lot of money for that money.

Cesar Jimenez: We're actually leveraging, we're making our money work for us. So basically our money is not tied up in EOR it's not caught up there. It's not tied up in operational staff. It's, you know, it allows us to, you know, and they're dying to be no, have the cashflow that we have on a weekly basis. To hire to make investments to basically serve our clients.

Cesar Jimenez: Those are the things that, you know when we talk about is your money working for you, right? You know, when you work with other different models, there are models out there, you know, it's not as clean, right? You get a lot of different interest charges. Like I mentioned, the meter's running on a factoring type relationship.

Cesar Jimenez: So whatever you know, from a predictability perspective, if you believe your gross margin is X, you know, depending on the payment schedule that, you know, that starts diminishing your gross profits. So you're not really, you know, getting exactly what you predicted you were going to get or projected to get what a model like we have.

Cesar Jimenez: You know, it, it gives you that predictability that you need and that, you know, what we call is you able to sleep at night, knowing every single week, you know, that you actually have the cash flow, you need to run your company and make decisions faster to make those investments earlier, because you know, you have that capital coming every single week, and it's not tying up your dollars. And every right now in this current climate community, right? And this client right now, active hiring community right now, we need everybody. And every waking moment, every financial resource is hiring recruiters, developing recruiters, hiring business developers, to help, you know, grow our current portfolio and add a new client acquisition, you know, bringing new clients as well to the table.

Cesar Romero: Thank you, Caesar. And now that we have set the context, we want to open it up for the next 25 minutes to questions. So if you're in the audience and you have a question, please let us know in the chat. But I wanted to throw a question to Angela because a lot of you mentioned Angela. It's super interesting.

Cesar Romero: So if I'm a staffing firm, right, how can I migrate my current model to an EOR model? What will be the. I guess the practicality of implementing that migration. 

Angela Alberty: Well, as many things in this industry can probably tell you, it ends up, begins with the client and analysition of your client portfolio.

Angela Alberty: Understanding what the context and the terms are in place and setting timelines that are unique to each client's preferences. Because if there's one thing that we've learned through this is that we don't want to be disruptive to clients and have them, you know, have to pivot back and forth on what could be a change on the back end.

Angela Alberty: So it really comes down to customizing timelines based on client preferences. As with everything in this industry, you probably tell you satisfying the client is what we look to aim when we go through an implementation. 

Cesar Romero: Thank you. And there's a question from Tamara. I started with a back office and then once told I should be my EOR.

Cesar Romero: I'm super new to the business. When becoming your own EOR, what is some advice you could share to make sure I'm on track with the hiring process funding in payroll? 

Angela Alberty: Well, I would take a look at if there's one thing I would start with, it's probably, you know, getting the good general counsel on board to help guide you and deal through the employment practices.

Angela Alberty: There's one thing that we can calculate when it comes to the oversight of operations. What am I spending on my head count? What am I spending on the infrastructure on the software needed to oversee that process? But there's a factor in the back office that is absolutely incalculable. And that is the risk exposure that you have when operating payroll and human capital.

Angela Alberty: So I would definitely look to start with an expert that can help guide you and establish those compliant practices. And then also look at what your geographic reach is going to be. That's more so to me is more important than anything because as we tell our members you know, if the IRS or the DOL come knocking, it's not just your pardon at stake.

Angela Alberty: It is your client at stake as well. So you want to be able to have that infrastructure in place to know that your client can go to you and have these practices run compliantly and safely. One thing that I would look to think about when it comes to overseeing the back office, I see there mentioned is funding Cash is king, right?

Angela Alberty: So in the staffing industry, you're probably limited to three different options. When it comes to funding, you sell funds, maybe you take out your 401k, you invest into it yourself. You fund that payroll to keep your workers happy and you maybe see those payments come in. I think the average DSO in the staffing industry sits at about 52 days.

Angela Alberty: So that's option one, option two is getting a line of credit. Are you going to be able to qualify for a line of credit with your bank? You know, you'd have to go through that whole process to see if you can float the cash through a line of credit. And the third of which is factoring. So, at factoring, as Caesar can probably tell you, it can sometimes be a little bit of a difficult situation.

Angela Alberty: It's whereby a third party purchases, your receivables outrights does the collection process they're in and implements a interest rate depending on where you're aging and your DSS. And it's on the receivables at a tiered structure. So the longer these invoices go out, the more that you can potentially look to pay on the interest for them.

Angela Alberty: So very limited funding options. But that in a nutshell is basically what you have to go with as a staffing agency. 

Cesar Jimenez: Yeah, that's a great explanation. And Tamara, great question too. I would recommend doing a side-by-side analysis of the, of your model and, you know, really kind of uncovering cause you know, once you start documenting and you put it on paper, exactly what, you know, what's involved in the in house, you're really going to learn like what your really costs are.

Cesar Jimenez: And that's when I think it will help you make a decision. 

Cesar Romero: Thank you, sister, Angela. And there's a couple more questions here from the audience. Avneesh, thank you for your question. The two models that you highlighted in your presentation, where are the limitations to the second model overcomes?

Cesar Romero: You know, what's the age that you get? I am sure model two would have its fair share of limitations. Can you highlight a few of those limitations and 

Cesar Romero: I'll toss it to Angela. 

Angela Alberty: Alright. So what are the limitations? I think you'd have to understand the company that you're potentially looking at partnering with.

Angela Alberty: The limitations I would say is, are there any risks, limitations when it comes to the profile of candidates, you know, limitations when it comes to the type of work that they're inducting, are you limited to office clerical healthcare going into light industrial, potentially target that type of business based on the limitations set forth by an employer of record.

Angela Alberty: The second would be, but going back to funding, are there any limitations set to the funding that I'd have with this employer or back office solutions provider? The third is geographic. Are they limited to any certain area? These are all probably consistent with what your own limitations are as a business.

Angela Alberty: Bryan, I'm not sure if you guys have any other questions about that. I would say finally, the fourth limitation could be with your client. Are there any limitations to potentially a subcontracting scenario whereby you are outsourcing certain delegations to a third party, like a back office provider?

Bryan Pena: I think there's another limitation, Angela, just to reference in regards to the model. And I think that is more of a constraint and just something that comes along with any sort of EOR relationship is lack of control. You know, if you're going to be engaging in any EOR situation, you are giving a significant portion of control away to a third party.

Bryan Pena: And in doing so one that exposes a lot of risks because you're limited to the capabilities of a third party, but also you're really dependent upon them to provide a really positive and excellent candidate and client experience. So I think that's certainly one thing when you're looking. Controlling your own EOR. You have a significant amount of ability to influence the impact of the entire value chain that you deliver to your clients. When you are leveraging a third party EOR or leveraging an outsource EOR model you're really dependent upon a huge portion of your supply and cash flow on that partner.

Bryan Pena: So that's why it's even more important to be going in with eyes open and a clear just Caesar's point. Side-by-side understanding of what the two options give in relation to what you're giving. 

Angela Alberty: Yes. Excellent point, Bryan. Thank you. 

Cesar Romero: Thank you, Bryan. Thank you Angela. 

Cesar Romero: And before we continue, I just want to share with the audience that if you want to continue the conversation please feel free to get in contact with us.

Cesar Romero: We have created these secure codes. So if you scan the QR code, it'll take you directly to those speakers, LinkedIn, and you can connect with us on LinkedIn. So, yeah, we'll be happy to continue this conversation even after the session and Victor, I think Victor has a great question, right?

Cesar Romero: From the candidates perspective and from the candidate experience what role does a candidate loyalty play in maximizing revenue?

Cesar Romero: And I feel like you're my go to, 

Angela Alberty: I think for one, for this one, I mean, having one, a staffing agency, begins with the candidate experience. What are you going to do to implement and set yourself apart? But perhaps these are, you can tie into how 

Cesar Jimenez: That's what I wanted to clarify. Just based on the question.

Cesar Jimenez: Like, I think it's all about you know, you gotta evaluate what are you doing to improve your employer value pot. Right. You know, what are you doing to help your clients, you know, and yourself retain those consultants on their assignments. Right? Because it's, you know, it's challenging right now.

Cesar Jimenez: Right. You know, I think this percentage is where, like, I think over 86% of individuals are open to other opportunities right now. So what are we doing as a whole, to improve that employee of opposition and partner with our clients to make sure that we keep those PQ. 

Bryan Pena: I think it's an interesting phraseology I think is super, super interesting on this one and I think it's an ocean.

Bryan Pena: It, it's surprising the notion of candidate loyalty. I think that the notion of candidate loyalty is relatively. I don't know if we can expect it necessarily. I mean, when you look at today's platform based firms, it's easy for me to register with seven different technology platforms. Any candidate's loyalty is really going to be limited to the one that gives them the right opportunities that match what their demands are and what their needs are and get some benefits in sticking with those individuals.

Bryan Pena: And I think one of the things that is an interesting element that is a little bit different than the EOR AOR conversation is the notion of loyalty and that comes from loyalty. And if we can call it that, it comes from connection with community. So one of the things that you should be thinking about in addition to obviously in this conversation, we're about maximizing, where you put your revenue, how are you fostering a sense of community and value and belonging to those candidates that are within your talent pool?

Bryan Pena: So often when I'm talking to different platforms and staffing firms, all of their focus goes in one direction as opposed to the direction and looking behind them at the talent that, that makes, keeps them in business. How are you bringing more value outside of running them jobs? That's a really key consideration.

Bryan Pena: If you want to think about this notion of loyalty it's a transaction and, you want to make sure that you're providing as much as you can on your end of that transaction to foster loyalty connection and community, 

Angela Alberty: The art of curation and these interesting times. One of the things I think is interesting, Bryan is when I interviewed you for a podcast many months ago you said this perfectly, there has never been an easier time for a person to go online.

Angela Alberty: And within five minutes have a plethora of opportunities in front of them. So when it's going to make you stand apart, and I think it's that I, maybe I'm a little bit old fashioned, but there is a definitely a human element behind that can set yourself apart 

Cesar Jimenez: 100%. Right? That's a great point.

Cesar Jimenez: Curation is a key factor today, you know, establishing long-term relationships. You know, that's everything in our marketplace. I love that. What you said there, Brian connection to the community is what it's all about.

Bryan Pena: I have a question for you guys and we promised each other that we would ask each other questions.

Bryan Pena: I'm going to go ahead and do it. One of the things that I think about the EOR model is the employee brand, the employer brand. So when we're leveraging an EOR solution how was my employment brand affected by leveraging you guys? 

Cesar Jimenez: That's an excellent question. I mean, from my perspective you know, we serve, you know, we're behind the scenes.

Cesar Jimenez: We're the ones that. We're doing this on the behalf of the agency itself so they can control it's their brand. It's everything that we do. And our model is co-branded. But you know, we have to be co-branded to a certain respect because there's an employer record status that they're, you know, since we're assuming liability, but for the most part, you know, everything that we do is on behalf of our customers.

Cesar Jimenez: And we make sure that messaging is very clear and communicated that way. 

Angela Alberty: Yeah. I mean, listen, I mean, the concept of outsourcing is not necessarily something new, have you gone to a job and they had, you know, PEO in place or, you know, payments facilitated by paychecks or an ADP of the world. I don't think that's going to be conceptually something difficult for candidates to accept and understand.

Angela Alberty: It really comes down to having the capabilities aligned with a partner that allows you to have a co-branded element into it and gives you those preparatory measures to make that dialogue even easier. And you know, that part is critical, not just on the candidate side, but also on the client side, who the heck is this third party?

Angela Alberty: And how do I best elaborate and explain that not only from a marketing perspective, but from a potential legality perspective and giving the terms in place that really helps outline what liabilities assumed by those third parties. 

Cesar Romero: It's a question from Avneesh. Well, first of all, thanks so much for being so engaged.

Cesar Romero: We love the questions here to maximize revenue. It's critical to have a good pipeline, new client acquisition while your thoughts and advice on this. 

Angela Alberty: Now's the time. It's a great time to get new clients. I mean, left and right. I think enterprises are really chomping at the bit to try and find unique ways to fill the talent pipeline.

Cesar Jimenez: Yeah. Mean, that's exactly Angela. I mean, I would say two things for me. I mean, you're right. I mean, the buyers out there today are more open just because in general, the market's tight and the current suppliers only have so much bandwidth, so they're more open to that more than ever. And then I would say, you know, pipeline, you can never like connection to the community.

Cesar Jimenez: Right? I think the curation practices should be adopted and implemented in your organization just, and that's what comes from bandwidth and more people that you have to staff. You know, develop KPIs that they're actually going to be doing those types of activities because you know who you talk about today may not, you know, can fill a position tomorrow.

Cesar Jimenez: It's all about long-term relationships with the pipeline. I also feel you know, this is something out there. You know, I think it's hard to be everything to everybody. I think that's when we lose a little bit, you have to wind up describing what you are really good at? What is your firm really good at placing, right?

Cesar Jimenez: And then really make those connections with those communities. In fact, double down on your investments and sponsorships, or, you know, get into insider trading within those niche communities. And then you actually market to those types of services out there. Because I think the days of being a generalist is kind of going away, I wind up, you know, not filling everything, you know, versus, you know what, let me dominate a few different skill areas and grow my business.

Cesar Jimenez: And just be great at it. 

Bryan Pena: I think I'm definitely focused on creating a differentiated connection point and having supply. We talked about the question before about candidate loyalty. I think really making sure that you have a unique perspective and have an on demand source of talent that clients are desperate for.

Bryan Pena: And the biggest thing about that is just be really clear with what you have, as opposed to just saying you can do it easily. Exactly right. You want to, you don't want to be all things to all people. And the mistake comes when you don't meet expectations. So if you can't accommodate a role or can't fill it immediately, then move on to the next one.

Bryan Pena: Because there's plenty of opportunity out there for those people you have in your pipeline. And if you can, you know, if you go with supply and can blow over that supply on demand, when you say you can deliver it I think that's going to be a really big differentiator. 

Angela Alberty: And further repurposing that strategy as a value proposition for your own business.

Angela Alberty: When you go to clients and let them know what's the differentiator and what sets you apart, it's because you've taken this certain engagement strategy when it comes to your talent and developing it, and those are the type of suppliers that eventually they're going to want to partner with. 

Cesar Jimenez: Yeah, just to I'm sorry, just cause I'm big on the worker experience, just, you know, when you say double down on, you know, the niche areas, but really double down on that worker experience, you know, just do everything you can separate yourselves from the pack.

Cesar Jimenez: Do things that, you know, make some investments in the workers that they're gonna wind up speaking about you and referring people to your way. And that might mean, you know, what it may be, you know, what's important to workers today, right? So stability time off benefits, you know, all of the different things that they need to do to separate yourselves. It's really going to help you develop a better pipeline. 

Cesar Romero: I wanted to ask you a question in, in, in terms of candidates, inventory, and candidate redeployment strategy because some of them I'm curious about. So typically, right, a client, it takes them about eight to 10 candidates, right? Going over 10, 8, 10 candidates before choosing a 1 for the assignment for the job.

Cesar Romero: Those that don't make the cut right. That they're still an asset. Right. They're still valuable. But I feel like it, a lot of times it could be a missed opportunity. So what would you recommend in terms of keeping this talent pool active and engaged, know any specific tips or strategies when it comes to candidate redeployment.

Cesar Jimenez: Sure. I mean, at this level, I mean, I think that you bring up a good point there Caesar. Mean, I like you know, just because they're not a fit for that organization doesn't mean a fit for another. I think that's where some really, if you adopt some real creation practices into your organization, your recruiting team, that's going to help you stay connected to the talent and, you know, giving them feedback, you know, keep making sure that they're still in the game.

Cesar Jimenez: Making sure people appreciate that. And they'll stay connected with you. If you are doing those things. Knowing from a redeployment perspective, you got to know the data, you know, you gotta know, you gotta be ahead of the game. You got to find out, you know, we've finished me over the next 90 days or 60, 30 days.

Cesar Jimenez: You know, you want to look for those models that can produce that type of data for you. So you're able to have conversations, either, get them extended or wind up, you know, mark a different organization because right now it's like, you want to keep, you want to run. You want to keep that talent engaged for the life of your relationship.

Cesar Jimenez: Right? And that's the key thing, at least from my opinion, 

Cesar Romero: Thank you. C, I know we're coming up. And I wanted to make sure we wrap it up with something that the audience can take away. Right? So if someone were to start a staffing business, that's something that you see today, you know, what will be your life?

Cesar Romero: You know, your commendation. 

Cesar Jimenez: I love that one. That's a good one. 

Bryan Pena: Can I'll let you guys finish it cause I tend to ramble on, so I think that if I were to start a staffing firm today the one thing you'd have to realize is that what you need to be is you need to be a maniac and you need to be a maniac.

Bryan Pena: In the best possible sense because you know, we touched upon this briefly, wherever in the staffing industry now more than ever, it's never been more important to make sure that you help people find and create opportunity for themselves and their families. The staffing firm to me is more than a job or an industry.

Bryan Pena: It's really like a calling. And I've always believed because of my personal situation growing up that the best thing you can do for a person is to provide them with that opportunity. And so as the staffing professional, that's what you're doing. You're making everything that happens in that individual's life possible, the possibility for them to feed their families, put a kid through school and take care of a sick relative.

Bryan Pena: It's a, it's almost like to seem silly, would be hyperbolic, but it's a calling and it's a purpose-driven solution. So remember that this, the industry itself has a really special one and you're making a very special contribution to people's lives. But now in a practical tactical sense outside of the philosophical one really understanding the niche that you want to explain either in the context of your personal connections and in terms of who you can sell to, to generate demand, but also those perspectives and pipelines, you can have.

Bryan Pena: To develop supply. I think having a clear kind of differentiated value proposition for both sides, the barbels is the first thing you need to do. And I will let Cesar and Angela talk more about the stuff.

Angela Alberty: I think you've wrapped that up perfectly. Bryan, I, you know, just to chime in on that, the future of work is now things are rapidly changing. But it all comes down to that foundation of why we're in this business. And it's like I said earlier, it's a very sacred thing. But knowing that there are so many distractions out there, there are so many elements that are out played, so many options in a scarce market.

Angela Alberty: What are going to be those differentiators that go back to the candidate experience and that sets you apart you know, the future of work and what it means it's the worker, it ends and begins with the worker and their experience and knowing that they are in the driver's seat. At this time and for the foreseeable future, from what studies indicate. 

Cesar Jimenez: That's good. Okay. For me. Wow. Several things, I would say, if you were in the beginning of the year, I would say, definitely learn from my mistakes.

Cesar Jimenez: All right. So I would say for us, you know, you definitely want to, you know, if you're going to be starting a staffing business in the game, keep the main thing the main thing should be the main thing. And the main thing in our business is putting people to work and matching, making that match happen.

Cesar Jimenez: Make sure it's a successful placement, not just a placement, right? And you need every bit of focus to do that. You know, this business, I would share with you that, like I mentioned, the theme across here, it takes an incredible amount of cash to run this type of business, you know? So owning all that liability is another factor that a lot of people don't understand or maybe not consider.

Cesar Jimenez: So I would tell people to do anything that you want, especially in the startup phase is, you know, come out the gate with a model. That's gonna allow you to focus on keeping the main thing, which is putting people to work outsource, to functions and leverage. You know, you don't have to go out there and, you know, assume all these crazy liabilities or wind up giving a tremendous amount of equity to an investor because you need the capital to run your company.

Cesar Jimenez: There's models out there, you know, and, you know, I was able to benefit from that greatly, you know, we have a multi-million dollar business today and I still can't believe it. I'm a kid that came out of the service not knowing what to do, not an officer, right. Enlisted just knew how to understand orders, work hard.

Cesar Jimenez: And I will tell you that's why I'm so in love with this business today. It just opened the gate, you know, to help me create opportunity and safety for my family. And I will tell you it's about, it's a lot of focus and, you know, don't take those opportunities for granted when they come up.

Cesar Jimenez: So remember the main thing outsource, or you could focus 

Angela Alberty: A great question that I want to address really quickly and Caesar, as you can give a little bit of a testimony to this, but absolutely. The question is, would we be able in the model number two, where you're outsourcing these functions, it would be highly effective to have a bridge point of contact and as an intermediary between your agency and the back office provider and one person dedicated to help administer that process.

Cesar Jimenez: Absolutely. We call it, we have like that liaison. So from that, I know, I had what I have. We probably have about 25 internal employees. One of those employees is one of those team members and is a liaison between the EOR and our agency. And I will tell you, it's not even a. Probably not even a full-time job, just because that you are, does that organization, the right EOR model should be able to be really flexible and help you grow your business.

Cesar Jimenez: And everything's based on SLA. So, you know, you definitely want to have that focus because there's always little things that you want to make sure that you're aware of, because again, we're in the people business, we promise our consultants and our clients, everything. So, you know, I would definitely recommend having a liaison dedicated to that relationship itself.

Cesar Romero: Thank you, Cesar. Thank you Angela, Bryan. We have about three minutes, so I want to make sure we wrap it up by reminding the audience that if you want to connect with us after the session and continue the conversation, feel free to scan our QR codes. It'll take you straight to our LinkedIn profiles.

Cesar Romero: Also please visit our booth for the World Staffing Summit. Happy to continue the conversation and follow up and shout out to Jan for making this happen. I appreciate the opportunity. Thank you. Thank you for being such an engaging participation in thanks for all the questions and comments.