Spherion Staffs and Outsources Technology Jobs Around the World

By George Walsh, Hacienda Network Staff Writer

Staffing technology companies can be a tricky business, particularly when it's difficult to assess the applicant's core competencies. In some cases, technology companies opt to outright hire a new staffer. In others, it makes more sense to outsource the work to another company with a proven background in the type of work that needs to be done. Spherion, at 3825 Hopyard Road, can offer assistance in either case.

"Spherion is actually an international company," says Scott Davidson, operations director for Spherion's Northwest market. "So, from a 'big picture' perspective, we are a staffing services company." Spherion Corporate includes five different divisions - staffing, recruiting, outsourcing, HR consulting, and technology - in over 850 offices worldwide. The Hacienda location of Spherion, however, is engaged primarily in technology fields.

"We have three main focuses," Davidson says. "Recruitment, outsourcing, and technology services." These three focus points include the management of help desk staffing and operations (where customers and others contact a company for help using their technology products), asset control (documenting and controlling software in use or under development by an organization), quality assurance and application testing (making sure a product performs as promised), managing networks and data centers, and information technology staffing across all skill sets and levels of expertise. The Northwest technology division of Spherion provides its services in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Northern California, typically placing consultants on a project basis. "We cover quite a bit of ground," Davidson says. "We provide staffing for application development, software testing, infrastructure management, end-user services, and project management."

Spherion's technology division will also take on jobs that other companies are outsourcing. "We'll actually bid on projects and perform the requested tasks using our consultants, whether it's co-development, software testing, or implementation services," Davidson says. "We also do managed services, where we will manage a function of their IT organization. For instance, some of our clients will hire us and put us in charge of technical support. They want to focus their money and efforts on research and development rather than training and growing a help desk environment. We have people on our staff who are dedicated to that type of work and are placed in long-term engagements on the client's site."

Another area that the Pleasanton Spherion office will soon be moving into is professional recruiting. "The focus of the professional recruiting group will be providing full-time or direct hire recruiting for finance and accounting, legal, and sales and marketing," Davidson says. "While this office offers staffing in technology and will soon address other fields, Spherion as a whole offers all areas of staffing services. If someone is looking for 'one-stop-shopping' for all of their staffing needs, Spherion is a good place to look. The company has been around for 57 years, so we're not going anywhere. Here, we understand the technology and the value of finding qualified candidates. That's what differentiates our division of Spherion from many other staffing services."

Photo: Scott Davidson (far right) and the rest of Spherion's Hacienda staff provide their staffing expertise to a host of international clients.

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