| A new employment agency that opened this summer in Gig Harbor hopes to fill the need of matching the right employee to the right job and the right company. SmartTalent, which has four other offices in King County and one in Fife in Pierce County, helps both job seekers and companies find the best match.
Two of the company’s three owners, father and daughter Fred Paulson and Trisha Paulson, live in Gig Harbor. Fred Paulson is also the owner of Narrows Pacific Builders.
“So far we’ve had great response from the local community and we absolutely love Gig Harbor,” said Nick Thomas, SmartTalent account manager. “We have a high level of applicants, so it’s easy to satisfy the employer’s needs.”
The agency fills many Gig Harbor jobs, but its customer base goes as far as Kitsap and Mason counties as well as the east side of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. Many of the available jobs are clerical and administrative, but the company can fill any openings from industrial and construction to accounting and legal. The applicant screening includes a behavioral-based assessment using the TalentCheQ model that measures various abilities, skills, personality and even risk.
“We have one of the most rigorous screening processes in the entire industry,” Thomas said. If an employer is dissatisfied with the employee provided by SmartTalent, the employer is not charged for that employee’s time. Account managers not only meet with companies one on one to discuss their needs, but also come to the site on a new employee’s first day for an introduction and orientation.
A business can call the agency any time during the day or night — the phone line is linked to a live answering service after hours, which will contact one of SmartTalent employees if there is an urgent staffing need. “We make ourselves available for people who realize at 2 in the morning they need someone,” Thomas said. “We’re a business partner — making their day better.”
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