After eight months of traveling and working abroad, Patrick said, “I returned from my journey and needed to find work as soon as possible. I knew from experience that a staffing firm could get me back on my feet sooner than the classifieds could. So, I looked in the Yellow Pages…”
And he found his solution: Virginia-based staffing firm Strategic Staffing Inc. He was placed as a project manager with the U.S. Navy. As a contract employee, he creates and maintains project schedules, charts expenditures, and applies algorithms in his work with databases and Web sites.
These projects were a new frontier for the English major, a graduate of George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. But with the training that the opportunity provided, he mastered the software, and became an information technology professional.
Patrick has gained “the personal sense of accomplishment that stems from providing an important service in a vital industry,” said Alicia Vicentini, president and CEO of Strategic Staffing Inc. She nominated Patrick for the distinction.
Patrick’s position as a contract employee also provides the flexibility he needs to attend to his family, to pursue his hobbies of photography and scuba diving, and to continue to travel: “I can conduct my life according to my own priorities.”
“We salute Patrick and the two and a half million temporary and contract employees who work every day to make a contribution to our economy and to our society,” said Richard Wahlquist, president and CEO of the American Staffing Association. “While they are often less visible, they make up an increasingly important part of America’s work force.”
The 2004 National Staffing Employee of the Year is sponsored by Esprit Capital Advisors, providing merger and acquisition, restructuring, strategic planning, and corporate finance services.
