The American Staffing Association today announced that LocumTenens.com’s Miechia Esco, MD, has been named the 2023 National Staffing Employee of the Year.
The announcement marks the beginning of National Staffing Employee Week, which runs this year from Sept. 12 to 18 and celebrates the contributions of the millions of temporary and contract employees hired by U.S. staffing agencies each year.
“From entry-level roles to the c-suite, temporary and contract employees are making a difference in our society and our economy,” said Richard Wahlquist, president and chief executive officer of ASA. “This year’s National Staffing Employee of the Year’s and All-Stars’ stories exemplify the ways staffing agencies help people of all ages and at all stages of their careers gain access to new and meaningful employment opportunities.”
Sponsored by StaffPro3, a division of PMC Insurance, the National Staffing Employee of the Year and All-Star awards honor current or former temporary or contract employees with extraordinary stories of staffing success and who best exemplify one or more of the industry’s key messages of bridging and flexibility.
Esco will be honored during a ceremony at Staffing World®, the ASA annual convention and expo, Oct. 25-27 at the MGM Grand Las Vegas.
National Staffing Employee of the Year
Health Care Sector All-Star
Miechia Esco
LocumTenens.com
Miechia Esco, MD, a vascular surgeon, looked to staffing to help her regain her passion for medicine. Starting to feel detached from the communities she served, she connected with a recruiter from LocumTenens.com and agreed to embark on a locum tenens contract. Her subsequent newfound ability to choose when and where she wants to work has reinvigorated her love of medicine, allowing her to travel to underserved communities where she is most needed. In addition to her locum tenens role, she also serves as the agency’s chief medical resource adviser, a position created for her after she identified gaps across the health care staffing industry.
 
Practicing locum tenens medicine also gives Esco greater flexibility in how she spends her time outside the hospital. In addition to serving on medical mission trips, she’s become a certified yoga teacher and a world traveler who’s even conquered Mount Kilimanjaro.
Engineering, Information Technology, and Scientific Sector All-Star
Jeremy Denton
Airswift
For Jeremy Denton, staffing was a way to enter the rapidly growing green energy sector. A 15-year veteran of the oil and gas industry,Denton turned to Airswift to place him with renewable energy companies that could benefit from his skills as a safety professional. Airswift’s help enabled Denton to pursue a career in project safety management roles to support major energy clients ranging from major electrical grid modernizations to safe seabed surveys for new offshore wind platforms. Other alternative energy projects include utility-scale solar and battery storage facilities and renewable fuel projects designed to convert petroleum refining facilities to agricultural feedstock manufacturing facilities to produce low-carbon emission fuels such as biodiesel and sustainable aviation fuels. Denton’s experience has also moved him to mentor other professionals switching from careers in the fossil fuel industry to renewables.
Industrial Sector All-Star
Lisa Goodrich
Working Fields
Staffing gave Lisa Goodrich the second chance she needed in her career. As a formerly justice-involved individual, Goodrich was concerned she could never get a chance to move past a dead-end job that didn’t support her financially and kept her away from her husband for long periods. Then she found Working Fields. The staffing agency not only placed her with a local cable manufacturing company but also provided her with a peer coach who met with her weekly to develop her budgeting skills and support her recovery from substance use. Soon, she had the resources to purchase a vehicle and get the necessary medical treatment she’d been postponing. Based on her hard work and dedication, Goodrich earned a full-time position with the manufacturing company where she worked.
Office–Clerical and Administrative Sector
Noel Samuel
Integrity Staffing Solutions
Partnering with Integrity Staffing Solutions provided Noel Samuel with the opportunity to support her role as a working mom. Samuel was the victim of a pandemic-driven layoff in March 2020. The single mother of two children under the age of six joined the Integrity team after hearing about their opportunities from a friend. Within a week, she had a job working for the City of Wilmington, DE. Her new role provided her with a steady income and the ability to drop off and pick up her kids from school, negating the need for costly childcare. Samuel has also taken advantage of Integrity’s online job training program, completing supervisor training and earning a certificate in CNC machine printing. She’s excelled in her assignment, has already been promoted, and plans to continue developing her skills with a new class soon.
Professional-Managerial Sector All-Star
LaKeatia Daniels-Owens
AtWork Personnel
Staffing helped LaKeatia Daniels-Owens find her a new industry career opportunity after experiencing tragedy and hardship. Daniels-Owens had served in leadership roles in various industries. Then she was in a car accident where she sustained serious injuries and her husband was killed. She persevered and returned to work after three months of numerous surgeries and physical therapy. Shortly after her return she learned her position had been eliminated. After a lengthy and unsuccessful job search, she turned to AtWork Personnel in Raleigh-Durham, NC. Staffing professionals worked with her to find her a new role as a human resource administrative assistant at DECI, a nonprofit warehousing and logistics provider providing employment and assistance to people with vocational disabilities. Daniels-Owens’s ability to learn quickly and utilize her experience allowed her to excel in her role, and she was soon promoted to human resources manager. She now oversees more than 220 employees, has become a proud member of the Society for Human Resource Management, and is working toward a certification from the HR Certification Institute.
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About the American Staffing Association (ASA)
The American Staffing Association is the voice of the U.S. staffing, recruiting, and workforce solutions industry. ASA and its state affiliates advance the interests of the industry across all sectors through advocacy, research, education, and the promotion of high standards of legal, ethical, and professional practices. For more information about ASA, visit americanstaffing.net.
