Member Profiles


Featured Member:
Kit Schutte, Account Manager
Goodwill Staffing Services
Boise, ID

Year program began: 1996
Program sponsor: Easter Seals-Goodwill Northern Rocky Mountain
Jobseekers placed last year: 401

Ask Kit Schutte why after nine years she’s still so driven to win new accounts, build the Goodwill Staffing Services brand, and expand placement options for disadvantaged jobseekers, and you get an unequivocal answer: “I dig it.” Talk to her a few more minutes, and you clearly sense the energy and sincerity behind that statement.

In the first of our member profiles, we asked Kit about the staffing market in Idaho’s Treasure Valley and the outlook for Goodwill Staffing Services (GSS) as it begins its second decade of service to Boise area employers and workers, and more recently, the neighboring community of Nampa, Idaho.

First, what worker population does GSS mainly work with?

We work with a large number of “mainstream” disadvantaged individuals as well as ex-offenders and disabled persons. In Nampa, GSS is co-located with the state’s work-over-welfare program, so we get a steady flow of referrals from the case managers in that office. Essentially, the individuals we place and support need to be work-ready or nearly work-ready.

What types of support services have you found to be most critical to their workplace success?

Most often we find that people need help to make good decisions and good choices, some counseling to think through the consequences of their actions. We also assist people with child care and transportation. I’d characterize our main form of support as “quick fixes,” things like interview clothes or basic instruction in how to use a copy machine, or little corrections to help people stay on course … when a worker calls to tell us he can’t work today because a friend needs help moving a couch, for example, we help the worker rethink and adjust his priorities.

What types of employers do you serve, and what is your approach in marketing your services to them?

Our placements were originally concentrated in light industrial jobs, but we’ve transformed that into 95% clerical jobs today. We have a diverse range of customers … legal offices, medical offices, government agencies – such as Homeland Security and FEMA – and a variety of small businesses.
We sell GSS as an extension of an employer’s HR department and work hard to position ourselves as partners in managing this aspect of their business. Staying in the communications loop enables us to address pink flags before they become red flags, engineer “quick fixes” for our employees and facilitate the win-win-win.
We emphasize service first and we back that with an unconditional guarantee. As I tell our customers, “I can’t guarantee human behavior, but I can guarantee our services.”

What are the biggest challenges of operating an alternative staffing program in your market?

The unemployment rate is very low here, only 2.9%, which often makes it difficult to find qualified candidates. I think a measure of our success as HR partners with our customers is the high number of worker referrals we get from them. We also use radio spots, internet ads and contacts with case managers, community colleges and other training organizations to recruit workers.
Another challenge is competition from national staffing companies, especially when their corporate office has scored a national contract that in turn restricts the local branch’s choice of staffing vendors and becomes an obstacle to using our services.

What’s a business innovation or tool you can suggest to other practitioners?

We do a customer satisfaction survey twice a year as a way to touch base and get feedback and business referrals. The incentive for them to respond is four free hours of service. And we likewise survey all our workers. It’s a great way to feed these relationships and stay in the loop. (Members can download copies of GSS’ Customer and Employee Satisfaction Surveys under Model Business Documents)

What are GSS’s main goals for the future?

The Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) has developed new standards for the staffing industry and we’ve been working very hard to complete the survey process. I’m proud and excited to say we’re currently on track to become the first accredited entity in the US under this new designation. Business-wise, we’re focused on growing our state set-aside sales and we continue to strive to increase our private sector sales.

What advice would you offer to someone considering alternative staffing as a strategy in their community?

I would strongly emphasize that staffing is a business, not a traditional rehab service. Therefore, do a market study and know the niche you’ll serve. Be sure you have cash flow to handle weekly payroll. Hire good internal staff that’ll last. And don’t go it alone – get business expertise.

For more about Goodwill Staffing Services, visit www.goodwillstaffingservices.com.