firstPRO 360 CELEBRATES ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY AMIDST UNPREDICTABLE JOB MARKET

(Friday, September 24, 2021) – ATLANTA, GA –

firstPRO 360, an Atlanta-based recruiting firm, celebrates one year under new leadership on September 24, 2021. In an unpredictable job market, Sandy Springs resident and firstPRO 360 President, Neil Ellison, sees a bright future for the recruiting industry.

In September of 2017, the owner of firstPRO Incorporated, an Atlanta market staple since 1986, sold the Atlanta operation to New York-based Staffing 360 Solutions, a public buy and build staffing firm operating in the U.S. and U.K. Ellison, having worked for the company since 1996, purchased and rebranded the Atlanta operation, firstPRO 360, in September of 2020.

“In the first 12 months since acquiring firstPRO 360, I've been focused on hiring and developing as many new employees as possible to meet market demands,” said Neil Ellison, firstPRO 360 President. “As a result, we've increased our number of employees by 40% over the past 10 months. This is a drastic increase over recent years where we had been decreasing in numbers each year.” 

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics, the Atlanta metropolitan area including Sandy Springs and Roswell, noted a 6% increase in job gain, higher than the national average of 5.8%. Professional and business services had the largest job gain with nearly 47,000 jobs and a 9.2% increase in the past year.

Many metro-Atlanta employees adjusted to remote or hybrid working environments amidst the Covid pandemic, so worker's priorities and expectations shifted.  As a result, employers wanting to entice new hires had to pivot with them.

“It's no longer just an increase in compensation or shorter commute time needed to motivate candidates, but also flexible work schedules or full-remote opportunities,” said Ellison. “At present, 18 months into the pandemic, 95% of our candidates for IT positions expect full-remote work environments. Fortunately, most of our firstPRO 360 clients have adjusted well and now offer flexible work schedules.  This is one reason that I don't see this current demand being affected by future Covid spikes. 2020 was a crash course in agility and sustainability for most organizations.”

Ellison, having been in the industry for more than 25 years, has seen several recessions and rebounds. According to him, the post-pandemic rebound was almost immediate, unlike years past where rebounds were typically gradual and shown to affect different sectors at different rates. firstPRO 360 shifted quickly as the company saw historically low rates of hiring change to overwhelming demands in only a few months. 

firstPRO 360 specializes in Accounting/Finance and IT where the shortage of candidates available for jobs is extremely low. While low supply and high demand for talent is not new, the pandemic has created a unique environment to learn and build upon.

“The recruiting industry is ever-changing, but one thing that will never change for us is the quality of relationships we build between organizations and employees,” said Ellison. “At firstPRO 360, we value those relationships above all else and as a result, currently maintain the highest employee retention rate in our market and industry. It is entirely because of the success and quality of our team that I sought to purchase firstPRO 360 last year, and for that same reason I intend to continue our growth and take us to the next level.”

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firstPRO 360 is a professional recruitment firm, located in Atlanta, GA. firstPRO 360 has been providing professional recruiting services since 1986. firstPRO 360 primarily specializes in Accounting/Finance and IT placements, but also places employees in Medical Sales and Marketing. Current clients include Home Depot, NCR, Lexis Nexis, Bayer and many others. firstPRO 360’s goal is to build strong client-employee relationships and continue to drive Atlanta’s booming talent market. For more information, please visit www.firstpro360.com or call 404-303-4980.