Murray Resources has flourished by creating a business model that allows recruiters to get personal in the personnel industry

Marsha Murray has been in the personnel business for more than two decades — but she still gets a thrill from helping people find the right job.

Murray started what is now known as Murray Resources from her home in 1988, while also taking care of her two young children. But after going through a divorce, she realized she needed to work full-time to grow the company.

Murray borrowed $2,000 from her father and began expanding her business from its focus on direct-hire services to include contract and temporary staffing, temp-to-hire and payroll services.

Her original 400-square-foot office now encompasses 4,000 square feet and houses 11 full-time employees. The company has helped clients such as Weatherford International, Noble Drilling Co. and Western Geophysical find employees. In 1998, Murray Resources garnered $1.69 million, compared to $2.59 million in 2000.

Hiring practice

Murray worked part time at M. David Lowe Staffing Services Inc. in Houston while pursuing her education degree at the University of Houston. After graduating in 1979, she decided she wanted a career in the personnel business.

“I liked the fast-paced excitement of it and I decided it was what I wanted to do,” Murray says of her time at M. David Lowe. “But, when I went to the manager to ask for a job after I graduated, she told me I wasn’t seasoned enough in the business world for a position with the company,” she says.

That rejection didn’t stop Murray — she accepted a job at a financial services company and worked for a year before going back to the manager at M. David Lowe and asking for the position a second time.

Murray received a job as a recruiter for the company and worked there until the birth of her first child. She began working part-time for her existing clients from home, but she was torn between her career and her children.

Beginning in 1993, Murray moved into an office, hired a couple of employees and began focusing on growing her small business to support herself and her children.

Murray says she learned the business-end of running a company from asking a lot of questions and not being afraid to try new ideas.

“I’ve learned a lot from taking a lot of chances, and as I look back I wonder how I got through some things,” she says. “But you can’t be afraid to take a risk in order to expand the company.”

Murray wasn’t intimidated to hire employees who knew more about certain areas of the industry than she did, and says she welcomed their expertise. In fact, she recognized that their strengths could help fill in some gaps within the company.

Even as Murray grew her business and expanded her services, she never obtained a large loan from a bank. Instead, she simply grew the company slowly.

“I was cautious with the growth by not taking on too much overhead, and it helped me sleep a little better at night knowing that I had the money saved in advance to pay my employees and run my business,” she says.

Although she says the growth of her business was in some respects kick-started by a loan in the early days, Murray says she’s glad she controlled the growth of her business and didn’t take on a lot of debt on the front-end.

Murray believes Murray Resources has continued to grow over the years because the company maintains a focus on taking care of the customers and focusing on their needs.

“I am very, very concerned about the long-term satisfaction with our clients,” she says. “I’m interested in building long-term relationships with them rather than just quickly doing the service and getting paid my fees.”

Murray says even though her company focuses on customer service, she faces the challenge of garnering name recognition and going up against national companies that spend millions of dollars in advertising.

Most of Murray Resources’ clients have come on board based on word-of-mouth referrals, largely because the company doesn’t have the capital for a large advertising budget.

Susan Matthiessen, executive director of the Houston area of the Texas Association of Professional Consultants, says most personnel companies gain new business through referrals rather than traditional advertising.

“We sell a service, and no one stays in this business for very long if they don’t offer quality personal service,” Matthiessen says. “If a company is happy with you, they will tell other companies about you, and if a job candidate is satisfied with your service, they will tell all their friends and neighbors about you.”

Even as Murray was still struggling to secure name recognition among potential clients, she made the tough decision last year to change the company’s name from Memorial City Staffing to Murray Resources — a move that was made in an effort to avoid possible confusion among clients.

Murray says Memorial City Staffing caused clients and potential clients to believe that the company only served firms in the Memorial area or was somehow affiliated with the Memorial City Plaza, which is where the firm’s office is located.

“We have 13 years of credible experience and we still have the challenge of getting our name out there,” Murray says. “But I’ve joined every organization I can to make people aware of our business and the services we offer.”

Murray says her staff works to maintain clients by “killing them with service.” Murray herself is in the office every day to personally handle problems for clients, a perk not always offered by national personnel consultants.

Tool time

Murray Resources has an assessment tool that that Murray believes sets the company apart from competitors. The system allows the company to evaluate job candidates in a way that’s more in-depth than reviewing a resume and conducting an interview.

Murray and a former employee developed a retention-based recruiting model that she says is fast, effective and highly accurate.

“Hands down, our assessment procedure differentiates us from competitors because we get past the basics and determine what the job candidate’s work style is and what kind of work environment they would best succeed in,” she says.

Murray is so confident in this procedure that she set up the financial structure to where she doesn’t earn her full fee until the client company retains the employee for a two-year period.

But Murray Resources is not alone.

During the recent economic downturn, Matthiessen says, most personnel companies are doing more satisfy their clients, such as offering guarantees on job candidates. She says companies also are offering more niche specialties, such as placing only legal or account professionals, for example.

In the meantime, Murray currently doesn’t plan to expand outside of Houston. But she does hope to continue to grow the administration and clerical and accounting and financial sides of her company.

Murray Resources will launch a Web site in the next couple of months, which will offer candidates the chance to post resumes and will offer potential clients information about the company’s services and history.

Click here to open a window for the full article