Provisional Services Inc., a Spokane-based provider of temporary help and employee recruiting, says its hoping its focus on specialized professional staffing will help continue its robust growth amidst a tightening labor market.


Provisional Services operates six divisions, called Accountingpros, Dentalpros, Medicalpros, Legalpros, Officepros, and Techpros, says owner and staffing manager Erick C. Fahsholtz. It also offers executive recruiting services in specialty areas including accounting and finance, health care, sales, and technical.


The company has offices in Spokane and Coeur dAlene, and also sends employees to the Tri-Cities market to conduct interviews with applicants for jobs in that market with its clients, Fahsholtz says. It hopes to open an office in the Tri-Cities, but hasnt set a timetable to do that yet, he says.


Provisional Services revenues jumped 25 percent last year and are expected to climb at a similar pace this year, Fahsholtz says. He declines to disclose revenue figures. The company has 13 full-time employees and an average weekly payroll of between 100 and 200 temporary employees.


The companys growth in 2006 came mainly because of its perennially strong Medicalpros, which also is its fastest-growing division, he says. Provisionals accounting and technical divisions also helped fuel its growth last year. Techpros, in particular, is rising from the ashes after being decimated by the dot-com bust in 2002, he says.


The story of technical is its rebound in the last few years, Fahsholtz says. It was so strong in the late 90s, and then you literally couldnt get a job as far as IT went in Spokane, and now employees are again in short supply.


The equilibrium in the job market here has shifted since 2003, when employers could pick from a large pool of temporary employees, he says. Now, Provisional Services receives more orders for personnel than it has people to fill them. Fahsholtz adds, though, that the company is able to fill most of its orders.


This is definitely a job seekers market, he says.


As the number of unemployed workers here has dwindled, the companys direct-hire recruiting has increased, particularly for mid-level positions, Fahsholtz says. Meanwhile, finding employees to fill entry-level positions has become increasingly challenging.


Wage inflation is a challenge, he says. In this market you used to be able to fill $8-an-hour customer-services jobs, and now its difficult to find motivated people to work for those wages.


Megan Shover, the companys Spokane branch manager, agrees that while the tightening labor market has helped boost the companys business, it also presents the companys biggest challenges. As a result, Provisional Services, which relies heavily on word-of-mouth advertising, has been working more closely with colleges and universities here to find qualified applicants, she says. The company also has created an interactive Web site through which job seekers can search for openings.


Theres a job out there for everybody; its just a matter of finding the right fit, Shover says.


Sharpened focus


Provisional Services, which formed here in 1994, hasnt always focused solely on professional staffing. It offered industrial, or labor, staffing services until the end of 2002, Fahsholtz says. That year, the company had nearly $6 million in revenues and was ranked by the Puget Sound Business Journal as being among the 100 fastest-growing companies in Washington state, he says. Provisional Services decided to reposition itself as a professional staffing service in 2003 to focus on its core business and to distinguish it from competitors, he says.


A lot of staffing companies staff labor, but were focusing on the professional realm, Shover asserts.


In addition to that focus, the company seeks to stand out in the marketplace by running state and federal criminal background checks on every employee on its payroll, including temporary workers it places, in addition to putting every employee through a routine screening process, Shover says. It offers drug testing when clients request it. Fahsholtz claims less than half of staffing services in this market require criminal background screenings for all of their employees.


Its a part of our services, Shover says. It may limit the pool of workers, but it also increases the quality, and its what our clients want.


The companys Spokane office has been located in an about 2,500-square-foot space at 420 W. Dean since 2003, when it moved from the Flour Mill. The companys Coeur dAlene office, which opened two years ago, moved in November to a roughly 2,000-square-foot space at the northeast corner of Second Street and Indiana Avenue, from a much smaller space at the northeast corner of Dalton Avenue and U.S. 95.


Contact Emily Brandler at (509) 344-1265 or via e-mail at emilyb@spokanejournal.com.