Professional, Productive, Insightful, and Positive

It is my pleasure to provide any potential Burling group client with the sharing of my experiences in working with Ron and his group. By way of informational background I have been in business 40 years, 20 of those last years as President and CEO of a chain of retail stores. We operated in 3 states, with 43 locations (an average of 120,000 sq ft). Our corporate headquarters staff numbered 150+/- and housed 700,000 sq ft of distribution. We were a growing business with a true need to find people with the necessary skill sets and backgrounds in order to keep our momentum moving forward. With our needs being what they were we decided to look beyond our own Human Resources department to help us in filling our need to attract and retain quality individuals that would not only be able to perform in the job but would fit the culture of the company and be supportive of what the culture embodied as set forth by our founders. We interviewed 4 very competent firms, and through this process, we selected the Burling group to assist us. Our relationship with Ron and his team date back to working together for over 10 years. I would characterize that relationship as a wonderfully professional, productive, insightful and positive one. One that I personally place a very high value on. His help and professional expertise allowed us to find, attract and retain much of the core of what is now our senior leadership team that is fundamentally in place and well functioning today. Through the course of my personally working with Ron, I am not too proud to say that I learned a great deal from Ron that has helped me better understand how to read and assess people, their behaviors, and to better understand how to encourage and motivate them. I would characterize Ron’s working style as follows: 1. He is extremely professional and methodical in his approach to the tasks we provided him with. 2. He is fair and honest in his dealings with us. 3. He is extremely inciteful in being able to read people, not only through his profiling tools and interpretations but through his incite full questions he poses to not only applicants but to people in the companies, he is working with. His questions are very thought-provoking. Often times he will “question you” towards what is eventually and often times the right decision, instead of telling you “you have to do this or look at the situation this way.” 4. Bluntly put, Ron is a “no B.S.” type of guy. While he is always diplomatic and deferential, he will tell it to you exactly as he sees it from his own unique perspective. Personally, I greatly appreciated his candor and straightforward and honed in approach. I have always been a big fan of the old saying “don’t tell me what you think I want to hear, tell me what I need to know.” Our work encompassed 5 different areas: Behavior Profiling And It’s Impact Of Hiring Success- Profiling provides an employer with a large toolbox that assists them in make a hiring decision that properly mates up the candidate and the job which greatly improves the employers chances of getting the right person who can do the job and who will likely provide the employer with the longevity and continuity that they need. It does so through gaining insight into who the applicant really is (do they talk a great game or are they truly the real deal). It provides psychological insight into who the person truly is and how they feel about themselves. It also provides a window into how they feel about their past jobs and the job they possibly will be doing for the prospective employer. Profiling also provides insight into the tangibles as well as the intangibles that motivate individuals. It also helps to tell you how does your applicant work and what you will need to provide them in order to be successful. Are they high touch high maintenance or are they self-motivated, self-starters? Profiling also helps you to match up the job/the job environment/corporate culture to prospective applicants. Succession Planning- Using the wealth of information that can be gleaned from thorough profiling it allows you to evaluate candidates not only for the job you are looking to fill but looking for characteristics, skills and abilities they may possess that are essential for future jobs and advancement within the company. Client Counseling- This process allows all parties involved in the hiring process to review/refine/and enhances our job descriptions and the necessary skills to not only help us better understand our needs from both the job perspective and potential candidate perspective. Ron would then take the outcome then apply those requirements to the candidates each process. Client Coaching- At mid to senior levels, we have used Ron’s services to counsel and coach our people. Sometimes on a remedial level and sometimes on a preparatory level for future advancement. Data gleaned from Ron’s assessment and profiling tools along with his tremendous innate sense of how to read and reach people always seemed to produce positive results for us. Working With Young Candidates- As a family business with a daughter of college age, I asked Ron to work with her in order to assess her strengthens, weaknesses, areas of interest and well as aptitude’s in those areas of interest. The results and outcomes of the assessments and coaching helped to provide her with a directional focus towards a career path the she has been successful in as well as personally fulfilled and satisfied in. In summary, my company, as well as my own personal experiences with Ron and the Burling Group, have been extremely positive, productive. As you know, hiring the right person for the job that their personal characteristics tell you that they are looking for a career and not just a job is very cost effective. I would be happy to speak with anyone entertaining utilizing the services of the Burling Group. I am sure Ron would coordinate the conversation. Sincerely,