MINNEAPOLIS - For Chuck Squires, conversation is alchemy.
Once he crossed paths - literally - with a Twin Cities manufacturing executive on a hiking trail, an encounter that turned the executive into a client of Squires' job-recruitment services.
A friend at church mentioned she had to fill in for an employee soon taking maternity leave, and Squires sent over a temp who met her needs.
And taking his mother-in-law to a knee appointment about a year ago, Squires struck up a conversation with a fellow elevator rider. Turned out he was an unemployed computer programmer; now he's a contract worker at Robert Half International, a job-search and recruitment firm that has been Squires' employer for 34 years.
Squires and Robert Half have shared an arc from humble beginnings to notable success. The son of a Minneapolis welfare mother, Squires became a vice president in the company that grew from one New York office in 1948 to 400 offices worldwide.
They're both witnesses to a lot of change. Squires remembers a time when employers said outright that they were looking for the right man for the job, or a youthful hire. He remembers a hairpiece distributor turning down his candidate for chief financial officer because the bald man opted not to wear its products. (Undiscouraged, Squires placed him at a shampoo manufacturer in St. Paul, Minn.) And don't get him started about the godsend of voice mail, when it came on the scene.
There are some who say computers, not salespeople, are the future of recruiting. Already, online systems can post jobs on corporations' Web sites, collect resumes, vet candidates and pick a winner without involving a single human being on the hiring side.
The counter-trend, however, is the need of corporations to hire ever-more-specialized employees and professionals.
A recruitment company that regularly comes through with the right person always will be worth its retainer fee or commission - usually a percentage of the first year's salary - said Dorothy Stubblebine, a managing principal at the DJS Associates human-resource consulting firm in New Jersey.
"The war for talent is still raging, and hiring qualified people is the most important thing companies do," Stubblebine said. Computer programmers, scientists and engineers are always in high demand, often with very specific skills.
Once he crossed paths - literally - with a Twin Cities manufacturing executive on a hiking trail, an encounter that turned the executive into a client of Squires' job-recruitment services.
A friend at church mentioned she had to fill in for an employee soon taking maternity leave, and Squires sent over a temp who met her needs.
And taking his mother-in-law to a knee appointment about a year ago, Squires struck up a conversation with a fellow elevator rider. Turned out he was an unemployed computer programmer; now he's a contract worker at Robert Half International, a job-search and recruitment firm that has been Squires' employer for 34 years.
Squires and Robert Half have shared an arc from humble beginnings to notable success. The son of a Minneapolis welfare mother, Squires became a vice president in the company that grew from one New York office in 1948 to 400 offices worldwide.
They're both witnesses to a lot of change. Squires remembers a time when employers said outright that they were looking for the right man for the job, or a youthful hire. He remembers a hairpiece distributor turning down his candidate for chief financial officer because the bald man opted not to wear its products. (Undiscouraged, Squires placed him at a shampoo manufacturer in St. Paul, Minn.) And don't get him started about the godsend of voice mail, when it came on the scene.
There are some who say computers, not salespeople, are the future of recruiting. Already, online systems can post jobs on corporations' Web sites, collect resumes, vet candidates and pick a winner without involving a single human being on the hiring side.
The counter-trend, however, is the need of corporations to hire ever-more-specialized employees and professionals.
A recruitment company that regularly comes through with the right person always will be worth its retainer fee or commission - usually a percentage of the first year's salary - said Dorothy Stubblebine, a managing principal at the DJS Associates human-resource consulting firm in New Jersey.
"The war for talent is still raging, and hiring qualified people is the most important thing companies do," Stubblebine said. Computer programmers, scientists and engineers are always in high demand, often with very specific skills.
"But that means the Robert Halfs of the world will have to listen very carefully to what a client wants," she said.
That's just what Chuck Squires says, too.
Squires, 65, built his career close to home.
He was the third employee when Robert Half opened its Minneapolis office, hired in 1972. Soon after, he got a call from a man who said he was Robert Half.
"I was sure it was one of my buddies," Squires said.
But he was the real deal, and Half's three principles of recruitment have been Squires' ever since: Build relationships. Listen to clients and candidates. And always follow through.
"Chuck managed to pull it off despite being an introvert," said David Jones, who had his own search firm for years in the Twin Cities.
"He's so low-key he'd call up people and say, 'You don't have any openings, do you?' " Jones said. "But he was very successful because he got to know everybody." Squires did so well that "training for everyone hired after that was always just, 'Do what Chuck did,' " Jones said.
It still is.
Squires, a Vietnam veteran, semi-retired from Robert Half International in 2002. But as vice president for sales development, he still goes into its downtown Minneapolis offices several times a week and mentors the "newbies," often over box lunches.
To Robert Half's own three principles, Squires has added a few of his own along the way: Get comfortable with public speaking. Get involved with community and professional organizations. And stay well informed, partly to be a good conversationalist.
He worries that young people don't read enough.
"I think a person should always be reading a good book," he said.
He also instructs by example. He mentors business students at the University of Minnesota. He's chairman of the board at HIRED, a Minneapolis-based agency that helps disadvantaged Minnesotans train for employment. He keeps reading - recently a book on Islam and another on World War II.
He uses his new spare time for family - his wife, Pat, two grown children and three grandchildren - and to explore the world.
H.J. Cummins writes for the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune.
