QPS Employment Group is on the move across the Midwest. The Wisconsin-based staffing specialist that celebrated its 30th anniversary this month has built a substantial presence in the Hawkeye State. The Fort Dodge office, 1426 Central Ave., is a major part of that growth story."

"That office was part of an acquisition that we did when we first entered the Iowa market," said Leisa Fox, QPS regional vice president for Iowa. "We purchased USA Staffing in 2012.We've at least doubled the size of the office if not tripled the size of the office - the number of employees on assignment and also revenue."

She said even though Fort Dodge isn't the biggest city in Iowa that QPS serves, the office here is helping the company thrive.

"I would say from a volume perspective, they are our third largest office in Iowa out of 11," Fox said. "There are four dedicated staff people. On any given day, I bet we have over 100 employees out on assignment."

She said the booming local economy makes Fort Dodge an especially attractive market for QPS.

"Fort Dodge has a phenomenal industrial economy," Fox said. "It is just growing and growing. It is absolutely fantastic. We have here some of our most loyal, dedicated strategic partnerships in the entire state. Our retention is phenomenal. Once we start working with a company, they stick with us."

QPS helps a wide range of employers address their staffing needs. Fox said its experienced personnel specialists can assist companies by recruiting people to fill major professional roles and can deploy qualified temporary workers to fill jobs at just about any level.

"We will provide staffing services from professional ... all the way down to general labor," Fox said. "We do temp, temp-to-hire, direct hire and professional."

The staffing industry is highly competitive. QPS is growing fast because of the high quality of the service it provides according to Fox.

"We are very thoughtful on placing the right candidate at the right location," she said.
"We really listen carefully to the employer and what they are looking for from a cultural perspective and a skills perspective. Drive, motivation - all of those things play into the types of candidates that we want to place."

Fox said QPS is an especially useful resource for employers when unemployment is low in a labor market - the current situation in Webster County and much of Iowa.

"From an employer perspective, there are a lot of companies who have never used a staffing agency before because they simply have never had to," she explained. "If you are sitting with a 6 or 7 or 8 percent unemployment level, you pretty much have the employees knocking on your door when you place an ad. But now, it is an employees' market. The labor market is very employee-friendly right now in that our unemployment level is below 3 percent as a state. ... In this type of situation employers just don't have enough time to spend on recruitment issues where we have it down to a virtual science."

Sophisticated recruitment and screening expertise enables QPS to present employers with candidates that are a good fit for the jobs to be filled according to Fox.

"We find exactly what you are looking for, but other staffing agencies might bring you all the candidates but they may or may not have the skill set that you are looking for," she said. "We're going to sort through them for you and bring you the type of candidates that you are looking for."

Fox said working with QPS can also be very beneficial to workers seeking to find just the right place to deploy their talents because it allows them to be exposed to a variety of work environments.

"From the temporary worker or employee perspective we want to put them in a place where they are going to succeed," she said. "What better way for a person to get to experience the culture of a company before they commit? Constant moving around if you are not a temporary employee can make you look like a job hopper."

About QPS
Scott A. Mayer, who is the president and chief executive officer the QPS Employment Group, founded Quality Placement Services in the basement of his parents' Wisconsin home at age 19 in 1985. On Aug. 15, the company celebrated three decades of growth.

Today QPS has more than 300 employees in nearly 50 office locations throughout the Midwest and employs more than 6,000 associate employees each week in more than 1,500 companies, according to information provided by the company.

"We are in Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas and we are looking at expansion into South Dakota, Nebraska and Minnesota in the near term," Fox said.

She said the recent entry into the marketplace in Iowa has proved to be a very good decision for QPS.

"It's one of our largest markets. We've only been here 3 1/2 years, but it's one of our largest and most profitable markets in the United States," Fox said. "We have 11 offices and are still growing. We love Iowa. It's a very business-friendly economy."

Fox, who has been with the company for only a few months, said being part of the QPS team has been a good fit for her professionally. "I love manufacturing and always had a passion for Iowa's work force challenges and so this was a perfect blend of my passions coming together," she said. "Work force is probably the one inhibitor of growth that we have in the state. So, being very thoughtful and progressive in the solutions that we bring to employers is very gratifying." Fox is new to QPS but she brings to her latest leadership role much business community expertise. "I worked for the Iowa Association of Business and Industry - ABI," she said. "I was their senior vice president for revenue and programs. I did that for 10 years."