Chris Werner

Director, OC Operations

I get the pleasure of supporting our Recruiting Specialists who interview and hire our associates into new opportunities. Together, we deliver 360 degrees of recruiting and working associate support over the phone, chat, text, and email.

Each day we set our interview and hiring goals as a team, and when we succeed, our candidates succeed too. It’s extremely rewarding to see this team work daily.

Full Interview


Let’s talk about your role:

Q: What is the most rewarding part about working with your colleagues? 

A: Watching my team and individuals overcome barriers and succeed in their roles is the most rewarding part. Our success is always based on placing the candidate in the right job and providing what they need to be successful in their new role. When our team positively impacts people’s lives to the degree that we are growing our business, it’s truly our mission fulfilled.

 

Q: What’s the driving force behind your team?

A: Teamwork and providing opportunities are our biggest driving forces. As a team, we support one another in the moment and over time. We rally when the volume is heavy and afterward, supply feedback that helps us improve daily. Everyone strives to impact the candidate experience positively on a daily basis. They don’t stop until we place each candidate into a job, resolving any challenges head-on.

 

Q: What have been your most significant accomplishments?

A: Over the last year, our Recruiting Specialists have adapted to 3 different communications platforms, multiple new hiring processes, and all new training and documentation procedures. The journey has led us to a team of highly skilled Recruiting Specialists from all over the world that can hire anyone for any job with ease. There’s new technology around the corner that will make us more lean and more efficient, so we are just getting started.

 

We’re also proud of how we support the order fulfillment for all our High-Volume and Strategic Accounts. Without the Central Recruiting Team, those accounts would need to be filled in person in physical offices. Our team allows those accounts to be structured in that way where we can recruit remotely, which is why we see continued success with our clients.

 

 

Q: Who are some of your biggest inspirations within the company?

A: Mike Papera, our Director of National Operations, is someone I’ve looked up to for a very long time. Mike advocates for his team, and openly supports our company mission, vision, and values through his actions. He’s forward-thinking and has his eyes on tomorrow being better than today. He’s a great planner, a good person to talk through issues with, and likes to have a laugh now and again. He’s a well-rounded co-worker, boss, and friend, and I enjoy working with him.

 

Q: What’s the most unique part about working here?

A: It’s the fact that we’re genuinely trying to help people and will always do what is right for our associates. Time and again, I have witnessed our leadership go out of their way to ensure that people not only get afforded an opportunity to succeed, but are vested in their continued success. “Our clients succeed when our associates succeed” is something that we live by.

Company Culture and Core Values:

Q: What do you enjoy about our company culture?

A: I joined the company in 2008 and we had a company mission, vision, and values but I cannot tell you what they were. When we rolled out our new values and the Cube (our internal recognition platform), it came to life for me. More than ever, I could clearly see our mission, I understood our vision, and we use our values to make business decisions every day. When we do these things, we all succeed. It’s that simple.

 

Q: What is your favorite Integrity Core Value, and why?

A: “Don’t Be Afraid, You Can Do It.” There have been so many times when the odds were stacked against us—goals just too large to achieve. We succeeded in those cases because we always have the courage to try.

 

Q: What parts of our mission/vision do you connect with?

A: Our vision statement: Our clients succeed when our associates succeed. It’s true, now more than ever, that your success relies on the success of others around you. If you lead with a culture of support and growth for your staff, you will bring up a pipeline of leaders with you.

 

Q: What sets Integrity apart from other staffing agencies?

A: We take on challenges that no other agency would take on, which not only sets us apart, but has helped us (and our clients) survive a turbulent economy. We’ve hired where no one else would, and done things for our associates and clients that other agencies thought were crazy, but we have never sacrificed our honest commitment to the candidate.

“Your success relies on the success of others around you. If you lead with a culture of support and growth for your staff, you will bring up a pipeline of leaders with you.”

Personal Journey

Q: Before working at Integrity Staffing, what was your most unusual or interesting job?

A: As a teen, I used to work with a traveling “Super Sale” each summer. We would travel all over the US and set up a glorified swap meet each weekend. The next week we would move to the next city. I sold Levi’s and T-Shirts. I have also worked as the following;

Toy Store Greater, State Fair Carney, Pizza Cook, Carpenters Apprentice, Cabinet Assembler, Cabinet Door Fabricator, Certified Master Avionte Countertop Fabricator and Installer, Kitchen and Bath Installation Supervisor, Solid Surface Certified Warranty Countertop Repair Technician, Production Manager and then my roles with Integrity Staffing!

 

Q: How did you first learn about Integrity Staffing?

A: In 2008 the housing market was crashing, and I was working as a production manager. I was looking for work as a leader of people and an Integrity recruiter found me. I had 5 interviews that lasted over 6 hours before being offered the role as Onsite manager at one of our largest high-volume clients.

 

Q: How do you balance your career and family?

A: Any good career with any employer needs to have appropriate expectations and boundaries. If you don’t have clear expectations for your staff, they will not achieve a work-life balance without resisting you. Additionally, if the employee doesn’t have balance expectations for themselves, they cannot achieve balance no matter how hard their boss helps. Plan for vacation, plan for days off, talk to your boss, and have clear communication around what needs to be achieved. You can’t have a work-life balance if you don’t try.

 

Q: How has Integrity helped you in your career development? How have you grown professionally while on our team?

A: I’ve grown in the last 15 years in ways that I never thought imaginable. Where do I start? From a professional perspective, Integrity has literally “sent me to school” to learn how to be a better leader. How to be a better thinker, sharpen my analytical skills, how to negotiate, how to give a presentation to the client. How to overcome stage fright, and how to eat lobster without looking like a fool. You name it, I have traveled all over the country, worked with more clients than I can recall, and enjoyed the company of some of the smartest and kindest people I will ever work with. Not only has Integrity invested in me, but they have given me the opportunity to learn who I am. The journey to know oneself is invaluable.

 

Q: What advice do you have for prospective Integrity candidates?

A: Be open-minded. My father once told me: “If they ask you to sweep the floor, sweep the floor like it’s never been swept before!” Everything we do is valuable and critical to our associates. Be patient with them and advocate for their success at every turn. It’s in the work we do for them that our generates our success—even if it’s sweeping the floor for them!

 

What do you like most about Integrity?

Our most valuable asset is the people. In 2009 I attended my first managers meeting in Delaware. During that meeting, I got to see the entire company leadership all in one place for the first time. Listening to them talk I could hear the passion in their voices for their associates, their analytical thinking, and their need to find opportunities for improvement. To this day I’m still impressed with the smart and passionate people that I get to work side by side with. I truly feel surrounded by the best and brightest and I’m humbled by that.

 

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