This story is part of a package examining workforce development in the Sacramento region. Employers are facing hiring challenges across all sectors, including construction, hospitality, health care and the tech industry. These stories address what kinds of barriers employers face, and how they are addressing those challenges.
Some of the region’s fastest-growing companies are in the business of placing tech talent, either permanent or temporary, to help their clients perform or manage projects.
Tech placement companies have a roster of their own employees who they place at other companies to work on a project or series of projects.
“This is a growing trend,” said Dave Sanders, managing partner of executive search firm WorldBridge Partners in Roseville.
Tech placement companies have a strong niche in that they can fill a position with a vetted employee for a customer that needs a project done without that customer company having to find, recruit and hire a permanent employee, said John Stuart, CEO of Roseville staffing and recruiting firm Zeektek.
“In technology, everything to some degree is a project. You need highly skilled people on a project. But when it’s done, you might not need that skill set anymore,” he said.
That’s where tech placement companies come into the picture.
Nearly every business or government entity needs tech workers to handle projects ranging from building custom software to handling systems integration. Those are temporary projects, however, and not permanent positions.
Placement companies have a roster of employees trained in specific technologies, programs and specialties who they can place quickly into the appropriate temporary position.
“The truth is that this next group of technology workers are more excited about the next project they are going to work on than they are about what company it is,” Sanders said.
There was a time when tech workers wanted to have a career with an Apple Inc. or a Google, but that has changed, he said “You even see people coming and going regularly from those companies.”
As an independent tech worker working for a placement company, the tech worker can add to an existing skill set and be exposed to a lot of new talents by taking on placement engagements, Sanders said.
Decades ago, the bulk of tech placement work was handled by big accounting firms, who placed IT teams with their clients to manage specific engagements. In Sacramento, with its cluster of cities, state agencies, counties and special districts, as well as private businesses, always looking for teams to work on projects, a lot of nimble and independent shops sprang up to fill those tech placement needs.
Some of those shops have gotten large. AgreeYa Solutions, based in Folsom, has been in business since 1999 and it has grown to over 2,200 software and services employees who work with everything from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies. Founded in 1996, Visionary Integration Professionals in Folsom has more than 600 employees.
Cambria Solutions, a Sacramento-based consulting firm, started in 2003 and grew to 300 employees and eight offices across the country when it was sold last year to Ernst & Young LLP. Cambria was on Inc. magazine’s 5,000 fastest-growing companies list nine times in its 18 years in business.
Zeektek started late in 2016, and it has grown to 25 internal employees and a roster of 140 contract workers that it employs working at other companies. It had 2022 revenue of $18.2 million, which is three-year growth of 2,118%.
Clapself, a tech placement company based in El Dorado Hills, launched its service in spring this year, and it has grown to 35 contractors, said Sanders, who is a board adviser to the company.
For companies seeking tech talent to work on projects, onboarding new hires is a burden and a distraction. It can take four to six weeks just to get approvals to onboard a new hire, said Stuart, a 30-year veteran of recruiting.
Going with a placement firm allows a client company to offload recruiting, human resources, payroll and employee benefits, Sanders said. That is an attraction to startup companies, who might need a project done, but who don’t want to carry the burden of being a longtime employer.
