The Kforce Story: 50 Plus Years of Great People Delivering Great Results

Paul Branca was hired by Al Dunkel in 1979 after ten years as a public accountant working for Price Waterhouse and Wolf & Company, a large Boston CPA firm. Paul had hired several accountants through Jim Tonra, a fellow Boston College alumnus, while at Wolf and became intrigued with the staffing business. He approached Jim who referred him to Al Dunkel, knowing that Al was looking for a new associate for the Rhode Island office. Paul said, Working with Al Dunkel was the most significant point of my staffing career. Al was nothing but thorough, noted for two-hour long candidate interviews followed by meticulously rewriting every single resume, which was then retyped by his longtime loyal secretary Betsy Hamilton. Al was a self-made man and the consummate professional, always going well beyond expectations to service a client and always adhering to the Romac core

values. I clearly remember one time when Al placed a high level accounting executive with a long time client. About three weeks after the start date, the executive unfortunately died. Without hesitation and without a request from the client, Al immediately wrote out a check and returned 100% of the fee. The candidate had not worked thirty days and therefore no fee had been earned! Life as a Recruiter…“Back in the day” John Allred joined the Kforce Board of Directors in 1998, but when he originally went looking for a career in sales he was hired at Source on April Fool’s Day in 1976. The company had only twelve branches and no more than fifty people in the entire company when he started out as a sales associate. At the time, the Kansas City branch was a step-branch of the St. Louis office. “I had a private office, a desk, a phone, a pad of paper, a pencil, and many salary survey request leads. That was it,” said John. He was taught how to conduct a face-to-face interview, use the “Next Step and Salary Survey Guide,” and worked long hours to make up for his lack of sales experience. Having come from a data processing management position, John was comfortable meeting with the managers of the computer systems and building strong client relationships. As a result of long hours and hard work, John exceeded his quota far beyond Source’s compensation plan. To make up the difference, they gave him the Rookie of the Year Award in 1976, the first one Source awarded. Life in the staffing business was very different in the days before technology. “In the old days we typed up the resumes on an old typewriter,” said John. Hand delivering the resumes to the client avoided the delays created by sending them via regular post and the expense of using couriers. “There were no faxes, no cell phones, no internet, and no personal computers.”

Mike and Gwen Parr, Donna and John Allred, late 1970s.

Al Dunkel personified the staffing professional—well-groomed, honest, ethical, and straightforward.

15 Kforce’s Roots