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

didn’t have the Internet, and only an internal email system. “I remember being very impressed with the way they came in, office by office, giving us these new desktops, rolling out new computers and new technology,” she said. “Ironically, we were placing technology people (at Source) but we never had some of the top technology ourselves until we merged with Romac.” The headline on Lehman Brothers’ February 27, 1998, report read, “Romac Plus Source Services Equals a Giant in Professional Outsourcing.” Romac International was now operating eighty-six offices in forty markets. “Based upon the facts available today,” the report read, “we forecast continued success for Romac and applaud this bold move, which will probably act as a model for future consolidation in the professional staffing industry.” Romac International and the Internet Beginning in 1998, Romac’s leadership team watched with alarm as the web- based job bulletin boards emerged onto the scene garnering increasing attention. Three years prior, Dave Dunkel attended an industry forum and listened to the speakers tell of how the Internet would have a huge impact on the staffing industry. At the time, he rejected the notion, believing the staffing process was too sophisticated, too dependent on relationship building to be threatened by the impersonal Internet. Years later he was quoted in an article saying, “I was right about the people side, but I was wrong about the Web.” As with all things related to computers to that point, Dave called on Ray Morganti to do some investigating. After several months of research, he presented his findings. Ray’s research revealed that by March of 1999 there were over 3,500 competitors in the online recruiting business and technology was making it possible for smaller and non-traditional staffing firms to compete with the larger firms. Romac had an impressive track record of putting technology to work within the confines of the traditional staffing model. However, they risked missing the proverbial boat when it came to expanding their leveraging of technology to include the World Wide Web. “We are excellent at innovation, relationships, and results,” Ray wrote. “The formula for complete success is within our reach but time is our worst enemy.” Shortly thereafter, Romac organized Kforce Interactive as an entirely new business unit. Dave asked Joe Liberatore, who was a regional vice president at the time, to head it up. “We flew up to Dave’s vacation home in New Hampshire and spent three days locked up. We came out with a complete business plan,” said Joe. The “grand vision” as Dave called it included an operations center, avenues for connecting clients and candidates, videos and learning centers. Ironically, Joe recalled, several weeks later one of the biggest names among the job boards sponsored a platform they called a talent auction. “The business process associated with their talent auction was virtually identical to the business plan we came up with in New Hampshire in terms of leveraging technology to create more efficiency on the matching. They launched it as we were in the process of building our website.” The threat was no longer just perceived—it was becoming a reality. Before long, Romac became regarded as a leader in the integration of technology into the staffing business and were invited to a number of conferences. At one conference held in New York, Joe found himself in a heated debate with the

Romac International’s 1999 annual report announces that “Opportunity Has a New Address” at kforce.com.

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