Management Recruiters (MR) is an internationally successful franchising company, with 350 of its 1,050 offices outside the continental United States, including China, Japan, Europe and South America.

John Peterson, general manager of Management Recruiters in Holt, said that his office has two markets. “The first is the local market. We do business with companies within a 35-mile radius.” They employ a vertical placement strategy, filling positions ranging from receptionist to vice president for companies in the Greater Lansing area. Second, “We have people in our office who have worked national markets for certain professions or companies,” filling a wide variety of niche and specialty positions. These positions include mid-management, technical and supervisory. Peterson said they have more trouble finding qualified candidates for the available positions than finding positions for qualified candidates, because unemployment in their market is only about 2 percent.

Peterson got started at MR in an interesting way. In 1974, he was a police office when his wife, Priscilla, went to work for the newly opened Lansing office. By 1977, she was in charge of training, and supervising of the employees. It was a passion for her. A year later, after the Petersons came back from a meeting (John traveled with her on their own dime), they decided to buy the business. They wrote out an offer, undertook some negotiations and moved forward. Peterson gave up his job and started a home remodeling and repair business.

In 1980, he told Priscilla, “For two cents, I’d quit my job and go to work for you.” Little did he know that the two pennies Priscilla paid out to bring him onboard would be his only pay for the next couple of years. However, he said, “Failure was never an option.” They owned a motor home and told their kids, “We’ll keep trying until school’s out, then we might move to Texas.” Fortunately, they made a big placement, then another and another, and have never looked back.

Peterson said that his work with the police department in personnel and training helped develop the skill set necessary for success. “I am a very mechanical-oriented person, [and] recruit for companies for whom I can understand what they do and what kind of people will fit in best.”

Their office currently has seven employees, including his wife (president), his daughter and son (both managers) and three others. Over the years, they’ve had as many as 20 employees and are currently “in a rebuilding period.” Why? Peterson said he “made a strategic error when GM [announced it] was coming to Lansing with new requirements for suppliers.” He staffed his office according, but when GM’s plan got put on hold, “There was no business. [Our] employees couldn’t support the overhead. In owning one of the franchises, it’s always an up and down situation,” he said, where “good people make very good livings.”

Asked how Management Recruiters differs from other placement services, and government-subsidized programs such as Michigan Works!, Peterson said, “We all do the same thing,” but MR’s big advantage is “attention to detail. We pride ourselves with the kind of training that we do and experience we bring to the table. We do what we do a little better than our competitors.”

The big problem for companies that post job openings on Michigan Works!, Monster, and so forth, is “the overwhelming response” they get from job candidates. But MR has the “ability to separate the good from the not so good” candidates, thereby saving a company time and grief, and justifying MR’s placement fee. And, “we’re in the job market 365 days a year. [Companies] are in the job market for the weekend when [they] run an ad.” Also, he said, “There’s a wealth of information [about job candidates] that’s not on résumés.”

Peterson’s office concentrates on manufacturing, an industry that despite its ups and downs has been their bread and butter for 25 years. One time, he drew a circle with a 25-mile radius around Lansing, and counted 1,200 manufacturing facilities of various sizes inside the circle. They also work for the many of the associations in the area, most of which derive a good deal of income from the services they provide their members. This works into MR’s MO, which is to find qualified people to fill positions that “impact a company’s bottom line.”