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Special Feature
Special Feature QS Professionals: Employment Specialists Who Help You Maximize Your Potential
by Ali Elizabeth Turner
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Bernard Hendricks and Roddric Ellsberry grew up in Birmingham together and graduated from Woodlawn High School. While they re mained friends throughout, their original career paths could not have been more divergent. Bernard went to Jefferson State, Birming ham campus and graduated in Human Relations. He went straight into the cor porate world and worked in HR for more than two de cades. Roddric spent 30 years in the United States Army and retired as a command sergeant major. He has an extensive list of medals, ribbons, awards, certifica tions, and commendations, and has served all over the world in combat and in peacetime. Recently Ber nard’s and Roddric’s career paths converged, and the re sult is the brand new branch of QS Professionals, a dif ferent breed of employment agency. Bernard has been the “HR guy” for companies whose employee roster ranged from 50 employees to more than 300. Specifically, he is the most familiar with HR as it pertains to manu facturing, and knows what is needed to keep a manu facturing facility “humming.” He also understands the needs of the corporate market, and can help with “head hunting” for a CEO or filling contract slots in an administration or profes sional setting. While he is grateful for every moment he spent working for other companies, the time came when he knew he wanted to own a firm, and opened QS Professionals’ first office in Suwanee, GA, in 2012. Roddric finished up his mili tary career at Ft. Hood, and he is deeply involved with helping soldiers on Redstone Arsenal transition to civilian life, volunteers for the Red Cross, and is a professional speaker. He was recently
Bernard Hendricks, owner of QS Professionals Corp
elected as the secretary of the Redstone Arsenal Ser geants Major Association. As the rapid economic de velopment and population influx in our area put forth a demand for quality contract workers in a number of sec tors, Bernard did his market research, realized North Alabama was the perfect market, and Roddric came on board to open the brand new QS office. It is located in the Storage Port complex on Mooresville Rd. between Belle Mina and Moores ville. The address is 5750 Mooresville Road, Tanner, AL 35671. What makes QS Profes sionals different from other employment agencies?
Bernard stated that the last thing he wants to do is send "a warm body" -- someone who just shows up, does the minimum and doesn't have much of a work ethic. “QS
Professionals is com mitted to finding qualified candidates,” says
Bernard, and is willing to invest to do so. “In addition, through testing and orientation, we are filling positions with capable, safety conscious employ ees.” Staffing has its challenges. From day to day things are different; every agency can place employ ees, but when a problem arises, how it’s handled is what separates the agen cies. Bernard says, “It is our endeavor to build strong business relation ships with our clients so that we can work through employee relations, is sues, and successes together.”
Measures have been put in place by QS Professionals to hold associates account able throughout their temporary assignments. Along with their measures, they will sometimes mirror a cli ent’s merit program, which helps smooth the transition from temporary to perma nent. Realizing that each client is different when it comes to hours and shifts, a 24/7 answering service has been set up to make sure any situation that needs immedi ate attention is handled. It is important to Bernard that ev ery employee goes home to their family safe after each shift. Before he commits to a client, he does a safety eval uation. If a site is not safe, he will pass on the account. He has learned that all business is not good business. One of his company’s poli cies is that everyone experiences TLC from the very first time they come in con tact with QS Professionals. TLC stands for a Total Life Cycle. Bernard says he ex pects all his employees to treat everyone with respect and how they would want to be treated from the very beginning throughout. He stated "People will not always remember what you said, but they will remember how you made them feel." Bernard realizes that he will not be able to help everyone, but he has created a resource manual which houses contact numbers for multiple situations. He feels that even if he cannot put someone to work, he wants them to walk away with something. Besides Roddric, Susan Fox works as the regional direc tor of recruiting, and Tiffany Townsend takes care of all the IT/web needs for the corporation. Because Bernard is back and forth between Georgia and Alabama, he says he is blessed to feel confident about leaving the shop in such good hands. If you are looking for a fresh, new start in one of the many new places of employment in North Alabama, or are in need of a qualified contract worker, give QS Profession als a call today at 256-646- 2252, or go online to apply for a position at various locations at qsprocorp.net/ job-application/
