When Don Lumpkin first joined executive recruiting firm HRCS, it was supposed to be a 30-day assignment. An independent consultant at the time, Lumpkin had been hired to help make the company more profitable and retool its operations.
But Lumpkin got recruited by the recruiter. He was asked to stay on as vice president and general manager, and after less than six months with the company, he was named president of HRCS last month.
HRCS differs from most of its competitors in that it places its recruiters on-site at client companies, where they become de facto personnel managers. “One of our clients has had one of our people there for three years now, because she is able to fill their needs so well,” Lumpkin said.
In addition to the on-site recruiting, HRCS will provide research and database searches for clients that are simply looking for raw data or that have their own personnel departments. “They will do the interviewing, but they give us a job description and we will do the sourcing for them,” Lumpkin said. “For example, a client might ask us to furnish them with 20 or so candidates who fit certain requirements, and their hiring department will take it from there.”
According to Lumpkin, the hottest industries for personnel right now are in technology and entertainment, but HRCS doesn’t discriminate. “We really run the gamut of industries here,” Lumpkin said.
In addition to having run his own consulting business for 18 years, Lumpkin has been very active in civic affairs. He has been involved with redeveloping abandoned properties in the inner city, and he worked with banks and the Federal Reserve to create alternate lending sources for blighted communities in South Central. After the civil unrest of 1994, he put together the Community Financial Resource Center made up of 20 banks that came together to offer financial services to those affected by the riots and who didn’t have access to capital.
In conjunction, Lumpkin was involved with various banks in the creation of the Southern California Business Development Corp., providing funding for businesses in South Central communities. Lumpkin said he plans to stay actively involved in redevelopment work.
Karen Teitelman
