As Central Oregon’s economy is bouncing back from seven years of recession, one of its most recognized and established businesses is marking a milestone. On May 1, Mid Oregon Personnel celebrated three decades of service, in the midst of solid growth.
Mid Oregon’s history began in 1984, after Founder and President Greg Lambert lost his job as a human resource manager at a food processing plant when it shut down. He discovered a contact in Couer d’ Alene, Idaho who owned a staffing company and was looking for someone to open a branch in Central Oregon. Lambert opened the Central Oregon branch and a few years later purchased it.
Sixteen years later, Greg’s son Sam joined the Bend office, kicking off a great working relationship to complement their father-son relationship. Sam now manages the Bend and Redmond offices. “A testimonial to Sam’s success,” says his Greg, “is that just last week we doubled our office space in Redmond due to the increase in business”.
Mid Oregon Personnel builds a customized service plan for each client, rather than applying a formula, ensuring that they match the right person with each company’s culture. “People aren’t numbers or cattle,” says Greg. “Our clients are entrusting us with their business, and our applicants are looking to us to find them satisfying jobs—we take that very seriously.”
The company also insists on filling each job request with the best person for the position. “Our clients have a much higher retention rate than is typical for our industry,” according to Greg. “We aren’t a ‘body shop,’ and we will not send someone for a job unless they are a good fit. We would rather not fill a job than fill it poorly. We believe in ‘hire right, hire once’ and we know how expensive it is to hire wrong.”
Mid Oregon Personnel has built its long-standing reputation on relationships. Conversational, person-to-person interviews seek to determine a person’s goals so that they can be met. “Our word is our bond,” explains Greg. “We do what we say we will do.”“The essence of our company is that we find out what people need and serve them the way they want to be served. “We like to use a shoe analogy: We don’t have a shoe that you have to try and fit into; we work hard to find the best fit for you—whether you’re an employer or someone seeking employment.”
Despite their phenomenal growth, Mid Oregon continues to develop their business further. “We’ve just created a distinctive new website with Intrepid Marketing of Bend that reflects our duality of high professional standards and local service. We are also working with them on our larger brand message and communications to show that companies don’t have to look outside of Central Oregon to find the highest level of personnel services.”“We have four full-time office locations in Central Oregon,” says Greg, “and the future looks great!”
