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June 14, 2024

Interview with Scott Ortes

Scott Ortes

Sr. Director of Operations, Suna Solutions

Do consider Online Staffing Platforms as a thread to your current business? What advice would you give to a staffing operator to stay competitive with new Online Platforms entering the staffing market?

I do not believe OSP pose a threat to our business; I believe they enhance it. We are able to reach a broader and more engaged audience than ever before by engaging and dissecting our analytics in regard to our online presence. By utilizing OSP, we receive an influx of resumes and qualified talent. Our Recruiters then parse through each resume and discover the hard and soft skills related to the current opening and conduct multiple screening interviews to better align a culture fit to our valued clients.

Advice I would give to a staffing operator would be to take the “guess work” out of your marketing strategies and align your campaigns across multiple channels to broadcast your message. Our multi-channel marketing campaigns have allowed us to dive deeper into our customer experience and nurture our leads based on their preference.


How important are MSPs for your business? What is your advice to staffing operators when considering participating in an MSP program?

Our company, Suna Solutions, is both a provider of MSP services under our Total Talent Management Solutions, and a participant in MSP programs under our Staffing Solutions.  In both respects, the role of an MSP is very important to our business.  We have found these concepts to be true in both respects: an MSP that values the partnership of their staffing vendors, provides a good level of customer service to their staffing vendors, and understands the challenges of staffing vendor and helps to overcome them is an MSP worth working with.  Take the time to learn about MSPs before signing on to a program. MSP Program solutions thrive when you have the ability to gain insight into the current program. Why are they engaging an MSP? Has the client ever engaged an MSP? Are they unhappy with their current provider? If so, why? You need to figure out the why to overcome any apprehension when introducing a MSP program.


What is your view on remote work in staffing?

Prior to 2020, good solutions for on-boarding and managing workers remotely was a nice-to-have.  I believe we won’t see a swing back to in-office work to bring us back to how things were pre-COVID-19.  Staffing companies will need to continue to refine internal policies, procedures, and IT capabilities to support short- and long-term temp engagements.  Remote work is here to stay and we all need to adapt accordingly.  

For several years, Suna Solutions has supported a full remote on-boarding experience for new hires.  Our internal teams have enjoyed flexibility for in-office and remote work arrangements.  Following the trends of other organizations we are also preparing for client-driven needs for remote technology support, ranging from full remote workstations to location-based timekeeping.


Are you considering any technology investments this year? What technology platforms would you recommend to other staffing operators?

Answer here A better CRM to gain valuable insight into nurturing our customer’s journey and allow for more strategic and repeatable success.  A replacement Finance system that is more supportive of integrations as our business grows and evolves.  A remote solution for completing and auditing I9s to help improve our service level for remote on-boards.  We are also planning to review our current systems for HRIS, ATS, Benefits administrator, and several other systems between 2021 and 2022.


What is your go to place for news and advice on new trends in the staffing market?

We are members of Staffing Industry Analysts, and rely on them for meaningful news and advice in the staffing market. We also sponsor several team members membership to SHRM to keep up on breaking changes, best practices, and news in the broader HR industry.  Finally, we sponsor a recruiter networking group in our headquarters’ city, San Diego Talent Acquisition Network (SDTAN), led by my coworker Kyle Anderson.