SARATOGA SPRINGS — Locally-based recruitment firm Ramsey Miller is celebrating one year of business in the Capital Region and beyond.
The company was launched by Tim Staples and Adam VanDervoort in Oct. 2022. One year in, Ramsey Miller has worked to fill roles in the Capital Region and more, and has continued its growth.
VanDervoort said the company recently hired four associate recruiters, and in addition to local jobs, have been working in locations such as Cincinnati, Denver, and Philadelphia. He noted that one of the company’s new recruits is also based in Nashville.
“Now we have a team of, essentially, six of us working roles,” said VanDervoort. “It’s been going good.”
VanDervoort has experience in the real estate industry, while Staples had previously worked in the recruitment industry in New York City. VanDervoort said the two decided to launch their own company after Staples relocated to the Capital Region.
“My attraction to it was the business side,” VanDervoort said. “I have a passion for entrepreneurship, and starting businesses. That was my draw, starting something from the ground up. But as I looked in the area, there’s not much going on as far as recruitment.”
Ramsey Miller primarily works with companies in fields such as commercial and civil construction, and financial services, VanDervoort said. He noted a majority of work done by the company is to help those who are already employed to find another opportunity.
“Because someone’s argument usually is, ‘Why doesn’t the company just post these job openings?’ Good people at good companies who are good workers, they’re employed,” said VanDervoort. “They’re not sitting at home looking at Indeed at these other opportunities. When we reach out, these are working people who are, frankly, quite happy at their positions, they just never really thought to explore other options or see what’s out there.”
While some companies hire their own internal recruiters, VanDervoort noted Ramsey Miller can work with them as well. He said the company only receives payment if one of their recommendations is hired.
“They’re getting a recruitment effort for free, and they only have to pay if someone gets hired, versus internal recruitment, paying somebody a salary to do what we’re doing,” said VanDervoort. “And a lot of companies have their own internal recruiters, and we still work with them, because the amount of people to go through, it’s so many options.”
He said the company utilizes a mix of artificial intelligence to help compete with larger firms, running software to detect prospective employees who could be a strong fit for a given job. From there, the Ramsey Miller team can manually examine several hundred candidates to recommend the best options for the company.
VanDervoort said business began to “snowball” for the company after its first several months, and also made note of what he described as a current disconnect between candidates and companies when it comes to remote, hybrid, or in-office work.
“A lot of our first questions that get asked to us when we’re speaking to candidates is, ‘Do I have to go in?’” VanDervoort said. “... And it also seems like people are willing to sacrifice salary if they can be remote, or companies willing to pay a little bit more if someone’s willing to come in. So there’s, I call it a disconnect at this point, of what works as far as hybrid, remote, or in-office workplaces right now.”
The company plans to continue its growth in the future, with VanDervoort saying Ramsey Miller will likely look to add more recruiters, open new roles, and expand into other industries moving forward.
“I would say our plans, definitely, are to grow,” said VanDervoort. “... Starting to tailor into more broad industries, I would say, so we can better serve not only people here, but nationally.”
