Today we’d like to introduce you to Kip Hollister.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Kip. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
My career started directly out of college where I had the opportunity to work for 3 different staffing firms. I absolutely loved what I did, yet I was disgruntled with the transactional feel and the “inside the box” ideation. So, at age 26, with vision to build a company with like-minded people who shared a common value system, I set out to do it on my own.
At the time, I had no experience in finance or even a business plan. I only had a strong desire to build relationships – one person at a time. As this vision took hold, our team immediately became entrenched in the community and we built our brand based on value, passion, integrity, open communication and community!
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Now, 30 years in – I can honestly say that the brand has grown, revenues have grown, and our people; our greatest assets, have grown both personally and professionally.
In 2015, I had an epiphany that would continue to support my vision. It came from doing a lot of my own work on my leadership, self-awareness and through that, I recognized a huge gap in true people development as well as a lack of focus on the whole self. This is how Hollister Institute came to be.
I felt impelled to bring this learning into form of my staffing company and it has been a petri dish for the work Hollister Institute does and the beneficiary. Overall, I would not dream of a better match and I am excited to continue to grow – not only myself but other leaders.
Has it been a smooth road?
Has the road been smooth? Not at all! We have survived 3 recessions – and the second one was where we nearly went bankrupt. This experience taught me how to hold a team together through hardship and to value transparency. I feel that I grew the most while surviving through these growing pains.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Hollister Staffing, Inc. – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Hollister Staffing opened its doors in 1988 to eliminate the transactional nature of the staffing industry. Today, Hollister is a full-service recruiting firm connecting talent with opportunity. We offer a wide array of staffing solutions including Contract, Contract-to-Hire, and Direct Hire in these industries: Hollister Technology, Hollister Accounting & Finance, and Hollister Administrative & HR.
Our mission is to deliver a consistent experience of excellence while emphasizing the importance of relationships. We have built a great reputation by setting our relationship with clients and candidates as fundamental to our work. With honesty, mutual respect, and a sincere desire to create long-lasting connections, the company has continued to grow and succeed in the past 30 years.
We build trust by valuing the needs and culture of the companies we serve, and we are committed to efficient and effective service. Hollister’s process focuses on valuing the intangibles, the ‘soft skills’, and goes beyond the resume, resulting in a high rate of placement and retention. When you meet our team, you will sense our passion for recruiting, the way we do business, and our commitment to your success.
We have spent almost three decades building relationships and supporting the growth of the New England business community, and are honored to have received many accolades over the years.
What truly sets Hollister apart from the others are: relationship, community and housing a not for profit business, and what makes me most proud of this company is how we care, develop, and nurture talent within the Hollister team. We hold mindfulness retreats, meditation sessions and leadership development courses internally. Our people matter.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Honestly there are 2 distinct proud moments. The first is surviving the second recession when most of the competition closed their doors and the second is THIS YEAR! We are being relentless about accountability, teaching and modeling leadership and creating a work environment built on our values. There is true evidence that it is working.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
There were so many great lessons learned over the years ranging from overcoming the difficulties of obtaining funding, particularly being a woman, to grasping the full range of responsibilities of leadership.
Owning the firm 100% during the recession, which caused us to go to a financing company for a brief stint as well as funding through my own personal home equity line proved to be scary times. This generated a more intense focus and clarity on my decisions; by closing down divisions that were not serving our overall focus and determining which decisions were just a distraction and which were making us profitable.
A fundamental breakthrough is recognizing that leadership is not about being liked – tough decisions on talent have to be made and what skill sets and people got me to one level were not the same ones I needed to get to the next level.
Contact Info:
- Address: 75 State Street
9th Floor, Boston, MA 02109 - Website: http://hollisterstaff.com/
- Phone: 6176540200
- Email: info@hollisterstaff.com
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