Most 13-year olds earn extra income in a variety of traditional ways: bagging groceries, mowing lawns, shoveling snow, babysitting, etc”¦. Not Mitch Beck. He earned extra cash by getting people jobs.
In fact his first success was placing a young lady looking for a job as a receptionist with Save the Children in Westport. “My mother owned a job placement business in Westport and I would work there after school,” recalled Beck. “One time she had to step out for awhile and asked me to mind the office. The client came in and I checked things out and it seemed like Save the Children was a good match.”
Apparently it was a good match for Beck as well, because he launched Crossroads Consulting in 1995. As the firm celebrates its 15th anniversary this year, Beck says that although the economy is making things challenging, companies and job seekers still need each other.
“You just can”™t sit back and wait in this economy,” he said. “You can”™t just say nobody”™s calling me. That”™s where we come in: We”™re proactive. As for employers, they don”™t want to be inundated if they place an ad in the paper. Again: that”™s where we come in. We supply them with some qualified candidates. We believe in finding jobs for people and people for jobs.”
Crossroads Consulting has encompassing services ”“ including resume preparation, interview preparation and employee screening for employers
“We do it all and we do it less expensively than any of our competitors,” said Beck in a recent interview in his Monroe office. “What we do is offer job consulting from soup to nuts.”
Another unique aspect of Beck”™s company is its humorous approach. A radio personality and stand up comedian in a former life, he has no problem in injecting a few laughs into the job search.
“Our motto is putting the human back into human resources, so why not have a little fun,” asked Beck. “It”™s a unique approach to sales that we use as a selling point. We use humor as a way of attracting people and our ads aren”™t dull.”
An example of the firm”™s humor can be found in describing itself on the Crossroads Consulting website, which reads, “We both know that this industry on the whole has a reputation two steps below a Ponzi Schemer which still puts it one step over a Politician. Crossroads tries to make a difficult situation just a bit more palatable as we maintain a policy of total candor, honesty and complete transparency with all who choose to deal with us.”
Apparently the approach works. Beck says the company has grown so much in its first 15 years that it has reached the point of saturation.
Rob Sullivan is the publisher and executive editor of the Bridgeport Banner daily website and monthly print edition. The website can be accessed at www.bridgeportbanner.typepad.com. He lives in the Black Rock section of Bridgeport.
