Our Product Is People


Joanne Bell, president, and Tyson Bell, executive vice president of BeginRight Employment Services

Long-term partnerships have proven a smart strategy for this staffing service.

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Recruitment and hiring are a perpetual puzzle for every business: What’s the magical formula for minimizing costly turnover, maximizing productivity and populating a workplace with star employees?

A deep knowledge of your chosen industry and patience enough to find just the right candidate are essential components, says BeginRight Employment Services president Joanne Bell. But over decades in the Pacific Northwest staffing game, she’s learned it’s the partnerships you build that matter most all.

“We have great relationships,” she says. “That’s who we are, it’s how we started, and it’s what’s carried us for 30 years.”

Of course, building anything great takes time — and a few helping hands along the way. BeginRight first opened its doors in 1986 as a direct-hire service only, and in 1990, this burgeoning business transitioned into the temporary-staffing industry.

As a young man, Joanne’s son, Tyson Bell, picked up BeginRight temp work during college breaks, and after earning a business management degree from Oregon State University, he jumped at the opportunity to join the family business full-time. Today he’s the company’s executive vice president, and BeginRight has long since expanded from a single office into four busy Oregon and Washington locations.

Human beings aren’t machines, which makes relationships crucial to the employment services game, says Tyson: “At the end of the day, our product is people. You’ve got to take care of them.”

Over the years, BeginRight has weathered several recessions and the requisite cycles of growth, downsizing and more growth to emerge as one of Portland’s most seasoned staffing services.

It sends over 500 people into the light industrial production packaging and skilled-trade industries workforces each week on temp and seasonal contract assignments and also offers direct-hire services through Office Advantage, a division of BeginRight.

BeginRight now competes with national employment services chains for placements, but sticking to that original “Return to Service” mission and continuing to measure success from the customer’s perspective has kept a cadre of loyal customers coming back, says Tyson Bell. “We have our terms and agreements, but we really believe in the long term, the longevity. We want our clients to be with us for a long time, through hiring peaks and downturns.”

Yes, workplace continuity is complex, but it need not be complicated, insists this mother-and-son team. Strong relationships, careful vetting and selective placement simplify the hiring puzzle, and over time, you develop a sixth sense for who fits where.

Those instincts regularly generate long-term hires for clients. Often, promising workers placed into temporary positions by BeginRight get hired on directly. In some cases, these new employees do so well that they’re promoted to supervisor, then to department manager, and eventually they’re the ones making the call to BeginRight to request temp staff.

This kind of longevity encourages a mutually beneficial feedback loop between BeginRight and its clients. Each successful placement equals a satisfied employer and employee, clients clamor for more, and BeginRight makes good on its longstanding tagline: “Let’s Go to Work.”
When that happens, say Joanne and Tyson Bell, everybody goes home happy.