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Previous Story Next Story Thursday, September 16, 2004 Clarence Tabb Jr. / The Detroit News Cedric Corera, left, Charlie James and Karl Roehrig established Venator in February 2002. Venator places four or five people a month in financial management positions with salary packages that can exceed $200,000. Local spotlight Placement firm small, effective Troy's Venator, started in 2002, places people in financial management By Eric Pope / Special to The Detroit News Venator Consulting Group Founded: 2002 Employees: 9 2004 revenues: $4 million (estimated) Information: www.venatorconsulting.com Comment on this story Send this story to a friend Get Home Delivery TROY - When David Chilingirian decided it was time to leave public accounting after more than 10 years with Deloitte & Touche, he didn't post his resume on monster.com. Instead he turned to placement firms that match qualified professionals with companies looking for key financial personnel. A lunch meeting with Karl Roehrig, a principal at Venator Consulting Group Inc. of Troy, quickly led to an opportunity at Pulte Homes Inc. in Bloomfield Hills. Chilingirian wasn't interested in that position but accepted a better one six months later. "I appreciated that Karl didn't want to force me into a position," said Chilingirian, who is now Pulte's director of corporate audit. "A lot of placement companies want to take a round peg and put it in a square hole." Roehrig, Cedric Corera and Charlie James established their own placement firm in February 2002 after leaving Ajilon Finance, one of the country's largest placement firms for accounting and financial staffing. Venator places four or five people a month in financial management positions with lucrative salary packages that can exceed $200,000 a year. Companies typically pay placement firms 30 percent of the new hire's first-year compensation. The past few years have been tough on the employment placement industry, according to Damian Zikakis, a managing director specializing in financial positions at the Birmingham office of Boyden Executive Search. When the economic downturn made qualified candidates much more plentiful, companies figured they could cut costs by conducting their own searches over the Internet. But an Internet ad on monster.com can produce more than 400 resumes. "It's like trying to get a drink out of a firehouse. You're inundated," Zikakis said. Corera said 80 percent of successful candidates aren't actively looking for a job, so it takes personal relationships and word-of-mouth recommendations to find the people best suited for a position. According to James, placement counselors often help job candidates reach the conclusion that it's time to change jobs. This is particularly true for accountants and financial professionals, who are trained to be risk-averse. "We're like psychologists," he said. Despite its small size, Venator has more than 14,000 candidates in its database. When a job opportunity comes in, counselors usually consider 20 or so prospects and then narrow the search down to three to five finalists who would fit in with the client's corporate culture, Corera said. Bob Madera, the CFO at Sequoia Industries in Livonia, said Venator saves him a lot of time on job searches. "You tell them what you're looking for, and they pretty much hit it on the nose," he said. Venator also provides temporary employees on a contract basis for $20 to $75 an hour. "I get immediate people, I don't pay benefits and I get to assess them over time," said Stefan Michalak, director of internal audit at Champion Enterprises Inc. in Auburn Hills, who has hired four temporary workers through Venator to help deal with new Sarbanes-Oxley requirements. Venator has expanded into temporary placement for engineering and technical positions and recently started a pre-employment screening service. The company is a member of the Michigan Minority Business Development Council. Eric Pope is a Metro Detroit free-lance writer Previous Story Next Story

Business  · Business index for Thursday, September 16, 2004 · Michigan jobs loss slowed in Aug. · Firms spare no cost to outfit posh chalets · Ryder Cup offers room to schmooze · Consumer prices nudge up 0.1 percent in August · Employers aim to hike wages · Home buyers rank Pulte No.1 in first Power national survey · Investors are tangled in old stocks, economy predicament · Placement firm small, effective · Frank's could begin liquidation sales next week · Stewart decides to serve jail now · Industrial activity inches up · OPEC boosts production · Ala. Retirees' pension at risk · JPMorgan Chase to rehire 4,000 workers · Bad news rattles stocks · Noble, Axle lead state stock fall · Personal finance Q&A · Metro Briefs · Nation/World Briefs · People on the move  Sections for this date  Thursday, September 16, 2004 Select index Home Page ........... Autos Insider Drive ........... Business Money & Life Careers Real Estate ........... Metro/State Wayne Oakland Macomb Livingston Commuting Obituaries Schools Special Reports Editorials ........... Nation/World Politics/Gov Census Health Religion Technology ........... Sports Insider Lions/NFL Pistons/NBA Red Wings/NHL Tigers/MLB MSU U-M More Colleges High Schools Golf Motor Sports Outdoors More Sports Scoreboards ........... Entertainment Events Movies/TV/DVD Eats & Drinks Books CD Reviews ........... Lifestyle Homestyle Fitness © 2004 The Detroit News. Use of this site indicates your agreement to the Terms of Service (updated 12/19/2002).