Deadlines. We all have them. They can be exhilarating when everything comes together -- the deadline is met, the work is great, and the client is happy. But there's no greater stress than having a deadline to keep and not having the staff or skill set needed to finish the job on time.
As many of Canada's top advertising and marketing professionals already know, there's no need to add undue pressure to an already tense situation. They turn to api as their source of marketing and creative talent for short or long-term projects.
Whether it's flying a marketing specialist to an east coast agency in a snow storm to fine tune a presentation for government business or simply providing creative and studio talent to fill in during peak periods or for ill or vacationing staffers, api delivers.
Colin Fenby, a typical api client, started calling api Adpeople Inc. for his staffing needs about 15 years ago while setting up an in-house studio.
In subsequent positions with Toronto advertising agencies and now marketing manager for a government agency, Fenby has counted on api Adpeople Inc.
"My relationship with api Adpeople Inc. has evolved to the point where it's so easy. I pick up the phone and say I'm looking for this kind of person for this kind of project, and they find me the right person. As the marketplace has become tighter and tighter, the quality of people from api Adpeople Inc. has not dropped at all."
Fenby says in a rapidly changing marketplace it's hard to predict the kind of skills he's going to require or the project he's going to have to deal with -- an ad campaign, a brochure, multimedia or, as he recently orchestrated, a huge demonstration tour through Asia. "I needed quite a different skill mix for that project, but when the project ran its course I didn't need that skill anymore."
There are some very good reasons why api Adpeople Inc. consistently brings the right people to each project. Every member of the api Adpeople Inc. staff has worked in the industry -- on both the agency and client sides -- so they know the business and the jobs they're filling. api Adpeople Inc. acts as a "clearing house" for talent by doing all the screening and interviewing so the employer doesn't have to. They are very selective about their hand picked roster of talent with only about 3% of those with resumes actually selected to be an api Adpeople Inc. contractor.
Frances Breithaupt, api Adpeople Inc. founder and client services manager, says, "When you've been in the business as long as we have and you've interviewed as many people as we have, it's quite obvious if a person is talented or not. Once this 3% is through the door, we check them out personally and professionally, individually and through their references. So when we recommend these people to clients, they're people we would hire ourselves.
"The motivation is to make a happy match," says founder Fran Breithaupt. "It sounds corny, but there's nothing more satisfying than matching the talent to the task -- having everyone happy and to see a result from the effort. Whether that result is an award, or a new piece of business won, or simply that someone has met a deadline and we've been complimented and thanked for it."
When researching the concept for api Adpeople Inc. back in 1986, Breithaupt found that all segments of the industry were ready to embrace the 'clearing house' nature of the company. She says prospective clients were not only frustrated by the limited availability of talent for temporary positions, but also by the lack of certain standards of excellence among freelancers and contract workers.
At the same time, Breithaupt says talented contract people were not always able to find the right projects and were not happy about taking time away from their work to prospect for new clients.
api Adpeople Inc. has been providing the industry with proven, flexible, cost-considerate staffing solutions since 1987. Clients are assured that their briefing is understood and the right contractor is hand picked by someone who knows their business. Clients approve the candidate and the fee and api Adpeople Inc. handles the invoicing, collection and CPP/EI remissions. What could be easier?
