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Grass Lake native’s job with company he founded is helping others find jobs

Heidi Fenton, Jackson Citizen Patriot | Monday July 06, 2009, 11:36 PM

At 26, Grass Lake native Todd Palmer was unemployed, bankrupt and recently divorced.

He had been fired three times in four years and lost his apartment and car.

"My focus was just all over the place," he said, recalling his struggle to balance parenting with a teaching position at Jackson Community College. "I was a terrible employee."

The Todd Palmer file

Fast forward 15 years, and Palmer is now head of Troy-based Diversified Industrial Staffing, a firm that recruits and markets available workers to employers. He started the company in 1997 with $15,000 on loan from a friend who gave him 90 days to draw a profit.

Palmer reached that goal by day 75.

To date, the company has found jobs for more than 3,500 people from southeastern Michigan.

It expanded its potential employer base to the national level in January, and launched the "Job Search Process Training program" in May. The program offers a three-hour seminar for job candidates taught by Palmer and an online instructional booklet with interview tips and resume and cover letter examples.

His key message?

"If you are unemployed, and you spent 40 hours a week working before, now you should have 40 hours available to put forth to finding another job," he said.

Palmer looks back on his early days of bankruptcy and unemployment and sees the time as a foundation-builder for his business. In each seminar, Palmer shares the story of his frustration and says he can relate to the self-esteem pressures displaced workers face.

He remembers spending days scanning newspaper ads and store windows for job openings before he realized he was taking "the wrong approach."

Just 15 percent of available jobs are ever posted, Palmer said, which leaves the other 85 percent available only to those who inquire.

He began researching how to find a job and marketing himself to places where he "really wanted to work."

"Statistically, why would I want to compete against everybody when I only wanted to compete against a few?" he said.

In 1995, Palmer landed a job in the human resources department of Total Corporate Management in Mount Clemens, and he later used the knowledge he acquired searching for a job to start his company.

Strung across a wall in Diversified Industrial Staffing's office is a banner with the word "Why?" Palmer said. He said the banner challenges his employees to focus on the reason for their work and to influence change.

"We are going to be able to really make an impact on their side and locate opportunities they didn't know existed," he said.

Jackson resident Beverly Palmer, Todd's mother, remembers the early days of her son's business endeavor and how he struggled to raise his son at the same time.

"He kept persevering; I just admired that about him. He didn't throw in the towel," she said.

Facts about Diversified Industrial Staffing

New biz targets job seekers

Crain’s Detroit Business | Friday June 21, 2009, 8:08 PM

Todd Palmer, president of Diversified Industrial Staffing in Troy, has launched the Job Search Process for those who need help with job-hunting skills.

The service involves a three-hour seminar and book that includes examples of successful résumés and cover letters, interview tips and job boards.

The cost is $49.99 and comes with a money-back guarantee.

The next seminar is 9 a.m.–noon Friday at 575 E. Big Beaver Road, Troy, on the third floor.

For more information: (877) 867-8233 or www.jobsearchprocess.com.

Michigan staffing exec launches new venture for job seekers

Sven Gustafson, Michigan Business Review | Friday June 05, 2009, 11:20 AM

The owner of a blue-collar staffing firm in Troy has launched a new venture that offers a money-back guarantee that clients will find a new job in six weeks or less.

Todd Palmer launched Job Search Process about four weeks ago to focus on unemployed or under-employed workers across all industries and recent college graduates who lack the skills necessary to successfully find jobs. He recently hired a second person to help with follow-up and marketing.

Really what I'm trying to teach them is the discipline of the search. You can't wing it," said Palmer, who also is president of Diversified Industrial Staffing.

The self-directed service involves three hours of classroom time and an online training course. It focuses on helping aspirants find the 85 percent of job openings that Palmer says are never posted publicly.

Palmer said he got the idea for the new business partly from visiting Ferris State University, where he met one job counselor tasked with helping 13,000 undergraduate students. It also grew from a speech given by an entrepreneurial motivator who challenged business executives to flip their businesses upside-down to find new ways to generate revenue.

Palmer, who declared bankruptcy at age 26 as a single father, said he uses his personal story to connect with job seekers. His job-placement firm now claims to have helped 3,500 people find manufacturing, construction and logistics jobs in the past 12 years.

"I figured I could teach everybody to find a job," he said.

Contact reporter Sven Gustafson at (734) 302-1732 or sveng@mbusinessreview.com. Or follow him at www.twitter.com/sveng.