Wisconsin-based company enters Reno staffing market

It's the best of times, the worst of times for Teryna Scheile.

Her company, SEEK Careers/Staffing, chose Reno for one of its first forays out of its home state of Wisconsin because the northern Nevada economy is so hot that employers need all the help they can get finding workers.

On the other hand, one of those outfits looking hard for employees is SEEK itself.

The staffing agency handles temporary and permanent staffing in skilled trades, office administration, accounting, light industrial, information technology and the professions.

It doesn't handle day-labor positions.

But how to get a cadre of temporary workers together in a place where the latest reported unemployment rate was 2.8 percent? Scheile, the branch team manager for SEEK in Reno, posts flyers on grocery-store bulletin boards.

She asks everyone she encounters if they're looking for work or know someone who might be looking to change careers.And she sometimes stands at busy locations simply handing out business cards, hoping a stranger might be ready to take on positions through SEEK Careers/Staffing.

"You have to get creative at times," she says.

SEEK Careers/Staffing, a company based in Grafton,Wis., has grown from a single office in 1971 to 16 branches today 13 of them in Wisconsin.

The new Reno location at 2700 Mill St.marked its first decision to expand out of Wisconsin, and the company also is opening branches in Illinois and North Carolina.

Carol Schneider, the company's founder and chief executive officer, says SEEK chose Reno for a simple reason: The fast-growing economy provides opportunity for a newcomer in the market.

Scheile, however, is no newcomer.

She's worked five years in staffing sales and management in northern Nevada.

Before that, she worked five years in sales and management positions in the hospitality industry.

The other employee of the SEEK office is Scheile's mother-in-law, Peggy Scheile.

Along with temporary, temporary-to-permanent and direct-hire placements, SEEK also provides outsourced human resources services ranging from screening applicants and staffing job fairs to providing testing and training.