Startup staffing firm learns ropes from small-business counselors.(consultants)

Celine Piri found herself jobless after taking a severance buyout from AT&T and felt the frustration of job seekers everywhere. But out of that frustration, a game plan was born: She would start her own staffing company.

Piri, a Nigerian native, launched Taricel Management Staffing on a shoestring in 2003. And what she lacked in capital, she has made up for in energy and determination.

Since she worked in corporate recruiting at AT&T, Piri already had experience in the staffing field. "I was on the receiving side when I worked at AT&T, so I knew what corporations were looking for," she says.

That proved to be a big advantage as she was building Taricel. She knew, for example, that it was about providing quality candidates. At AT&T, if a staffing agency provided poor candidates two or three times, she would stop using them.

Piri had the people knowledge; what she needed was the business knowledge. She needed marketing materials, she needed clients, and she needed to figure out her niche.

She started by drawing a pyramid. At the bottom were warehousing jobs; in the middle, clerical jobs; and at the top, executive positions. If she worked strictly at the bottom--where profit margins are thin and workers' compensation insurance is high--she'd never get ahead. If she focused on the top, she wouldn't have the right volume.

The answer was to balance her business, slowly climbing upward. Today, Taricel offers staffing services in a range of areas, from light industrial to medical. "The tip can't stand without the base," she says.