IAM305- Founder and CEO Helps Companies Hire Dependable Workforce From the Refugee Workforce

Chris is the founder & CEO of Amplio Recruiting, a staffing company helping great companies hire dependable employees from the refugee workforce. In 2018, Amplio hit $4M in revenue and placed over 800 refugees into jobs in Atlanta, Houston, Dallas and Raleigh. They aim to be in 25 markets by 2025 and plan to release a book this Fall on the economic impact of refugees in the marketplace entitled “Refugee Workforce.”

• CEO Hack: (1) Book- Making money is killing your business (2) Getting up early and reflecting on what needs to be done for the day
• CEO Nugget: It's the small steps that get you closer to your goals
• CEO Defined: (1) Responsibility to cast your vision (2) Keeping cash in the banking money (3) Finding the right team

Website: https://ampliorecruiting.com/

http://www.refugeeworkforce.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amplio_recruit/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/6579022/admin/

Full Interview

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Transcription

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Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:29

Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today, Chris Chancey of Amplio Recruiting. Chris, awesome to have you on the show.

Chris Chancey 0:39

Hey, thanks for having me, man. I'm excited.

Gresham Harkless 0:41

No problem, super excited to have you on as well. And what I want to do is just read a little bit more about Chris so you can hear about all the awesome things that he's doing. And Chris is the founder & CEO of Amplio Recruiting, a staffing company helping great companies hire dependable employees from the refugee workforce. In 2018, Amplio hit $4M in revenue and placed over 800 refugees into jobs in Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, and Raleigh. They aim to be in 25 markets by 2025 and plan to release a book this Fall on the economic impact of refugees in the marketplace entitled “Refugee Workforce. Chris, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO Community?

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Chris Chancey 1:21

Yeah, I'm excited. Let's roll.

Gresham Harkless 1:22

Let's do it. So the first question I had was the hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO story. And what led you to start your business?

Chris Chancey 1:30

Yeah, thanks for asking, give me the chance to speak. I think, my story, I feel like is just very average, in a lot of ways. I did not come from a business background. I remember the first opportunity, I even had to be put in a position of leadership within a business. My direct report at the time was telling me to describe what a P&L was, and I remember writing down the letters p in L, three letters, I got it.

And so I feel, I've really come a long way since then. But most of has been through failure, just failing forward and figuring things out and being willing to try some stuff. And so my wife and I moved into a community here outside of Atlanta. And at the time, we were looking for a good deal and a house. And we knew that its community was somewhat of an international community and thought there might be some good restaurants to check out. But we had no clue what it was. It was really a refugee resettlement community.

And so for about 30 years, this community outside of Atlanta called Clarkston had been really a center for refugee resettlement, and it's called the most diverse square mile in the country. And so pretty quickly, we started thinking through what potential ways we could serve this community is pretty unique. And as we met our neighbors and got to know a little bit more about who they were and where they were coming from, we realized a lot of them just were eager to get back to work, when before they were displaced from their homes, they had a job and as we all know, there's a lot of dignity and being able to work and work with your hands and be proud of what you've done. And so we started looking at potential companies, we could start to hire people from the community.

And really what we landed on hand was there are a lot of companies who need to hire dependable people. There are a lot of people in this community who've been overlooked, but really have a lot to add in terms of just being really hard work, working people, and really dependable people. And so we said, let's just start a staffing company. We have no background in staffing, but we can figure it out as we go and really connect these two groups.

And so that was about five years ago, we launched Amplio Recruiting. And it's been a crazy journey. But we've seen a lot of companies tremendously impacted by hiring people from refugees, and just recognizing that the media and a lot of the political rhetoric that we see around refugees is to help us either believe that they're a charity case, and they need a lot of support, or they're a terrorist threat. And then we need to watch them very closely. But in reality, there are workforce, there are a group of people who want to work hard and add value and pay taxes and contribute to their local community.

Gresham Harkless 4:10

Nice. And I appreciate you, touching on that because I was just going to ask you a little bit more about a narrative and the definition of what a refugee is and what that looks like, but I'm glad you definitely touched on that. Because I think a lot of times, we forget that work is a part of you. So when you aren't able to work with a refugee or anybody for that example you're not fully fulfilled doing whatever you're doing that can be really frustrating. So I appreciate you for identifying that and even though you didn't have that background, you said that in true entrepreneurial form, you created something that helped create like Win Win Win opportunities for lots of people.

Chris Chancey 4:48

Yeah, that's really the most exciting part is that there's so many companies that we talk to on a daily basis and they would say, the CEO, I'll talk to and they'll say I thought that the hardest part about making this business successful would be to secure the right patent, or the legal standing. And I thought the hardest part was going to be finding a co-founder who could really run with me or there'd be all these things that you think is going to be the challenging challenge, most challenging aspect of starting and being successful in business. And none of them would say, I thought my hardest, the thing that I was going to struggle the most with was finding dependable people, that's always kind of seemed in the past to be sort of something that you just take for granted. And I think we're realizing now in the labor market, there are 7 million open jobs in the US, and 7 million jobs will go unfilled this year. Wow. Those are manufacturing and hospitality. Those are two of the industries we serve.

And so we just recognize, we've got a lot of dependable people who are legal to work there already in the US. So whether or not you agree that we should continue to let whatever I'll the bottom line is there are people who are already here who are illegal to be here. So why not give them the opportunity to contribute? And take these jobs and provide for their family and create greater stability for them and in their community as well?

Gresham Harkless 6:02

Yeah, absolutely. I appreciate you for sharing that. And you're absolutely right. I've been to networking groups and talk to business owners. And it's sometimes the frustration is just finding the right people to put in the right spots. And, you know, it's always kind of like a thing that you're always looking to do. But it's great that you guys are a matchmaker, so to speak, where you're finding those organizations and companies that can use the refugees and the workforce, and making that connection. So, I wanted to drill down a little bit deeper and hear a little bit more on like, how the process works, how you help or support the refugees, but also the businesses and organizations and what you feel kind of is like your secret sauce.

Chris Chancey 6:39

Yeah, such a great question. In reality, the staffing industry has been around for a long time. And as we stepped into that world, there were a lot of things I knew that we could benefit from and learn from, what staffing has done really well, it's a great business model that is very profitable. But of course, we all recognize a reputation that comes along with staffing with connotation, there may be people who are not treated fairly. And that people could be taken advantage of. So we wanted to be very aware of that, from the start of how do we set ourselves up so that we're telling a different story that we're going to come along and provide the same worker's comp and the same payroll services. But at the end of the day, the people we're placing on our payroll, and then eventually on the company's payroll, people who are really dependable, they're gonna see an increase in retention, the industry standard of staffing is right around 40%. And our retention rate is right at 80%.

So double standard. And it's not a lot because we're not doing anything really special or unique, really talked about the secret sauce is connecting deeply with the refugee community. So we see an increase in retention, and we see an increase in productivity as well. We've got a company not too far from our office here that manufactures different types of baby products, and they sell in Walmart and in other stores around the country. And their average quota when we started working with them, was I needed someone who could hit about 300 a day of whatever the different items that we were working on.

And within just a couple of weeks, we had placed a group of Burmese women. And they were hitting 601 lady was hitting 900 a day three times what the quota was. And so not only did production increase, but the rest of the people working in the company, were saying, hey, if they can do 900, we should be able to at least do 400 or 500, right? So everybody's production increases in that environment. It's not like it's a sweatshop, there's everyone's sitting down and padded chairs, great lighting, music playing there. They love what they do. But there's more efficiency and focus brought to the work. And so we get to see that across the board. But I think one of the things we've tried to do from a secret sauce standpoint is just say, Hey, we're putting people over profit, we're still going to charge you just like any other staffing company will.

But we want to communicate very far in advance this, we can't work with every company, and we've got to know we haven't got a clear standard of who we're going to work with. We put every company through a 30-point scale to determine they're the right fit. And then over the last year, we became a B Corp. So we're the first and only staffing company to become a B Corp certified and it's hard to imagine that that's the case but hopefully there's a standard there that other staffing companies can adhere to as well to say let's take care of the people because that really is the lifeblood of a successful staffing business.

Gresham Harkless 9:42

Yeah, absolutely. And I know I've heard a little bit about it before but I've always heard it and kind of find it I guess you can say all along the lines of service and having a really strong purpose. So a lot of people when they want to support organisations they wish to support as it says having and being able to be a B Corp is definitely, you're not just doing things just for the sake of doing them. You're doing them for a purpose and a cost. So I definitely appreciate you and appreciate you for getting that designation. And congratulations on that as well. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit. And I wanted to ask you about what I call a CEO hack. And this might be like an app or book or a habit that you have, but it's something that makes you more effective and efficient.

Chris Chancey 10:24

Yeah. And that's such a great question. I think, if there's anything, there's very little that I do well, I think it's failing forward and just learning from mistakes. And so there's been a couple I mentioned, maybe one book, and then maybe one habit really quick. So one book that has been really key for me, is called Making money is killing your business. Chuck Blakeman is the author. He's a mentor, and a friend of mine, and just really logical, insightful, hard-hitting really good practical book on how to grow a successful business, and not just something that's just going to generate some cash.

So I really liked that. And then for me, I think recognizing that getting up in the morning early and having some time to really be able to focus entirely on what has to get done today, before I get kind of pulled into everything else during the day has been important.

And so the only way I was able to accomplish that was really just recognizing what is like, if there's something that's necessary, and it's highly necessary for me when I go to sleep, there's a really strong chance that I'll get up at 5:36 am and knock it out. But if I don't go to bed with a sense that this is highly urgent and necessary, then it's a little bit easier to sleep in until seven or whatever and kind of be pulled into the day, and I'm trying to catch back up. So I just have a clear sense of what's the one thing that's gotta get done. And I know it's going to force me to wake up and get it done in the morning before I get going with the day.

Gresham Harkless 11:50

Nice. I love that because it's like you're starting tomorrow, the day before yesterday because you have that momentum, you are already prepared for exactly what you want to do. And then it just kind of I met. And now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this is a word of wisdom or piece of advice. So you might have already touched on this, but this is something you would tell your younger business self.

Chris Chancey 12:12

Yeah, one of the things I've really started settling into is talking about this whole thing of failing forward and learning from our mistakes I just talk a lot about victory, it's a victory. And so there's just something for my own self, just thinking through that this whole vector principle right of like where you want to be eventually, then it's that process of taking small steps every day to get there. And if you start a few degrees, of course, today, then you're going to wind up way off of where you actually want to be in the end. And so whatever that vector point is, setting your sights on that, and knowing I'm gonna make a few steps towards that every day. I can't accomplish everything today, but I definitely want to make progress.

Gresham Harkless 12:53

Yeah, absolutely. Victory is victory. I absolutely love that. Because a lot of times you have that Northstar, that's up that you're making sure you follow and then you're like, how the heck am I gonna make it all the way there but you do little small things each and every day, just staying true to that star, whatever goal you might have. And then next thing you know you're actually there, maybe even beyond there. So I appreciate that. And now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different, quote-unquote, CEOs on the show. So Chris, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Chris Chancey 13:23

Yeah, I immediately go very practical. And I hear that so maybe that's just the way my brain works. But I think for me, the three things that I'm trying to keep my mind on, in terms of what my role and my responsibility is here on a day-to-day basis, is recognizing that it's my responsibility to cast vision, that's probably only something that I can do. And so nobody else is maybe thinking about that on a day to day. So the only thing that I can do is really what the CEO role fits for me. So I'm casting vision, number one, number two, keeping cash in the bank and just constantly thinking about how that works.

And then number three, getting the right people on our team. And if I'm doing those three things, well, then everything else should be really being done really well by the other people on our team. And those are the things that only I can do.

Gresham Harkless 14:10

Absolutely. And you were having that high-level kind of perspective on those things and understanding exactly how they snowball and manifest themselves in all the different things that you're doing. Definitely makes perfect sense. So I appreciate that definition. And, Chris, thank you for your time, what I wanted to do is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you can let our readers and listeners know, and then how best they can find out about all the awesome things you're doing and get a hold of you.

Chris Chancey 14:34

Oh, wow. Thanks. Yeah, I'm excited about the book we have coming out in the fall. So maybe I'll just touch on that briefly. I shared a little bit of this earlier. But what we see in our country right now is there's of course there's a lot of division and a lot of us are frustrated by that. But then what do you do? And so often when we talk about refugee stuff, obviously we're right in the middle of what is a very controversial topic. And so we just recognize that if we talk about the moral or ethics or just there are various ways we could talk about this discussion, but it's going to polarise people. But we found if we talk about the economic impact, then it's really hard to argue that so that the sort of book is really stats and stories, discussing the economic impact that refugees are having on the marketplace.

The bottom line is we need refugees more than they need us. We got to fill these open jobs we have we want our economy to continue to grow, and they're a very viable workforce that is ready to step in. And so excited to see that launch in the fall. If you want more information on the book or just want to sign up for the pre-order or the launch team, it's refugeeworkforce.com. And you can get more information there and help us launch this out and get into the hands of the right people.

Gresham Harkless 15:49

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, I definitely appreciate you for making that dent. And I think he said the 7 million unemployed that we have in the country and helping out the refugees as well. We'll have those links in the show notes just so that anybody can follow up with you to get a copy of the book and preorder it or buy a copy as well. And thank you so much again, and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Chris Chancey 16:10

Great. Thank you.

Outro 16:12

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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