Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/819981
56 The PCB Magazine • May 2017 put into use the equipment we were making. To test the product, we set out to find customers. We found potential customers and offered them a very personalized, high-touch service. Our services were well-received and we start- ed charging for them. What grew from this was the notion of a small service provider, first called Concert Call then incorporated as Cho- rus Call. Rather than having a large service pro- vider that farmed out the services, we started opening small offices around the world. We're literally in your backyard, speaking your lan- guage. In 2008, we acquired a fourth company, Sonexis, which is our foray into the enterprise market. We've covered the commercial aspect. We've got the federal, we've got enterprise, and we've got service. Goldman: Sonexis. Interesting. I've not heard of that one before. Miller: All have Dr. Coraluppi in common, but we are four separate companies, with Chorus Call as the parent company. Goldman: And they're all pretty independent of each other, correct? Miller: As independent as a company can be when it shares a common president. A lot of ser- vices are shared, IT and HR, for example. Goldman: Very interesting. That's a great compa- ny background. How about yourselves? Miller: I joined the company in 1995 in human resources. More recently I spent about three years marketing Concert-Oh, the foundation for something that we sell now in Chorus Call, called C-Meeting. And very recently, I stepped back in to help in human resources because we had a lot of open positions. Becky Brennan: I joined the company in 1996 and was the first addition to the one-woman HR department. Aimee and I have worked togeth- er for 20 years in different capacities, although I haven't left HR. We've always been a small HR department and as Aimee said, in recent years, we've had a lot of open positions across all the companies. We have a full-time recruiter who works with us as well. Goldman: I take it there's been a lot of growth in the last 20 years. Obviously, as there are a lot of open positions. Miller: There were about 160 employees when I started and it had reached a point where I could either help find more people or help the people that we already had. Goldman: That's when you needed another per- son for sure. Brennan: I think that we had about 250 em- ployees worldwide when I started, and now it's 700+. For the most part, Aimee is leading the re- cruiting effort with our recruiter and I'm han- dling everything else in HR. Goldman: Is the HR department involved in any training of new employees or ongoing training? Do you have any programs or is that handled by the individual company? Brennan: The technical training is generally handled within the functional area; it occurs on Aimee Miller HOW TO FIND—AND RETAIN—THE RIGHT PEOPLE FOR THE RIGHT JOBS