Welcome to the Roessel Joy blog!

Jonas Roessel and Chris Joy - Managing Partners at Roessel Joy

In honor of launching, we are kicking off our “Meet the Team” series, where we will be highlighting the amazing people that make up our team. First, we sat down with Managing Partners Chris Joy (C) and Jonas Roessel (J) for a candid conversation regarding our ever-evolving startup and the future of the recruiting industry.

What is Roessel Joy’s mission?

C: Our overarching mission is to find the right people for the right jobs, fast. By leveraging innovative and proprietary technologies, we empower our team to spend more time with “boots on the ground” in front of our candidates and clients.

J: We have always been motivated to provide a better customer experience for both clients and candidates. It’s something that we feel is frequently overlooked in our industry, and devoting energy to that has had a dramatic impact on our growth.

What previous experience do you bring to Roessel Joy?

C: I bring eight years of recruiting and leadership experience, specifically in the accounting and finance staffing space. I also bring a passion for continuous self-development and improvement, and a passion for the collective success of the team. Outside of professional experience, I believe I also bring a commitment to community via continuous involvement in several local organizations including Year Up, Boston Healthcare for the Homeless and Fenway Health.

J: I come to Roessel Joy with years of staffing experience from two different firms. I came up on the direct hire finance and accounting side of things, made a pivot to running a larger team for IT temporary staffing and then made a move back to direct hire finance and accounting.

What makes Roessel Joy different than other firms?

C: We largely saw inefficiencies in the status-quo staffing model and set out to cultivate a new era in this industry. More specifically, we saw inefficiencies in technology and culture. We noticed our competitors were seemingly “stuck in the past,” when it came to technology – not investing in current or future tech. At Roessel Joy, we have made technological investment a cornerstone of our company, providing the most effective service and solutions. Not only has automation freed up more of our recruiters’ time to spend with clients and candidates, but we were able to transition seamlessly to a 100% remote work environment in response to Covid-19.

J: There are two main types of staffing firms today. The large and publicly traded, and the older boutique firms. Luckily, Chris and I have spent time at both, seeing both sides of the industry. From our experience, the larger firms tend to just focus on the bottom-line. The smaller firms, they tend to focus on margin and cost savings, and don’t invest heavily in the professional development of their own teams. We’ve created a culture that both focuses on delivering results to our candidates and clients but also one that reinvests those results into staff development and upward mobility.

With the coupling of reinvestment and constant technological improvement, we aren’t limiting the potential of our team – we have big plans to diversify geographically and across verticals giving the top team members unlimited professional growth potential.

Overall, we want to create a better experience for everyone: our clients, candidates and recruiters.

What are you most excited about for the firm?

C: I’m most excited about continuing to deliver to our candidates and clients and seeing our team’s professional and personal development. For example, our most tenured Recruiter, Mary Horn, has already had two separate promotions in just her first year with the firm. Seeing this type of development, and the success of our team, is what gets me the most excited about work each day.

J: The growth piece continues to be the most exciting thing for me. We’re launching another line of business this year and have a few other big things in the pipeline that we’ve sped up the timeline for. As we continue to grow, maintaining our corporate culture has been a big focus for us, so it will be exciting to have more team building activities with even more people.

What are you most passionate about with work?

C: This would be the same answer as what gets me excited. I’m passionate about delivery. There’s nothing better than when we can provide the perfect candidate to our client, and when that career move is an exceptional decision for the candidate as well. As a secondary benefit of delivery, I also see our team succeed which leads to continued internal team development and success – it is truly a “win, win, win.”

J: I think the element of helping people get jobs that truly impact their lives in terms of pay bumps, better opportunities etc. has always been big to me. I think since we’ve launched, seeing the growth of our internal team members has also been something I’ve loved about my job. Seeing people we’ve hired, in some cases right out of school, grow into accomplished recruiters and being front row for all of the success they’ve hit early on is always great to experience.

What values drive and motivate you?

C: Transparency, continuous improvement and community.

J: The constant desire to better myself and those around me. I always try to evaluate my own personal performance, seeing the changes I can make and ways to push myself outside my comfort zone. That same mindset has been a big driving factor in terms of how we’re grown the company and the actions we take each day to make a positive difference in our community.

Where do you see the future of the recruiting industry going?

C: I think that even with the recent transition to remote work during the Covid-19 crisis, that recruiting is and always will be (and should be!) personal. Though meetings may be virtual, it will always be important to make personal and face-to-face connections. I believe that the firms that embrace and encourage these technological advancements will be the most successful in the future.

J: I think you’ll continue to see a big push into automation technology. ZipRecruiter really led the charge in terms of fully automating everything and it seems to be a trend. I do think that there is a delicate balance between automation and having a human aspect, so I think whoever is able to master that balance will be light years ahead of the competition.

What is your favorite piece of career advice?

C: Have faith in genuine hard work and output, as long as it’s smart.

J: Don’t be afraid to take chances. If you want something, keep working until you get it.

What is one thing we should know about you that we can’t find on LinkedIn?

C: In my free time I play league tennis, enjoy fundraising and giving back to my community, as well as spend time with my two nephews, who are three and one.

J: In my free time I try to get out and golf as much as I can as well as spend time on Cape Cod, which is where I grew up. I also like working on pro-bono projects for different non-profits to help where I can. I’m on the board for my alma mater, UMass Boston College of Management, where we’ve launched a lot of great programs. I am also the board for the Startup Coalition where we help different tech startups obtain funding and help them as they grow.