BRENTWOOD, Tenn., April 13, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vaco, a talent and solutions firm that provides consulting, contract and direct hire solutions to more than 40 markets around the globe, is partnering with the cities of Birmingham, Alabama, and Memphis, Tennessee, to provide vital information on testing and other important outreach in the midst of the escalating coronavirus pandemic.
Through these partnerships, Vaco helped both cities staff COVID-19 response call centers with individuals displaced from their work due to the virus. The remote outbound call centers target the cities’ underserved and unemployed populations suffering through the crisis and have employed more than 100 displaced workers.
The initiative in Birmingham is funded by the city’s emergency release funds and the one in Memphis is made possible through a grant from the Community Foundation. The initiative helps to educate residents on preventative measures, symptoms, and free resources available.
Through the partnership with the City of Birmingham and Birmingham Strong, more than 50 unemployed restaurant workers and others have been hired.
“It’s truly amazing to be part of something so impactful in a time that we are all trying to understand a new normal and figure out our role in making a valuable impact,” said Lindsey Tanner, managing director of Vaco in Birmingham. “We are thankful to help execute the City of Birmingham’s innovation and vision for helping stop the spread of the coronavirus while also getting people back to work.”
In Memphis, the partnership with Memphis Tourism, Metropolitan Hotel & Lodging Association, Memphis Housing Authority, and the Memphis Restaurant Association has created 53 jobs for unemployed workers from the restaurant and tourism industries.
“Vaco is excited to partner with Mayor Jim Strickland and the Memphis Housing Authority to reach out to underserved areas and make them aware of all of the resources available to them around COVID-19,” said Kirk Johnston, managing partner of Vaco in Memphis. “The city has done a great job of partnering with local organizations to set up mobile testing centers and other resources that are so necessary right now given these unprecedent circumstances. The agents hired to staff the remote call center were Memphians mainly from the hospitality and restaurant sector that had been affected by COVID-19. Helping that group out was also an important component to the mission of this project: Memphians giving back to their city.”
Vaco is also exploring similar partnerships in Nashville and other cities.
Vaco provides boutique level service with global reach in the areas of consulting, consultative project resources, executive search, permanent placement and strategic staffing. Areas of expertise include c-suite search, accounting, finance, technology, health care IT, operations, administration and international managed services. Since its founding in 2002, Vaco has grown to serve more than 40 markets across the globe, with 1,200 employees, 5,500 consultants and $750 million in revenue. Vaco has been named to Inc. magazine’s list of the fastest-growing private companies for the past 13 years and was named to Forbes’ 2018 & 2019 lists of America’s Best Recruiting Firms.