Today we’d like to introduce you to Bejan Douraghy.
In 1988, at age 25, Bejan ventured from New York City to Chicago with $1,000 in his pocket and a business concept. A prior job experience had taught him a valuable lesson—you have to treat creative talent with the same level of respect as your clients because as a staffing agency, you’re in the business of people. With that in mind, he launched Artisan Talent.
Within five years, Artisan tripled in size and was named one of the fastest-growing private companies in America in Inc. magazine. A year later, Bejan appeared on the cover, discussing about how bootstrappers change their business practices to foster growth and move beyond the start-up phase. It would be harder now to call him a bootstrapper, but he has not forgotten what he has learned.
Bejan’s revolutionary approach to the industry has helped him continue to achieve success and garner attention along the way. He was selected as one of 2008’s Ernst and Young Entrepreneurs of the Year.
For the fourth year in a row, Artisan wins both Inavero staffing industry awards, putting them in the nation’s top 2%. Most recently in 2017 Artisan was named by Forbes as one of the top 50 professional staffing firms in the country.
Artisan is now a digital, creative, and marketing staffing agency for top talent in Chicago, New York, Washington D.C., Indianapolis, Denver, Cincinnati, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. We balance the demands of boutique, national, and international companies with the needs of the top talent they trust.
Serving nearly 2,000 companies and thousands of visual, digital, marketing and creative professionals, Bejan has built one of the best-known and respected brands in the country’s creative staffing services industry. He attributes the success of matching the right people for his clients’ needs and assembling the right internal team for his company’s culture and growth. Artisan continues to gain recognition through community outreach, recognizing the best talent in the global creative community.
Bejan holds a Bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University and is a member of Vistage and Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO). He has participated in Chicago marathons and triathlons is an avid bike rider and likes to push the envelope when it comes to downhill skiing. He has been practicing Wing Chun, a form of Kung Fu, for over 20 years.
Has it been a smooth road?
It certainly has not been a smooth ride. I think with any entrepreneurial endeavor there are going to be moments when you are not sure why you even started the company. Personally, having to start Artisan with only $1,000 was not easy, I just did not give myself the option to fail. What pulled me through the difficult times was “why “I had started the company in the first place. I would always go back to that question when I started to doubt myself and I had many bills to pay. My purpose was to create a company where creative talent felt that they were part of a larger organization and that they would be listened to and advocated for. At the beginning the main struggles were not listening to all the naysayers who thought that “no one” would use such a service however I stuck to my core values and belief system that Chicago needed a company like us and that once established here I could take the idea to other cities around the country.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Artisan Talent story. Tell us more about the business.
Artisan is a boutique digital, creative and marketing staffing firm. Artisan functions as an industry agnostic talent agency unlike conventional recruitment firms that many employees are familiar with. Rather than simply reviewing resumes and sending a flurry of candidates to clients Artisan strives to become the talents “agent.”
We identify the specific needs of the client and build its talent hunt strategy around that. In addition to identifying what an organization needs from its staff Artisan’s job is to figure out what the client’s culture is and what are they really looking for. It is not just about sending a warm body over. It has many intangibles and we really hone in on them for a better understanding and to make a superior fit. Operating as a one-stop resource for finding the best suitable talent in the visual, digital, creative, and marketing space. Artisan talent has won multiple awards including its recognition in INC magazine as one of the fastest growing companies in the country and most recently awarded the Forbes winner of the top 50 best professional recruitment firms in 2017.
Artisan has always been on the forefront when it comes to retaining top visual, digital and marketing talent that is highly sought after by providing benefits that Artisan full- time employees receive. These benefits include Health and Dental care insurance, vacation and holiday pay, long term disability insurance, life insurance, and a 401 k profit sharing plan. Which is Atypical in the industry. We also offer free software training and a generous referral program.
Culturally we have not forgotten our roots of being advocates to our talent and clients alike and not forgetting to have a lot fun and laughter along the way.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
The outlook for the industry is that it’s going to be a candidate driven market as there is a shortage of qualified Visual, Digital, Creative and Marketing Talent. Talent has emerged as the primary competitive differentiator as the economy continues to improve recruiting qualified talent is going to become even more difficult. By 2020 40% of the workforce will be involved in the “gig” economy. Companies will have to adapt and to rethink and rewrite traditional human resource policies. Companies such as Artisan will be positioned to help corporations prepare for, adjust to and embrace the new face of work.
With this continued shortage of talent and a candidate driven market companies will have to provide a flexible working environment. The younger generation is fully aware and are demanding a work life balance. They will gravitate towards companies that are employee centric and have a clear mission to respect that balance.
As the economy transforms and the barriers to entry come down opportunities are more widely available than ever. Companies will need to distinguish themselves through their branding and marketing efforts to attract and retain talent.
Contact Info:
- Address: 216 South Jefferson Street
- Website: www.artisantalent.com
- Phone: 312 382 0200
- Email: bejan@artisantalent.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/artisantalent/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ArtisanTalent
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/artisantalent
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/company-beta/162531/
Image Credit:
Bejan
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