Curate Partners

Curate Partners

• Rank: 9
• Headquarters: Woburn, Massachusetts
• Top staffing segment(s) served: IT
• 2020 US staffing revenue: $33.4 million
• Compound annual growth rate: 49.4%
• Website: www.curatepartners.com

Curate Partners has been able to grow because they’ve paired people and culture with strategy and process. This has been Curate Partners’ way since its inception, and if its five-star rating on Glassdoor is any indication, they’ve certainly created something special. Founding member and Chief Operations Officer Sean Brady attributes a lot of Curate Partners’ growth to that mindset. “We have a team that’s very dedicated, passionate, committed to servicing our customers and our consultants … It’s a highly motivated team.”

The Woburn, Massachusetts-based firm, which celebrated its seventh anniversary in September, began when a group of executives at the second-largest recruitment firm in the world decided to leave to start something different. “The industry was becoming really focused on metrics and numbers, and had kind of taken the human element out of things,” Brady explains. “We really wanted to focus on the candidate experience.”

Nate Kamp, managing partner, agrees. People at Curate Partners truly care about their colleagues, their clients and their consultants.

Even with the pandemic, Curate Partners was able to pivot quickly and find a way through. Being in the technology sector, customers and candidates were able to shift to a work-from-home model very quickly, and while there was some uncertainty and growth slowed during the height of the Covid-19 crisis, the last two quarters are up from pre-pandemic levels. “It’s a really hot market right now,” Kamp says.

While the devastating effects of Covid-19 and the nationwide labor shortage have created obstacles, they’ve also created a shift in how businesses operate. Companies are now more open to remote workers and more willing to pull talent from a bigger pool.

“You’ve got to be more resourceful and look harder for the talent, but while we are seeing a labor shortage, we’re seeing there are qualified people out there and for the right opportunities they’ll make a move,” Kamp says. “All in all, it’s been a record-setting year in terms of demand,” Brady adds.

Diversity and inclusion are also extremely important at Curate Partners, which focuses on accessibility, training, education and inclusivity. Every month the company holds a lunch-and-learn session on a DE&I topic. They’ve also partnered with local organizations such as Work Without Limits and Dress for Success Boston to make sure that everyone has a fair chance at employment, and they’re filling critical roles with diverse candidates.

As for the future, Curate Partners plans to expand geographically where it makes sense, but it will continue to serve clients centrally in a virtual world until it makes sense to open up an office.

Both Brady and Kamp agree that remote work has left a mark on the way companies function and will not be going away anytime soon. “The needle has been moved in a major way that really can’t be undone,” Kamp says.