By: Paige Braddock

MacTemps, a company that specializes in providing computer-skilled temporary workers, decide to launch its 13th location here in 1991.

The Atlanta office opened to provide high-end graphic designers, desktop publishers and technical support specialists. The office that started with two staff members now has 12.

The company's growth in the last few years has mirrored the growth in the information technology field in the area. According to the Southeastern Software Association there are 10,000 to 20,000 unfilled information technology jobs in metro Atlanta alone.

MacTemps, Atlanta, managed by Audrie Eidson and located at 140 First Union Plaza, 999 Peachtree St. N.E., houses three distinct branches, MacTemps, Portfolio and WebStaff.

The main MacTemps office provides temporary and permanent staffing services for organizations of every size with Windows or Macintosh computer systems. Portfolio supplies creative talent, including graphic designers, art directors and multimedia specialists.

"In the past year we noticed a growing need for Web design and developers, so we opened WebStaff on June 1," said Eidson who, as market manager, handles business development and talent management for all three divisions. WebStaff provides staffing for Web graphics production, programming, site management and animation, among other online programming features.

The managers at MacTemps emphasize they represent a highly skilled temporary work force, so they refer to their workers as "talent," not "temps."

"This job is mostly about being able to see talent and asses it…You start to learn what the client wants, and you build a relationship between the clients and the talent," said Karmen Hartranft, a MacTemps account manager.

Recently a client called for help when 200 of the company's Adobe Illustrator files were corrupted. MacTemps helped rebuild them. MacTemps will even handle technical support. "We used to turn down heavy tech support, but now we do it…We keep adding categories to fill needs," said Hartranft. When the WebStaff division opened, it was to fill just that kind of need.

"We couldn't fill the demand in the Web industry, which was really starting to catch on in Atlanta," said Wendy Moreland, account manager with WebStaff.

"The larger clients usually have something in place, and they want to make it better. As a result, we really need people who were solely focused on the Web. Web design is very different than designing for print," said Moreland.

Every medium requires varied skills, and it's important to find the right talent to fill these needs.

"It's really important to understand what a creative director needs when he calls. We don't want to be just a staffing center, we really want to be partners with our clients," said Nancy Bailey, account manager for Portfolio.

Shake-ups in the advertising industry have helped MacTemps. Companies afraid to commit to full-time employees are sometimes happier working with free-lancers.
"Companies sometimes seem to court employees like they are on a date - with one hand on the door know - afraid of commitment," said Bailey.

It may seem strange to think of a temporary agency, by its very nature, as committed to its work force, but Nate Dyer, who has worked with MacTemps since 1996, bears witness that its philosophy works.

"I didn't plan to be with them this long, but if you do a good job they keep bringing you back. You get to meet new people, and [MacTemps] helps you keep up with new technology," said Dyer, a graphic communications major who is presently on a MacTemps contract with MCI.

"You're a tactical person, you're not really a temp. You've got to go in, assess a situation and help fix it," said Dyer.

When John Chuang, 33, founded MacTemps, he wanted to give his high-skilled temporary work force just that sense of responsibility and empowerment. Because of that, Chuang has taken a personal, hands-on approach toward his company from the beginning.

MacTemps is a product of the collaboration of three friends who, in 1986, scraped together $5,000 to buy a laser printer and opened a small computer and printing service in a Harvard Square storefront in Cambridge, Mass.

By 1997, that storefront shop had grown into a company twice listed on Inc. magazine's 500 list of America's fastest-growing private companies, with 1997 revenues of more than $100 million and offices in markets as near as Midtown and as far away as Tokyo.

Chuang, president of MacTemps and the son of Taiwanese immigrants, convinced his parents to co-sign on that original $5,000 loan, from a community bank in Cambridge, and by 1987 his small company was already looking for a larger space. The company moved in to an office on nearby Massachusetts Avenue, in Boston, that same year - a location previously occupied by Dominex, the Eggplant King. The steam heat was a constant reminder of the previous tenant. When the heat kicked on, a vegetable aroma would waft through the office.

By the end of 1987, sales had grown to $155,000, giving MacTemps some real options for expansion. Early in 1988, the three friends - Chuang, Steve Kapner and Mia Wenjen, all Harvard undergraduates - opened a New York City location. Now, with offices in 35 markets, that original investment has really paid off.