Epic Specialty Staffing’s 2020 Message from John Astrab
If there’s any singular, universal word to describe 2020, the first one that comes to our minds is challenging. As COVID took hold of the world around us, forcing closures, pushing the healthcare industry to the max, the leadership at Epic Specialty Staffing understood that our industry would shift and change, but it was a change that we would be ready to adapt to.
We sat down with Mr. John Astrab, Principal, CEO, and co-founder of Epic Specialty Staffing, to talk about the growth, challenges, and opportunities that defined us in 2020. As a seasoned recruiter and empowering thought leader in this space, he had some positive messages to relay to our clients, partners, and colleagues as we close 2020 together, stronger.
Frontline Heroes
As the pressure mounted, healthcare professionals were pushed to the brink this year as patient demand skyrocketed and capacity just wasn’t enough. Many people didn’t want to go to work. Many healthcare professionals were uneasy about being in this environment, especially those with elderly or sick people in their families. And as a leader in medical staffing and recruitment, this change in attitude impacted our business at Epic Specialty Staffing.
“At the same time, there was a silver lining,” explains Mr. Astrab. “While other firms weren’t able to survive this climate, we were able to hire 6 new talented recruiters and add them to the Epic Specialty Staffing family.”
“It was an opportunity born out of the pandemic, to grow internally and reshape our own team moving forward,” says Mr. Astrab.
“It also allowed us to understand our candidates and our healthcare partners’ point of view. Relationships are at the core of our success because open communication of the issues and pain points allowed us to better understand and support everyone we worked with.”
A New Culture of Work
When closures first hit the country, Epic Specialty Staffing employees worked remotely for a period of time before leadership established a safe blueprint to return to the office.
“That was one of our biggest challenges this year, everyone working from home,” says Mr. Astrab. “But our culture means collaborating, talking together, having meetings. We have training sessions where people learn something new every day. We needed to get back to the office, safely, which we were able to do. Our organization is all about working together as a team.”
Not only did closures impact our team, but many of the government agencies that we staff as well.
Canceling the near-dozen tradeshows also made a bit impact on our business at Epic Specialty Staffing, but as always, our team persevered by working extremely hard on maintaining the relationships we had created and nurturing them accordingly.
“You know what they say. When you get lemons, you make lemonade. Well, that’s what I look for – not as challenges but as opportunities. These are all experiences from God and things he’s given us, and now we must use them to make more opportunities.”
Final Words for 2020
With that said, perhaps a more appropriate word to describe this year is not challenging – but, the word opportunity. With all of the things we accomplished together this year, we are absolutely looking forward to next year as we’ve grown, survived, and even thrived in some ways throughout this year.
On behalf of Epic Specialty Staffing, we wish the best for all our clients, partners, colleagues, friends, and family as 2020 comes to a close. We have emerged stronger together, and look forward to our mutual continued success in the new year.