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She's Good At Matching People In Right Jobs

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By DEREK MAUL

Tribune correspondent

Published: December 31, 2008

Suzy Davis

BRANDON - Brandon native Suzy Davis has watched the community grow up around her for more than 40 years.

"It's changed," she said. "But I love that the core is still here, people committed to the community. It's important to me to support the Brandon area."

She supports Brandon by matching people with jobs and finding the right employees for her business clients.

"My clients are both the employees and the businesses that hire them," she said. "We screen applicants, take care of drug testing and background checks, and match them with the right employers. I enjoy the opportunity to do the personal touch."

She launched her business, Webb Personnel, nine years ago.

"Half my clients are local," she said. "We reach from Pinellas County to Lakeland. We're almost ready to expand into the Orlando area."

The economy might be slow, but Davis remains optimistic. "There is some slowing down, but I still have a lot of clients who are doing well, and things often pick up in January."

Employment, Davis said, is shifting toward temporary contracts. But she often places people whose flexibility positions them for other openings when they come along.

"We try to be diverse," she said. "We screen tightly, and clients train me to interview the way they want. We try to customize."

She identified the critical fundamentals for successful job searching.

"Have a well-written resume, get out and meet people and go through good agencies," she said. "Dress well, shake hands, present yourself well, make eye contact, speak intelligently. Make yourself stand out - in a positive way."

Davis was raised on 5 acres off Causeway Boulevard and graduated from Brandon High School in 1980.

"My dad was in the electrical supply business," she said. "We had a really good life, and I loved the community feel of Brandon. It means a lot to me that my daughter, Olivia, will be attending Brandon High School next year."

In the 1980s, Davis attended classes at Hillsborough Community College and worked at a local phosphate plant before landing a job with Mobil Oil at the Port of Tampa.

"I worked in dispatch," she said. "They were both very interesting jobs."

Davis realized she had found her niche when she landed a job with a Brandon staffing company. "I worked in payroll, then tried sales," she said. "It snowballed from there."

She soon was hired by a national staffing agency, where she worked in sales management and training. In 1999, after a stint in human resources with Tampa Armature Works, she was ready to launch her own business.

"The corporate thing drove me crazy," she said. "I felt like I knew what would work, looking at making things fit. This way, I'm involved in every aspect: clients, sales and placement. My grassroots are here in Brandon. My family and my friends all live in this area. We're just so tight here.

"I like sales. I like meeting people," she said. "It's what I do, and it's what I love. I bring my clients cookies. There's heart in everything I do."

Davis is glad she started her own enterprise. "It was a way to make a living and have flexibility in my schedule as a single parent. I wouldn't change a thing - it's been wonderful."

Davis maintains her connections in the community via the Greater Brandon Chamber of Commerce, Christian Business Connections, the PTA at her daughter's school and First Baptist Church of Brandon.

For fun, Davis likes to work out, bakes - then gives it all away - and devotes time to her daughter.

"I've learned you can take any situation and make it beautiful," she said.

MEET SUZY DAVIS

President, Webb Personnel, 710 Oakfield Drive, Suite 127

BORN: Brandon, 1962

EDUCATION: Brandon High School, Hillsborough Community College

CHILDREN: Olivia, 14

INSPIRATION: The Bible, "The Purpose Driven Life," "The Success Principle"

CONTACT: (813) 651-4449

QUOTE: "It's changed. ... But I love that the core is still here, people committed to the community. It's important to me to support the Brandon area."

Derek Maul can be reached at derekmaul@gmail.com.

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