Recruitment Agency Feeling Trickle Effect of Red Tide

Ad-Vance Recruiting of Sarasota County

When talking about the effect Red Tide has had on the business community in Florida, some would be surprised that a recruitment agency would be included in that discussion. Economic injury is a very real part of the damaging results of red tide. Ad-Vance Recruiting, of Sarasota, is one of those businesses feeling the impact. A professional executive placement agency, the company started to feel the residual effect of red tide in May 2018. Realizing they needed some assistance to get through the disaster, Julianne and Brion Sunseri reached out to the Florida SBDC at USF to begin the process of applying for a State of Florida Emergency Bridge Loan.

When asked about their experience with the damage from Red Tide and the assistance received, they recalled:

WHAT TYPE OF DAMAGE OCCURRED?
We were doing very well up until May and then we saw things started to take a turn and then of course, our hospitality department really got hit the hardest because of all the events that happen on the beach, so they started not requesting as many temps, not needing the temps, or canceling the day of. It was like a domino effect. You had hotels that had canceled reservations, You had weddings and corporate events that were getting canceled. At any given time, we’ll have 130-something employees in the field, and when all of this hit, all of a sudden, we didn’t have work for everybody.

HOW WILL THE BRIDGE LOAN HELP?
This was a very simple, straight-forward, efficient application. Your assistance was very helpful. From a standpoint of having been here 20-something years in business, the economic impact is very, very real. So this program is allowing people to get back on their feet and I’m sure for some businesses it might be the lifeline they need to stay in business. We’re very happy with it.

HOW WAS THE FLORIDA SBDC AT USF HELPFUL DURING THIS PROCESS?
First off, you were extremely efficient in follow-up. You were very clear about what you needed. What was neat was that this moved along very quickly, no matter what the end result. Whatever it may be, we new that this would be beneficial in helping us heal, especially when we were off to such a great start at the beginning of the year.