Resource management company to open first U.S. office in Cleveland, eventually hire 300 people

So an international company visits Cleveland in February and decides to locate its North American headquarters there.  In the past you might be waiting for the punch line but there is none needed for that is what happened in the case of global talent recruiting company Alexander Mann Solutions.

The company expects to eventually hire 300 people in the area of recruiters, support and administrative, data and technology. Cleveland will be one of five locations around the world joining Great Britain, Philippines, China and Poland where they employ over 500 people in Krakow.

The company was considering a number of other U.S. cities in North Carolina, Florida in Texas when at the urging of Team NEO, the business recruiting arm of Cleveland+, they tagged a quick visit to the end of their February U.S. trip.

“Halfway through their first morning they ran to me and said R.B. this is us, you just got to be here,” said Mann Founder and CEO Rosaleen Blair of the reaction of her team to Cleveland, “and it just continued.”

“We just got infected with this energy,” said AMS Managing Director Jerry Collier, “when we came here it was a no brainer, we had to be a part of this community.”

A decision made bigger by the fact it was made in February. “It was freezing,” he admitted, “but we got to see past some of that stuff there’s some real substance in this community. ”

CEO Blair recalled wondering if this was too good. “The enthusiasm from everyone that we met was frankly overwhelming,” said Blair who recalled sitting in her office in London getting a rather enthusiastic call from Governor Kasich.

“Whatever’s in the water, I want some of it,” said Blair of Kasich’s persistence. She recalled telling him at the time the cynic in her was causing her to take a step back. “I said we’ve been ‘love-bombed’ by you and your team,” she said. “And I got to be honest that’s not a word in my vocabulary. ”

“My worry is what happens when we sign on the bottom line,” she said. “Will you be there to support us then because that’s really when it matters,” she asked adding the answer lies in what’s she’s seen from local and state leaders since. “It just keeps getting better.”

Kasich for his part said it will and that’s been his focus behind balancing the budget, lowering taxes and creating a business friendly environment. “I need to have lower taxes in this state so that I can send a message to the CEO’s across this country that Ohio is different than the irresponsibility in Washington and the craziness in other states and if we can make them feel comfortable we can get them to invest.”