Talent recruiting talent

Staffing business uses passion for purpose

For Valley entrepreneur Rosa Cantor, running a business that helps others has led to a thriving enterprise.

As president and chief executive office of Creative Human Resources (CHRC) LLC in Mesa, Cantor is putting her more than20 years of business experience to good use. In fact, she’s utilized her business savvy to create a formidable supplier of temporary workers, long-term staffing, and regular-staff placement.

Companies such as The Boeing Company, Talley Defense Systems, Pacific Scientific and many Fortune 500 companies have turned to CHRC for employment assistance, which also includes contract-labor advice and executive placement. In addition, CHRC helps federal agencies and local Arizona businesses.

Cantor views her role as one in which she continues to give back to others.

“My role in our business continues to be the same as when we started, that of both a student and teacher,” she says, explaining that she is constantly learning from her clients and passing on that knowledge to her staff.

 “It’s gratifying knowing that this small company is a vehicle for people to work for great companies, where they are given an opportunity to built strong and successful careers.”

Cantor began her career in the corporate computer field, but eventually moved to the aerospace industry, where she spent 14 years as a human resources professional. Then as Corporate America began downsizing, Cantor says she came to a fork in the road with her career.

“After years of out-processing employees, I found myself in that same group – being laid off,” she says. “As work started coming back in masses, my old employer, McDonnell Douglas, now Boeing, supported my efforts of opening my own company, with my two partners, to assist in their hiring needs.”

CHRC was founded on Cinco de Mayoin 1997. Over 300 employees were recruited and hired within the company’s first year of business. Today, over 3,400 employees have been hired through CHRC.

Challenges in her career, such as being laid off,  have pushed Cantor to succeed.

“At an early age in my professional career, I was told I would never make it in the Defense aerospace industry, because I was a woman in a male dominated industry, with no military background, and spoke with an accent,” she says.

 “That memory still remains fresh in my mind, and it has helped me to understand the differences in people.”

This understanding of others took root early in Cantor’s childhood.

As the youngest of six children, Cantor was born in Chicago and raised in the family’s home city of Guadalajara, Mexico. At the age of 13, Cantor and her family moved back to the states in order to pay back a family debt.

“My first challenge was attending public secondary school without speaking any English, while ‘holding’ a birth certificate indicating I was American born,” says Cantor. “Our second challenge was adapting to a new life of poverty for some years until the family debt was repaid.”

The 48-year-old Cantor says it’s those experiences that have made her who she is today. It also accounts for the success of her company. Consider a few of her awards.

CHRC received the Regional Supplier of the Year Award in 1998, 1999 and 2003 by the National Minority Supplier Development Council, and has also received the SBA Certificate of Excellence at the 2004 Small Business Administration National Convention.

The company was also listed in the 50^th anniversary issue of Fortune magazine, as well as recognized in Hispanic Business Magazine as one out of 100 fastest growing Hispanic businesses in the nation.

In addition to her thriving business, Cantor also reaches out to others in the business community. She’s served on the board of directors for the Grand Canyon Minority Supplier Development Council, the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and the Arizona SBDC Friends of Small Business.

 She has spoken to the Arizona House of Representatives on behalf of her client, The Boeing Company, and was invited by The City of Phoenix and selected by U.S. Secretary of Labor to participate in the first ever, National Skills Labor Summit held in Washington, D.C., where Chairman Alan Greenspan was in attendance.

Cantor’s newest business venture involves her role as a contributing founder and board of director for Sonoran Bank, the first privately held community bank in Arizona focusing on serving the Hispanic and the small business community markets.

This mother of three says she has a burning desire to help others, and isn’tafraid to take a chance. Her advice to others:“Be open to always learn something new…Become a role model for others. But most of all: be kind and helpful to those around you.”

4710 E. Falcon Drive, Suite 125

www.chrc4work.com