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A half century of growth Founded as Comprehensive Designers Inc. in 1950 to meet postwar demands for trained contract engineers, CDI's offerings currently include technical services, temporary services, consulting, and management placement. The business grew during the 50s and 60s, expanding internationally and going public in 1967. Six years later, it shortened its name to the more elegant CDI Corporation. Since then, the company has grown significantly, aided by a series of acquisitions of various staffing and support services firms. CDI's pool runneth over CDI's combination of outsourcing and headhunting services allows it to capitalize on the varied personnel needs of today's large corporations. Its technical services division is the largest in the world, employing over 26,000 engineers, CAD designers, systems analysts, and other professional personnel. Companies from a wide range of industries hire CDI employees to perform tasks too complex for them to do themselves, paying their salaries and providing CDI with a healthy finder's fee. Offering engineers the freedom to work in many different areas for a variety of companies, CDI enjoys a considerable advantage over high-tech companies (including many of its clients) in recruiting. Trying to build on success Todays Staffing, CDI's other outsourcing division, offers clerical, legal, and financial temporary staffing services to over 11,000 clients. CDI's Management Recruiting International is the largest professional recruiting service in the world, placing 30,000 employees in full-time jobs a year. In addition, the company offers extensive information technology, telecommunications, and marine services. Even with this great reach, CDI experienced a rather mediocre (by its standards) 1998 fiscal year, falling short of achieving its financial goals. Much of the problem, however, was attributable to a reorganization of some business segments. How about them subs' Things have turned up for subsidiary Todays Staffing, which now has roughly 130 office locations in North America. In March 2000, it acquired Connection Companies, Inc., another hiring services agency. The purchase adds four Denver offices to Todays Staffing, a perk sure to help the firm since Denver has one of the largest markets for temporary clerical staffing. CDI Corp. also acquired a staffing company, Asset Computer Personnel Ltd., which specialized in technology staffing, earlier in December 1999. Subsidiary CDI Engineering Group announced in April 2000 that it's adding a process technology services center in Houston, Texas. The new sector will provide reactor technology consulting for industries such as fine and specialty chemical. Learning - without the books Ever wanted to take classes online? Well, CDI employees can. The company launched CDI University in April 2000, a "virtual university" designed for professional development. A large selection of topics are covered through its 400 individual courses, ranging from application guides for Microsoft Office, to operating C++. They are accessible through CD-ROMs and the company's Intranet.
CDI's home Web page, located at www.cdicorp.com, provides links to job listings, which can be searched by location and keyword. The CDI Web page also allows job seekers to submit resumes and profiles of themselves. Most of the jobs are highly technical and have specific educational and work experience requirements. CDI keeps resumes on file for up to a year.
CDI's engineers and analysts enjoy the "state-of-the-art" projects on which they work, but remark that the "constant travel from job to job" is "taxing." Nevertheless, employees typically receive "higher pay" than they might in "most government or industry jobs," often because of "substantial overtime." As contractors working for a wide variety of clients, CDI employees cite the importance of "being flexible" in adapting to their customers' policies and procedures. The "frequent contact" with clients, moreover, often leads to "attractive" job offers from "some of the leading names in industry" - although it also leads to a high employee turnover rate.
Human Resources
Technical Staffing;Information;Managed Staffing;Technical Outsourcing;Telecommunications Services;Engineering Consulting;Temporary Office Support Services;Permanent Placement Services;Marine and Naval Engineering Services More Company Profiles For more career information, go to Vault.com ©2000, Vault.com Inc
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