When Spencer Sens founded Complete Logistical Services in 2010, with the goal of providing on-site logistics services for ships at port, his guiding mantra was, “I can do it.” This was a mindset he used to position himself as a go-to resource when clients needed critical and time-sensitive support.
However, when he began to receive requests for mariners on a regular basis, Sens realized there was a market demand for contractual mariners but few providers with the knowledge or experience to deliver those services.
So, Sens responded in stride: “I can do it.”
From there, CLS evolved into a dedicated personnel company, and the only change to Sens’s original can-do principle was the pronoun: “We can do it.”
“With a limited talent pool of about 30 to 40 mariners, CLS initially assigned an average of five to 10 contractors at one time, across various offshore vessel positions,” says Angela Verdin, President of CLS. “Today, CLS averages well over 100 assigned mariners across various industries, including divers, surveyors, captains, mates, etc., and we now offer staffing services to other industries across the New Orleans region, including warehouse and production line workers and managers, sales and various operations personnel.”
CLS now works with more than 250 clients across four continents and manages a portfolio of more than 4,000 skilled and experienced candidates capable of performing key tasks for clients. The company’s new diversified division launched a year ago, allowing CLS to expand its staffing services to other industries like commercial and heavy civil construction, renewable energy, oil rig drilling and gas, warehousing, administrative support, IT, commercial construction, engineering, transportation and more.
“The diversified division has gained more momentum than we could have dreamed,” Verdin says. “The creation of this division moved CLS from a marine-specific arena to a world of staffing with no limits. Recruiting, hiring and building a winning team for this internal endeavor has been the key to our success. It is a testimony to our staffing capabilities.”
Those capabilities, it turns out, are enormous. CLS utilizes wide industry connections to cut through organizational levels and quickly put candidate information in front of decision-makers quickly. The company also maintains a fully vetted labor pool standing by for the right fit and the right opportunity.
“The staff at CLS are experts in the field of recruiting and placing employees, and we take the guesswork out of the hiring process,” Verdin says. “We know how to screen candidates so employers don’t waste time with bad apples.”
Of course, the current state of the labor market has significantly changed the game.
“In more recent scenarios, we have been sought by employers who are desperately in need of staff,” Verdin says. “Our team is dedicated to finding the right fit for each employer and candidate every time. For employers, we use tools and technology to ensure that we have a thorough understanding of each role and requirement. For employees, we have a person—not a bot—screen every resume and work closely with individuals to gain a detailed understanding of their qualifications, personality, wants and needs. This ensures that each candidate submitted to our clients is suited for the long haul.”
CLS also attends numerous job fairs both within the Greater New Orleans region and across the state. The company will be attending Rigzone’s Louisiana Oil & Gas Job Fair in Lafayette on June 22.
“We also work with local colleges and universities, and the Louisiana Workforce Commission, to source labor and put people to work,” Verdin says. “We are currently in the process of setting up a mobile job fair in the New Orleans region with the LWC.”
Two other dominating themes have contributed to the company’s success: focusing on family and eliminating unnecessary bureaucracy.
“Family is the foundation of what we do,” Verdin says. “As an organization, CLS wants to support our own families, and the families of others by allowing people to work in an environment where they can grow and thrive; where they are happily engaged and involved in the combined success of the business and themselves. We also encourage people to speak up when something needs to be said, even if it means going against a higher-ranking opinion, and we always color outside of the lines when it comes to giving back to our people and the community.”
These commitments are outlined in the company’s core values, which include being stronger together, weathering storms as a team, taking ownership and responsibility, having a positive attitude, going the extra mile and doing what it takes to ensure that business runs smoothly. According to Verdin, clearly defining the company’s principles—and basing them on employees who exemplify the company’s organizational ideals—was a defining moment for CLS.
“It has inspired great success, and now, as part of our hiring process, it ensures that we continue to onboard the right talent for a wildly successful future,” she says. “We are super excited about the opportunities ahead.”
The future is bright for CLS. The company has set ambitious one-, three- and five-year growth targets—all of which depend on active participation of its employees.
“We practice open-book management, sharing specific performance details with employees each month,” Verdin says. “This naturally creates a sense of ownership throughout the organization. With that sense of ownership comes a drive to reach substantial goals.”
