Before establishing Walker Research Group, Tifiany Walker spent a decade working as a general manager for the Xerox Corporation. During her tenure at Xerox, she managed a number of healthcare and legal accounts with one of her largest charges being General Motors. And that’s where the idea was born — to establish a staffing and recruitment firm which specializes in legal, healthcare and IT personnel. Now, in it’s third full year of operation, Walker says she always had the entrepreneurial spirit, and it was the right time to see what she could accomplish in the marketplace.
Walker, an Emory and University of Michigan graduate, makes it clear that education — especially the boarding school she attended as a teenager — is primarily responsible for the personal and professional qualities which contribute so strongly to her success. “I attended Culver Military Academy, which is a really prestigious, preparatory school in Indiana. Leadership was one of the core components of our very rigorous curriculum. So, aside from the academic piece, the leadership focus honed and shaped me for the professional world,” says this very adroit entrepreneur.
Walker says that, on at least a weekly basis, her decision to strike out on her own is reaffirmed, and she frequently experiences those “Aha” moments that fuel the fires of her professional passion. “I’ll be in a meeting or someone will say something, and I’ll just know that this actually is what I am supposed to be doing, being able to go as hard and as fast as I possibly can go without any limitations to stop me,” Walker explains. “It is extremely satisfying to find someone a job that suits their skill set and an environment that they are excited about.”
But Walker admits that, in her pursuit to recruit top-tier minority talent, she occasionally has encountered one or two limitations that are more the nature of the corporate beast than a reflection on her company and its strong reputation in the staffing marketplace. “One thing that really gets me is when I have a meeting with a client, and they are not open to diverse candidates. They bring so much wealth of experience and different perspectives to an organization, and I just think it’s really shortsighted for senior-level managers not to want to bring those type of people into an organization.” –roz edward
