For our 21st episode, President & CCO Ethan Whitehill chats with Matt Sharples, Co-Founder and CEO of TriCom Technical Services, about EQ, AI, Bora Bora and 8-bit nostalgia. More specifically, we cover what to look for when recruiting (spoiler: character, attitude and motivation), how the emerging title of prompt engineer will make companies smarter, and why volunteering is a good career investment.

Ethan Whitehill: Hi, everyone. I’m Ethan Whitehill, president and chief creative officer of Crux, the “un-agency.” This is “To the Point,” our monthly podcast for thought-provoking conversations that get to the crux of it all to help businesses elevate their brands and amplify their missions. Today’s guest is Matt Sharples. Matt is the co-founder and CEO of Tricom Technical Services founded 30 years ago. Tricom connects businesses with top IT talent and job seekers with job opportunities they need to thrive. 

Based in Kansas City and the Twin Cities, Matt’s firm has earned a number of prestigious industry awards, including ClearlyRated’s coveted Best of Staffing Award, SIA’s best staffing firm to temp for and work for, as well as Kansas City Business Journal’s Champions of Business. Not to mention being named to the Inc. 5,000 list of fastest-growing companies.  

Matt has a strong affinity for giving back to the community, serving as a board member for non-profit organizations such as MOCSA, Cristo Ray KC, Skilled KC and i.c.stars, which develops leaders through a robust training program for underserved young adults. Matt, welcome to the podcast.  

Matt Sharples: Thank you for having me. 

Ethan Whitehill: Okay, first question. There are many staffing and recruiting firms out there. How is Tricom different, and why did you decide to start this company? 

Matt Sharples: Great questions. I’ll start with the second one. I didn’t actually decide to start it. I actually had a co-founder that called me. We had joined forces just months prior, and he called and said that he and the other partner were not getting along. And so, he said, “I’ve got an offer for you. We’re going to start a company called Tricom Technical Services. It stands for Triple Computer Technical Services, and we’re going to do the same thing. And I know you’ve got the background.” I had three years of experience at that time.  

And I thought… I didn’t say it to him directly, but I said to myself, it’s kind of a dumb name to be honest. I didn’t like triple computer. I don’t get it. But anyway, I said yes. And here I am – so lucky. You know, it’s where luck and opportunity meet, right? It was truly about luck, but then I took advantage of the opportunity.  

Ethan Whitehill: Yeah, and you were smart enough to take advantage of the opportunity. 

Matt Sharples: Yeah. So, and then, how are we different? I think the biggest thing for us is in IT – it’s really easy to get focused in on certain skills and measuring someone by how many years of experience they have with a tool. We really start with who the person is first. Can they show up on time? Are they a good person? Do they get along with people? Are they motivated to do the work? Do they like to do the work? And then, can they continue to learn? Do they have the aptitude? Those are the things that we really focus on that make us different. 

Then, at the end of the day, we have to keep score, right? We have to actually show that we can deliver results and do a better job than most of the other firms that do what we do.  So, that’s how I think we’ve done a good job at showing how we’ve performed over time, also with the NPS scores, the best of staffing and some of those things too. 

Ethan Whitehill: And you have performed over time because, as we mentioned at the beginning of this episode, this is your 30th anniversary and that’s a huge milestone for any business. Congratulations on that. 

Matt Sharples: Thank you.  

Ethan Whitehill: What has been the secret to that longevity? 

Matt Sharples: First, honestly, we’re in a great business. Number one – I mean, IT has had a sevenfold increase in jobs in the last 20, 30 years over every other job combined. So, it’s a great business to be in. Most companies need a pool of contingent labor to not only hire from but also as projects ebb and flow. So, I think number one and number two are we’re in a great industry. 

I think the other thing is… we’ve done a really good job with our people. I think anybody who’s successful will tell you it’s our people, and it is. It’s building a great team and then learning, evolving and growing that team. Not only being able to hire people that have experience but actually building up from the ground level and bringing people in who are completely new to the industry and teaching them how to do the business. It’s been a big component of our growth and our success.  

Ethan Whitehill: So, you’ve taken some of those lessons learned, serving others with recruiting, and you’ve applied it to your own recruiting.  

Matt Sharples: Absolutely.  

Ethan Whitehill: So, what do you look for in those recruiters? 

Matt Sharples: Again, character, attitude and motivation. Are they a good person? Can they show up? Do they get along with others? I mean, there’s a lot of people who are super smart but aren’t always the nicest people to work with. And then, can they continue to learn and apply what they’ve learned? This business changes so fast. Just the rate of change in the world today is moving faster than ever. So, people need to be able to continue to learn and grow and get better at their craft. 

Ethan Whitehill: Some of those things that you said, I would say they represent something we talk about as high EQ. So, tell us a little bit about your origin story because obviously you’ve been successful in this field, building those relationships. You have a high EQ. Where did that come from? 

Matt Sharples: I think it’s interesting. Most people fall into staffing. They don’t know about it. I was lucky enough – I grew up in Ann Arbor where my mom’s best friend had a staffing agency. So, I worked for her during my summers off in college, and I was really intrigued with just how that worked. 

My mom was a schoolteacher. We were very middle class, but she was able to bring home a computer through her book points that she collected by having students buy books in her second-grade class. Which is, if you think about it, pretty funny. 

But I remember she brought home the Commodore 64, which is a calculator by today’s standards. And I was just intrigued. I dove into it. I taught myself basic. I made some programs. I was just always really intrigued with technology and staffing. So, when I graduated I kind of chose the business as a choice that I had really thought about. 

And then I think the other thing is – I grew up in a little bit of a dysfunctional background, but I started to change my thinking, and I think everybody kind of grows up with some dysfunction. I don’t think anybody has a normal family these days. But for me, I started to change how I looked at things with certain things going on. Like my dad left when I was young, and I looked at it – instead of this happened to me, I always thought about it as this is happening for me. There is a way that I can learn from this and decide I’m not going to make these bad choices myself. I’m going to actually use this as fuel to learn. 

Also, I think the EQ is when you’re around a lot of different people – and there were some bad people when I was growing up. But I just learned to not always trust what people said. I looked at more of what they did. I said, “Okay, they’re telling me this, but what are they actually doing?” 

I think that’s a big component of also how we look at hiring. People can say whatever they want, but at the end of the day, what did they do? Did they show up? What do other people say? Like what did they get accomplished? How did they learn new things? Those types of things. 

Ethan Whitehill: Behavior is more predictive. 

Matt Sharples: I think so, yeah.  

Ethan Whitehill: You know, thinking about the industry at large and looking out at some of those macro trends in your business, what do you see happening in 2024 and beyond for employment? 

Matt Sharples: So, it’s still going to be a high demand, low supply. Especially for IT talent, information technology talent. So, I still think that will continue. Just demographics, this destiny. You still look at, you know, we have a big percentage of baby boomers moving into retirement. You have a very small generation, which is my generation, Gen X right behind it. Millennials is a good bigger generation, but they’re doing everything a little bit later in life. Which is – I think smart, probably. But I think there will probably have to be more creative ways that companies build their talent pools. 

I always tell people, “Look. Right now, we’re kind of playing musical chairs a lot. You’re paying Tricom to go out and find people that have experience, but you’ve got to find, like we did with our associate program, a way to bring in people who don’t have that experience yet.” 

And I’m a big believer in upskilling and reskilling, like the i.c.stars program I’m involved with. Finding ways to reskill your own talent into a different career path that maybe they hadn’t thought of. That maybe they have an affinity to. So, I think we’re going to have to build some more creative ways to build talent pools. 

Within IT—it’s still like 70% men. We have to find a way for women to join that. Have a way for them to still, if they want to have certain life choices, have those. And then, I still think we have a diversity issue. Just not enough diverse candidates within IT as well. 

Some of that is also because I think a lot of people choose not to get into IT because they don’t feel comfortable with math. And that’s changed quite a bit lately. I think, number one, the degree requirement is starting to go away, which is a good thing. I do think certain roles within IT, certain engineering type roles, need those degrees. But there’s a host of other types of roles within IT that you don’t need that four-year degree for. So, I’d love to see more associate degrees. I’d like to see more people that just have a high school or GED that go to the reskilling/upskilling programs get involved in IT. 

Ethan Whitehill: Can you define reskilling/upskilling a little bit for our listeners? 

Matt Sharples: Reskilling/upskilling. They’re kind of the same thing. Reskilling is, for the way I look at it, like taking some of the current employees that you have that maybe work in an area that is maybe going to be more focused with AI – and I know we’ll get to that – but moving them into a role where they actually can build other skills like QA, business analysts. Those are types of roles that you don’t need a huge background in project management for and are still logic-based. Even development now, I think there’s some opportunities for people to get into development where you’re not coding from scratch, essentially. So, those types of things.  

Upskilling is really finding people that maybe never had that traditional upbringing. i.c.stars is a program where they’re bringing people that just don’t come from the financial world where they even had that opportunity. Teaching them all the ground rules, basics of it and the different types of roles that there are out there. And they make sure they have the tenacity to get through a pretty big program that’s 16 weeks long and getting them to invest in themselves and really learn and grow and get better. And it’s kind of a wide swath of skills that they’re learning. But a lot of times, most of these kids – I call them all kids because they’re younger than me – can actually get into IT. Whether it’s BA role, QA role, project management or even desktop support. That type of thing without that formal background. 

Ethan Whitehill: Yeah. Is it fair to say that in, in a lot of the world now, certifications are almost more important than the degree? 

Matt Sharples: Right? I think so. I mean, even certifications sometimes, it’s just a piece of paper, but it’s showing that someone took the initiative to do something. That, to me, is a big deal. And then, also for them to complete the program and go through it and really learn just the basics of it.  If someone’s willing to invest in themselves and show that they’re willing to put in the work and maybe not get a whole lot forward initially, I think that’s a really big indicator of someone who’s going to be a successful employee. 

Ethan Whitehill: Now, you mentioned AI earlier. Let’s talk about that. 

Matt Sharples: Sure. 

Ethan Whitehill: How’s that shaping the tech industry and recruiting in particular? 

Matt Sharples: So, it’s funny. I went to a program just a few weeks ago on Microsoft Copilot. The best phrase I heard all day was, “We called it copilot for a reason.” It’s not autopilot, it’s a tool and there should be a person next to it using the tool. So, it should make simple things smarter. I do think it will change some types of roles that are out there, but I think it will create more than it actually eliminates or changes. 

There’s also, you do have to be very careful. Some of the systems that have already been set up are still heavily biased, in my opinion. And that is a cause for concern. I think the other thing with AI is you have to set some pillars of things that you’re going to adhere to before you go off on different use cases that it’s not going to hurt anybody or leave people out.  

I think there’s a big contingent of organizations that are building use cases that are starting that way. I do know there are probably other organizations that haven’t built those pillars out there that are trying to make money which can be concerning as well. 

Ethan Whitehill: Yeah. I think of artificial intelligence as accelerated intelligence. But if you don’t know how to use it, it could be accelerated ignorance too. You get to a bad result faster. 

Matt Sharples: Well, and I think you actually mentioned to me, I think last time we talked that it gets you off the blank page.  

Ethan Whitehill: Yeah. 

Matt Sharples: And I think that’s also a really good way to say it. It’s not doing it for you. It just gets things moving a little bit faster for you. 

Ethan Whitehill: And I know there’s a new title: prompt engineer.  

Matt Sharples: Yeah.  

Ethan Whitehill: How often are you recruiting for prompt engineers now? 

Matt Sharples: Not a lot yet, but I do think that’s a thing. I think that will be something coming here in the next few years. Absolutely. 

Ethan Whitehill: So, thinking about making successful placements and what it requires to do that. Are there certain markers you look for? You know, how do you know when a company is a match for an employee? 

Matt Sharples: Yeah, I mean it’s an art and a science. I think a lot of times companies are using the science part to a degree where they’re missing the art piece. Which is, again, its character, attitude, motivation and ability to learn new things. 

I always tell people, look, if you can show up on time and be dependable every day, if you can be a good person – and I’ll recommend a book called Crucial Conversations – if you can address conflict at work in a way that gets through that conflict and it’s constructive and gets people to lean in, and then, if you can get yourself unstuck (you’re going to get stuck at work), but if you can raise your hand the first time you get stuck, that’s a big one. A lot of people are afraid to say, “I’m stuck. I don’t know what I’m doing.” Do that, but then learn and grow so you don’t have to raise your hand where you get stuck at that same point. 

You’ll get stuck later on, but if you can do those three things, you’re going to be just fine. I really believe that. The things we look for—obviously, in IT you have to have the skills—but more important, I look for those factors: good person, dependable, ability to learn new things. I want to know if they’re motivated to do the work too. There’s a lot of people that are doing it, but it’s like, “This is all I know. I really don’t care for it as much as somebody else.” 

One of the questions I ask developers a lot is, what do you do for fun? And if they tell me I develop for fun, I’m like, let’s hire this person. When they’re that invested in their own learning, that is something to me. That’s a real indicator of someone who would be a really good employee. 

Ethan Whitehill: It’s that growth mindset. 

Matt Sharples: Yeah. 

Ethan Whitehill: Always learning. What piece of advice would you give to job seekers today? 

Matt Sharples: Again, invest in yourself by volunteering at different things. There are a lot of different organizations. If you want to be a web developer, go find a charity that you can help develop their webpage. Maybe even develop one yourself for a business that you’re thinking of starting.  Just start to build some artifacts where you can come to the table – even if someone’s not paying you to do them. I think that’s a big component of what people are looking for. That someone is going to take the initiative to do something and say, “Hey, I don’t know what I’m doing completely yet, but I have the drive to actually start and show you that I can build something from scratch and that I’m invested.” 

Also, network. I told my son, when he was writing, “What do you think these other writers do?” And he’s like, “I don’t know.” I’m like, “Well, let’s call them and find out.” And he did. I think that’s a big thing: start networking with people. If you’re interested in something, call the person that’s in the job and I guarantee they’ll take five or 10 minutes to tell you how they got there. 

Ethan Whitehill: Yeah. Let’s flip that too. For employers, what advice would you give folks that are recruiting today? 

Matt Sharples: Again, skills matter, but a whole lot less so than the personal traits in the culture of your company. I also think – keep score. There are so many companies that are just really not looking back and saying, “Who did we hire in the last two years? And are they still here? And of those people that are still here, are they good?” You’d be amazed. 

Keep score. Know what you’re doing. And then hire for culture, hire for those personality traits and learn from mistakes. I mean, you’re not going to be perfect. I can say all this, but believe me, I have been probably less than 50% myself. And the dirty little secret is about 50% of hires fail within two years. That’s crazy to me. When you think about all the money that people spend on hiring and bringing on new talent. We’ve got to get better than we are right now with a coin flip, essentially. 

Ethan Whitehill: Well, that is a nice transition. Not to a coin flip, but to a roll of a die. I’ve got my secret questions.  

Matt Sharples: I like it.  

Ethan Whitehill: I’ve got 20 potential questions and a 20-sided die. So, I’m going to roll this and whatever comes up is what we’re going to talk about. What’s your favorite place on earth? 

Matt Sharples: So, my wife and I went to Bora Bora on our honeymoon. Pretty funny story. As we’re landing, I had all these pictures in my mind of how beautiful it was going to be and it was overcast and rainy, and I got really cranky, and I was like, “This isn’t going to get better.” My wife’s like, “Just relax. I’m sure it’s going to be beautiful.” 

And I woke up the next day and it was like a screensaver. It was the most beautiful place I’d ever seen. We went snorkeling, and it looked like Finding Nemo. You could see every type of fish in the clearest water. So that’s the most beautiful place.  

But I think my favorite place is to be around my family, to be honest with you. We were for Mother’s Day – most of us, not all of us – were sitting around the table and just telling stories and laughing at each other. That’s always the best place to be. 

Ethan Whitehill: I love that answer. And I almost wonder if Bora Bora is a good metaphor for somebody just starting a job. 

Matt Sharples: Yeah, yeah.  

Ethan Whitehill: When you first get there, maybe it’s not exactly what you pictured. 

Matt Sharples: Yeah, the clouds are – you’re like, wait a second, this, this wasn’t in the brochure. 

Ethan Whitehill: That’s awesome. Well, Matt, how can listeners connect with you and learn more about Tricom? 

Matt Sharples: Sure. So, the website is Tricom TS. I was never able to get rid of that technical services, but we went to just Tricom now. But it’s https://tricomts.com. I’m on LinkedIn: Matt Sharples (Sharp-less). A lot of people say “Shar-pools,” and I’m fine with that. I would never correct people because it looks like that. And then, we’re also in the Twin Cities. Here in Kansas City, Leawood, and then we have a place up in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. 

But please do reach out if I can be of any help. I always look at it as, even if I can’t help someone today, I try and take the long view of “How I can make connections for them?” If there’s a piece of information that I know could be helpful to them, I always try to help with something – with whatever I can do. 

Ethan Whitehill: So, send Matt an email. He’ll fire up the Commodore 64. 

Matt Sharples: There you go. Make some basic code. 

Ethan Whitehill: That’s awesome. Do you still have the Commodore 64? 

Matt Sharples: No, I wish I did. I wish I did. That’d probably be worth a little bit of money. You never know. 

Ethan Whitehill: Yeah. Matt, thank you so much for being on our show. 

Matt Sharples: Thank you. This was a lot of fun. 

Hosted by Ethan Whitehill

Ethan has made a career out of building agencies and growing brands. He founded the firm Two West in 1997, running it as an independent shop for nearly 20 years before combining his firm with an AdAge Top 100 Agency, where he served as CMO. As an agency founder and entrepreneur, Ethan brings a business owner’s mindset to marketing, working on a host of diverse brands, from packaged goods and professional services to hospitality and healthcare.