SYRACUSE - Sapphire Staffing Group, a new full-service recruiting and placement firm, is hoping to grow by placing job candidates in the medical and financial-services fields.

Sapphire Staffing, located at 215 E. Water St. in Syracuse, opened for business nearly six months ago.

President and CEO Lisa Rogers has worked as a recruiter for four companies since 1995 and felt the time was right to branch out on her own.

"I wanted to be able to run a company the way I wanted it to be run and not have to answer to anybody," says Rogers.

She employs two full-time workers in a 600-square-foot office, with no plans to hire more people as of now. David Seketa is Sapphire's business-development consultant, overseeing the development of new business. Lisa Corsaro is the firm's executive medical recruiter.

Sapphire Staffing specializes in medical placements, including nurses, X-ray technicians, licensed practical nurses (LPNs), medical secretaries, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners, says Rogers. In addition, the firm also recruits human-resource managers, chief financial officers, controllers, and accountants.

Rogers is marketing Sapphire Staffing Group as a firm that recruits "outside the box," meaning she's looking for different ways to recruit the best candidates in the Syracuse area. But citing her desire not to give away competitive secrets, Rogers would only provide one example of how Sapphire's recruiting efforts are different.

"I am a paperless company, so all of my applications and the whole process is online through my Web site," says Rogers, believing an online process makes it less stressful for job candidates.

She also believes in responding to every job candidate, something she says not every staffing agency does.

"It's a small town, and I answer every candidate that takes the time to e-mail me and send me their resume or to call me and make sure I get back to them in a reasonable amount of time," Rogers says.

A company can save time and money by utilizing the services of a staffing agency because recruiting is all the company does, says Rogers.

"We do all the leg work for the employer," she says.

In a contract-to-hire situation, Sapphire provides a client with an employee for a four-month trial run. Should the employee not be the right fit, the client's unemployment insurance won't be affected because the individual is on Sapphire's payroll, so any unemployment claims would impact the staffing agency's policy, says Rogers.

For employers seeking direct-hire candidates for higher-level, higher-paying positions, the company will pay Sapphire a percentage of the individual's annual salary once the candidate is placed.

Sapphire Staffing currently recruits candidates for 15 business clients and has about 300 job candidates in the company's database

"It's the thrill of the hunt," Rogers says, referring to finding good candidates and placing them in appropriate positions.

Rogers projects the firm will generate gross sales of $800,000 in 2008. The firm rents space from building owner Sultana Musa. El-M Real Estate manages the Water Street building. Rogers launched the business using her personal savings, but wouldn't disclose the amount.

Rogers served as an executive assistant, a recruiting assistant, and director of recruitment at Springfield, Mass.-based MassMutual Financial Group from 1995 to 2004. She then worked as a recruiter for the Compass Group, an agency of New England Financial for two years before becoming an assistant group vice president for the Syracuse market group of Ameriprise Financial in 2006. Just prior to starting Sapphire Staffing, Rogers was a staffing manager for Comforce Staffing Services in DeWitt from Aug. 2007 to April 2008.

She chose the name Sapphire to project an "upper-echelon" image for her company. Rogers officially opened her company on May 19, but didn't begin recruiting until July.

"I never thought I would own a business, but here I am," she says.

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