Editor's Note: Genesis10 is celebrating its 25th Anniversary this year. As part of our year-long celebration, we are interviewing present and former Genesis10 Consultants about their experiences.
Tom Turpin was one of the very first consultants hired by Genesis10 soon after its founding in 1999. From that first contract at Sprint in Texas, Turpin remained connected to Genesis10 and its extended family for decades. He worked with Genesis10 for a total of seven years – five as a consultant and two as a hiring manager. Now retired, Turpin was happy to reflect on his start with Genesis10 and his relationship with Wayne Sueltz, who helped found Genesis10 and who continues to manage the company’s Dallas operations.
How did you hear about Genesis10?
In April or May of 1999, my contract had come to an end and I decided to take some time off and not do anything. So my wife and I decided to go to Hawaii. I had my cell phone with me and I got a call late one morning and this guy said, “This is Wayne Sueltz with Genesis10. We are recruiting for Sprint and I thought you might be interested in coming on board with us.” We met in person about a week or so later. I said, “Look, you know, Sprint's got this awful reputation.” But Wayne said that's no longer true and that it was a really great place to work. And it turned out it was a fabulous place to work.
What stands out about working with Genesis10?
I knew that Wayne was going to be able to get me a job. If I reached out to him and said, “The bottom fell out over here, I need you to find me a spot,” Wayne would do it. And then, the exact opposite, when I was a full-time hiring manager, I could turn to Wayne and say, “Listen, I need some help and I need these specific skill-sets and can you fill them for me?”
Why did you pursue a career as a consultant?
I used to teach English at Texas State University. I got married and I knew that I could not make any money teaching and decided to change careers. I jumped from teaching and went into IT, and that was back in the days when there were not a lot of people with IT degrees, so I was able to work my way from the bottom-up. After several years, someone came out of the woodwork and said, “Hey, how would you like to be a consultant?” And I said, “What does that mean?” and he said, “What that means is we will pay you by the hour instead of you getting a salary.” The hourly rate was twice what I was making, so I thought, man, you can't beat this. I went to work for an oil company in Fort Worth and the rest was history.
Would you recommend Genesis10 and why?
Oh my God, yes. I always knew what I was going to get with Genesis10, which was a good solid offer and honesty and integrity.