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Commack firm finds the write niche
CARL CORRY

(June 23-29, 2000) COMMACK - When Helen Thomas left United Press International earlier this month in protest of the news service's acquisition by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, her senior White House correspondent slot became the highest profile job opening in journalism.

So when UPI listed the position on Long Island's StaffWriters.com job board, founder George Giokas, was "shocked," to say the least.

So, maybe, was the New York Times, which ran a small piece about the posting in its Father's Day issue.

Small or not, the mention "solidified in my mind that we are headed in the right direction," Giokas said of his 5-year-old Commack firm, StaffWriters Plus, which connects both freelance and full-time writers and editors with jobs.

The Times mention triggered a flood of calls from writers saying they wanted to use the company's services. And three firms - About.com, Rainmaker Publications and Worth Interactive - signed on to list their openings on the Web site for the first time. Giokas currently lists about 150 jobs on the site.

"I also got a lot of e-mail from people I haven't heard from in years," said Giokas, who also serves as the firm's president and CEO.

StaffWriters, formed after Giokas opted for a voluntary buyout when New York Newsday was closed down by Times Mirror in 1995, has placed "hundreds" of journalists in its short history, Giokas said. For about a year, he acted as a one-man band.

Now with an additional office in Manhattan, a staff of six, not including the dozens of free-lancers it pays on behalf of its clients for individual projects, the company is on track to make $1.2 million in sales this year. That represents a 120 percent jump from 1999, Giokas said. Revenue is mainly generated from commission fees of up to 25 percent of first-year salary StaffWriters charges to place journalists. Salaries range from as low as $25,000 to $100,000 or more, he said.

Giokas, who aspires to open offices nationwide and in Europe, is expanding the original business model on several fronts, according to Andrew Sherman, director of sales and operations.

The biggest priority: the Web site. More than just a job board, StaffWriters.com's "enhanced services" provide companies access to personalized recruiter assistance and the company's database of 4,000 candidates.

About 1,000 of those names are listed online, Sherman said. Costs for the online enhanced services could run a company $500 - $1,500 a month, depending on the prospective employee's annual salary.

"Companies (using the service) are spending as much as they would for a classified ad, but that only runs in a newspaper for a day," Sherman said.

John Sumser, editor of the Electronic Recruiting News, said StaffWriters is well positioned to take advantage of the growing need for writers to provide content to Web sites.

"Since every Web site needs a writing team, StaffWriters.com has staked out one of the best online niches," Sumser said. "And so far as we can tell, they are the only current players."

What makes the company successful in its niche is Giokas' breadth of experience, said Charles Epstein, president of Backbone, a high tech public relations firm that has worked with StaffWriters on projects for several companies.

"He understands the industry, knows the language and is very good at matching projects or jobs," Epstein said. "George understands the business of writing as an editor and as a writer."

Giokas, who had a 24-year career in journalism before starting the staffing firm, starting out in the Gannett newspaper chain in Westchester, before moving to the Newsday copy desk in 1979. In 1989, he strayed from the suburbs to take on a role as part owner and editor of the Keystone Gazette, a rundown weekly newspaper in rural Bellefonte, Pa., just outside State College.

Giokas, who grew up in Harlem, said while the fishing was great and the paper heartily competed against the Centre Daily Times and won several journalism awards, rural life just wasn't for him.

So he returned - to Newsday's business desk until the paper's New York edition folded in 1995. Giokas continues to write a bi-weekly small business column for the paper.

Giokas ran StaffWriters from a room off his garage for a few months, then shared space with Invision.com in Commack. With plans to as much as double his staff by year's end, the company has signed its own lease, for 1,600 square feet of office space at 201 Moreland Drive.

In tandem with the move, StaffWriters expects to expand its outsourcing services to multi-article special sections for newspapers or company promotions.

To push the new efforts along, Giokas applied to be a presenter at the Long Island Venture Forum 2000, with hopes of raising as much as $1 million in venture funding.

The firm didn't make the cut, but Giokas went anyway - and ran into the New York Times editor who ordered the Father's Day piece that has proven to be a marketing gold mine.