Pacific Firm Opens Seattle Office

Seattle.internet.com has learned that Berkeley, California-based Pacific Firm, an executive search firm, recently established a Seattle presence following the acquisition of Seattle-based recruiting firm Axxa Corporation. Axxa Corporation’s President Richard Baldwin is now the Managing Director of Pacific Firm Seattle and works with his team of four recruiters out of their Pioneer Square-based office.

For Pacific Firm’s CEO Stacie Blair the Seattle launch was quite significant. The former Air Force Communications Specialist is not only excited about the growing Seattle market, but sees Seattle as her home. Blair was born in Olympia, Washington.

Interesting enough, Blair and Baldwin found each other via matchmaker.com. Apparently when it came to talking about a date, the two realized that they have common business interests and agreed on an office launch date in Seattle.

Pacific firm is not your typical executive search firm. Founded in 1993 it has distanced itself from the competition in part with a unique “unbundled” pricing model. According to Baldwin, their hourly billing model avoids all of the inherent conflicts you find in the ‘old world’ model of percentages. “The flexibility and efficiency this model provides clearly makes it a better option for clients,” says Baldwin.

As Blair sees it, the name of the game is to find the passive candidates. Via the company’s internal research conducted by their Wisconsin-based call center, usually 5-10 qualified candidates are presented to a client.

Blair is aware that there are several executive search players in town. However, she believes that in addition to her “unbundled search” her firm also complements the existing recruiting scene by searching for the entire range of talent, including web developers and project managers.