150+ Earned Stories Turn an Unknown Staffing Executive into a National Workforce Authority

• HireQuest had 30+ years of staffing expertise, but limited national visibility against much larger competitors.
• Its leadership had valuable perspective but was largely unknown to national media.
• The opportunity was to proactively create stories and establish HireQuest executives as trusted voices on hiring and workforce trends.

• Built HireQuest’s first executive thought leadership program, positioning CEO Rick Hermanns as a national hiring expert.
• Brokered proactive story opportunities by identifying timely workforce conversations where HireQuest could add a distinct POV.
• Newsjacked breaking hiring, workplace and economic trends with fast, media-ready commentary.
• Built relationships across national business, workplace and staffing media to establish HireQuest as a repeat source for reporters.
• Developed recurring storylines around AI at work, labor trends, manufacturing demand and company milestones, creating reasons for HireQuest to stay in the conversation year-round.

• 150+ earned media placements in less than 18 months
• 53 placements in 1H 2026, up 8% YoY and consistently exceeding quarterly goals
• 11 national business stories in 1H
• 18 stories around AI at work, establishing HireQuest in a major workforce conversation
• Coverage in Bloomberg, CNBC, FOX Business, Business Insider, Associated Press, The Washington Post and Yahoo Finance
• Most recently, secured CNBC Make It coverage around the viral Gen Z “iced coffee interview” debate, putting HireQuest at the center of a mainstream hiring conversation
• Established HireQuest leadership as trusted national sources on hiring and workforce trends

From relatively unknown to nationally quoted: BB proactively created the storylines, media relationships and timely opportunities that put HireQuest leadership into some of the country’s most influential business media.