When Joblio Founder & CEO Jon Purizhansky hired Mark Tower (pictured above) as Chief Operating Officer of Joblio, he chose Mark for his proven track record in the staffing and recruitment industry – not due to where he lived. 

Mark joined Joblio in December 2023 with extensive experience expanding business operations in the U.S., all while living in the Greater Toronto Area. And he has taken that same “work without borders” approach to scaling Joblio from Canada and its headquarters in Buffalo to Atlanta and Las Vegas, with new markets to come in the future. 

“I think we’re now beyond borders,” Mark says. “I’ll hire the talent not based on where they live but based on what they can do for my company. I think that’s the best way to look at it moving forward.” 

Mark recently appeared on the Talent Titans podcast hosted by Suky Sodhi, an award-winning staffing industry coach and trainer who has helped recruitment businesses around the globe launch and scale. 

During the episode, which is focused on obtaining U.S. relevancy from Canada, the two talked about how businesses sometimes look at borders as impassable brick walls. But if business leaders are open to changing their perspective, it probably wouldn’t be nearly as hard as they anticipated. 

“How many of us dismiss a candidate because we’ve made an assumption?” Suki asks on the podcast. “Borders in general, we talk about removing walls and barriers, well let’s start doing that for the hiring process as well.” 

Mark’s cross-border leadership experiences learning how to manage diverse cultures has extended to his COO role at Joblio, which uses its global network to recruit from a deep catalog of immigrant and refugee talent that is already skilled and ready to help businesses grow. 

“It’s more about really providing a prescription of well-being for a company to survive in these challenging, competitive times,” Mark says. 

One of Joblio’s values to employers is its unique Applicant Concierge Experience (ACE) program, which provides wrap-around services that help New Americans and New Canadians acclimate to an unfamiliar way of life. The support also helps keep them employed. 

“Here with Joblio, that’s our No. 1 value proposition is the retention,” Mark says. “We’ve been able to keep 83% of our people that we dispatch in their first year at work, which is crazy in consideration to other industry averages.” 

Tapping into a new and wider talent pool can boost an organization’s reputation and provide valuable cultural diversity, among many other benefits. 

“What you end up with is different thoughts, different ideas coming,” Suky says. 

“I urge all companies out there, if you’re looking for the right person, remove the borders and stick to the talent and what that person individually can do for you and for your team moving forward,” Mark says, “because that’s really the only question you should be asking yourself.” 

Listen to the full episode by clicking the link of your preferred platform: Apple or Spotify