RFT Search Group was founded in 2012 by Jason Verlinde and Linda Ferrante. Linda began her recruiting career in 1998 and Jason founded his first company is 2004. Bringing their two different yet complimentary backgrounds together has created a powerful force in recruiting for privately held businesses.
Through business ownership, they have personally experienced the ups and downs of the market, navigating benefit packages, attracting the right types of employees to help grow their business, and the impact of a bad hire.
Their experiences have enabled the RFT team to have a greater understanding of the dynamics within a privately held company and the resources available for hiring new employees.
Jason Verlinde – President
Some people are born with that entrepreneurial spirit, defined as “…an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative…”. Without a doubt this definition describes Jason Verlinde.
After graduating from Michigan State University with a degree in Physics, Jason pursued a career in his field. He quickly learned that his true interests ran deeper than simply performing a job. Jason was a strategic thinker and wanted to be involved in a more intricate role for overall growth and development of his own career. After deliberate thought and risk assessment, Jason made the leap and started his own company.
Fast forward several years and Jason has taken that entrepreneurial passion into the world of recruiting. He now works with business owners who mirror his passion for their business. With the creation of RFT Search Group, Jason works with business owners to create solutions around adding employees from a strategic and financial perspective. His background as a business owner, managing member and consultant allow clients to capitalize on his expertise, knowledge and drive.
Jason is a member of the Small Business Association of Michigan and their Leadership Council, and the I-275 Industrial Council. He is often invited to participate in discussions with like-minded business owners and elected officials regarding the business and employment climate in Michigan.
Jason lives in his hometown of Farmington Hills with his wife, step son and dogs.
Jason can be reached at Jason@RFTSearchgroup.com or 248-957-6598 Ext 101
Linda Ferrante – Vice President of Operations
Linda Ferrante started her recruiting career in the Engineering and IT sector, recruiting contractor employees for big box companies. Through this work, Linda realized that companies had a ‘rush to market’ mentality which often resulted in only a short-term gain. Not satisfied with the chaos that comes with the rush, Linda came to focus more on the problem that needed to be solved in hiring the right person.
Through this transition to problem solving for companies regarding recruiting, Linda partnered with Jason to form RFT Search Group. Her knowledge of recruiting, combined with her education, has led Linda to be able to more deeply understand the differences in recruiting for privately held over big box companies. Her passion is in working directly with business owners to help solve problems in figuring out the if, what and who of adding to their team.
Linda has been published in recruitingblogs.com, thingscareerrelated.com and whosyourgladys.com, as well as writing the RFT Search Group Blog. She has also been a panelist speaker for the MBPA’s Women in Leadership Conference, a recipient of the Customer Service Hero Award through Corp! Magazine, an annual speaker through Career Ministries and lead presenter at RFT Search Groups’ Business Owner Forums.
Linda holds a Bachelor Degree from Western Michigan University in Social Sciences. She currently lives in her hometown of Farmington Hills with her husband, son and dogs.
Linda can be reached at Linda@RFTSearchgroup.com or 248-957-6598 Ext. 102