The IT Motives story

As told by founder and CEO, Tony Seminary

My maternal grandfather was quite the storyteller. Our Native American culture has a great tradition of storytelling, and as a young boy, I listened to my grandfather talk for hours about his life. And I suppose that is why I love hearing a good story to this day.

Here’s the IT Motives story. In July 2008 when I started this business, I was the lone employee. We had no website, no marketing material, no applicant tracking, and no company logo. And did I mention I had no experience as an entrepreneur? What I did have was a desire and passion to create a company. So, I took the plunge into entrepreneurship.

Let’s back up a bit. Before I established IT Motives, I worked for nine years with a Seattle-based recruiting company that closed its Portland office on the last day of 2007. Single at the time with no family, I decided to take a mini-retirement from the work world, a term I learned from reading “The 4 Hour Work Week” by Tim Ferriss. I went to the public library every day like it was a Monday through Friday 9-to-5 job for me for the first 6 months of 2008. During that time, I read about business and entrepreneurship. And read. And read. In a nutshell, I got my own MBA.

Fast forward to July 2008. I got a call from a friend asking me to help him fill multiple job openings for his business. At this point, I knew I wanted to start a company, but wasn’t sure if it would be a talent acquisition business. An hour after our call, however, I contacted my friend and said I was in.

From those humble beginnings we’ve evolved to where we are today. We have a website, we have marketing materials, we have an applicant tracking system, we have a nice office, we have a great logo, and most importantly, we have great employees. I am no longer working in my home office as the only employee.

The journey has been an interesting one; that’s for sure. We’ve never wavered in who we are as a company and that’s an important thing to me. IT Motives has its own unique identity, and we’ve worked hard to ensure we protect our reputation as we’ve grown.

The core purpose of IT Motives is really simple. We are passionate about building long-term relationships, helping people grow, and making meaningful career connections.

So that’s a bit about our story. What’s your story? We would love to get to know you better.