Matchmaker.

Kirti Lal doesn’t use the title, but it describes what she does to perfection.

Only, she doesn’t pair up romantic prospects eager for walks in the moonlight, piña coladas, or getting caught in the rain. Instead, she connects men and women who need a job with companies that have jobs to offer.

“We try to make a match,” Lal said.

And ever since she opened this local franchise of the long established recruiting company, @Work, this past August at 4018 A St. SE at the southern end of the White River Junction shopping center, Lal’s been doing just that.

Her specialty is finding jobs in the warehousing, light industrial, clerical, accounting, human resources and marketing sectors. And with more than 20 years of professional experience in human resources in her background, you can bet she knows how to make it happen.

While she puts the workers to work for companies to complete a specified job, they are her employees and they remain on her payroll, to be sent out again to complete another job and so on, as they would be with a temporary agency.

It is Lal’s first venture as an entrepreneur and business owner.

A typical candidate, she said, posts the job they are seeking on a job board, for example, looking for employment as a warehouse associate. Her recruiter, Pensihda Jack, calls job seekers into the office for a conversation where they complete a quick online application listing their name and address to get them in @Work’s system.

“Along with my recruiter, I have a sit-down conversation where I talk with them about what they are expecting in terms of pay, shift-timing, and we find out what are they good at doing. We put all the details together and look for companies that require someone like that, and find jobs for them, doing the things they do best,” Lal said.

What sets her apart, she said, from all those services out there that scan candidates and resumes is that she prefers to meet with the flesh-and blood people first.

“There are a lot of bots … nowadays that are just scanning people and resumes, saying whether it’s a fit or not a fit. But I like the human connection. I talk to the people to really understand what job and role they are looking for and where they will fit, their history and aspirations.”

All of that said, she is not an executive recruiter.

“Those jobs are hard to come by, and we don’t really specialize in that. But if a small business is looking for people to fill a leadership role, we’d definitely up our game and get it,” Lal said.

@Work is a 30-year-old company whose corporate offices are in Knoxville, Tennessee. It has more than 100 offices throughout the U.S., with one of them now in Auburn. It has a business model and gets people like Lal to invest as franchisees.

Kirti Lal and her husband, Sumit, left Bangalore, India’s Silicon Valley, and arrived in the United States in October 2022 primarily to be near their only child, daughter Nana, who is attending college in the United States to study bio-medicine.

“When I came to to the United States, I was thinking about what I should do next with my career. I have 20 years of experience as a human resources professional. That is where my passion was. Recruitment is a big part of human resources. I am good at it and wanted to put all the skills and experience that I’ve had to some good use, to make my time and effort worthwhile,” Lal said.

Her staff consists of recruiter Pensihda Jack, who calls candidates and arranges the meeting with them and a business development manager who goes out, talks to clients and brings in business. The latter did not want her name included in this article.

As far as placement numbers, Lal said it is too early to determine .

“I just kind of opened my doors at the end of August and have had two full months in operation, got a business recruiter got a business development manager. It’s a slow process. You get a lot of candidates, but right now it’s not like companies are hiring loads and loads of people. We have had good success, but right now it’s still in the early stages,” Lal said.

“I have been here for two years now, and am really enjoying it,” she. added.

At 5 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 19, Kirti and city officials cut the ribbon to celebrate the official grand opening. The business is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday.