Melissa Furnas has been in the staffing industry her entire career. In her words, “I received an offer from a global staffing company right out of college and never looked back.” She has worked on both the supplier side as well as in-house staffing, and she even served a stint in a supply chain role, which provided her with contracting, risk mitigation and cost optimization experience that has been critical to her success in the contingent workforce space. She currently serves as director, contingent workforce program at ConocoPhillips.

As one of the world’s largest independent oil and gas exploration and production companies, the company relies on contingent workers for a broad array of projects across its global portfolio, from field operations and facilities to technology and finance. Yet, like many companies today, ConocoPhillips finds itself competing for talent. As director of the organization’s contingent workforce program, Furnas is leading the company’s efforts to cut through this competition by maximizing direct sourcing, identifying skill sets to attract non-traditional candidates and improving the way they tell the story of the role that contingent workers play in the company’s success.

A recent achievement of Furnas’ team is the launch of the US Contingent Workforce Talent Community, a new talent community designed to complement the company’s existing US supplier portfolio. Integrating technology and a comprehensive service offering, this program enables the company to enhance the ways in which it attracts contingent workers of all skills and classifications.