About Us

Together we are limitless.

About Us

The talent to build better futures

Our vision is to be the most creative, insightful and agile talent company, committed to uniting talent with great organisations where, together, we thrive.

Kelly powers the success of organisations around the world through innovative, tech-enabled workforce solutions. We’re obsessed with finding new ways to engage specialist talent, empowering people and businesses to build what’s next.

​Let our innovative, experienced team make a difference in your business. We’re here to help bold companies and bright people connect and work together. Our qualified workforce solutions will bring your vision to life.

How it all started

Kelly® was founded by William R. Kelly in 1946 with two employees to meet local business needs. In the beginning, we offered Michigan-based office services—which soon expanded to include light industrial and electronic assembly staffing support across the country. Over the past 75 years, our range of specialty solutions and geographic coverage has grown exponentially.

Today, Kelly operates as five specialty business units—laser-focused on our clients’ and candidates’ needs. We partner with 75 of the Fortune 100 companies, and have a robust, global talent and supplier network. Our Equity@Work initiative stands to knock down unjust barriers to employment—because we believe more people deserve the opportunity to find meaningful work.

Our services cover tailor-made solutions in the areas of human resources, recruiting and workforce management. As well as human resources consulting and outsourcing solutions, we provide for the recruiting and mediation of temporary and permanent posts in all corporate functions and hierarchies. Kelly mediates 540,000 employees each year throughout the world. Kelly has been operating in the Netherlands since 1990 and we are located in Hoofddorp.

Enabling new ways of working and growing

Kelly provides the world's best workforce solutions by going beyond the expected for clients and talent.

We are authentic, the industry founder. We believe in relationships, not transactions. We value teamwork, realizing that we are stronger together than as individuals. We take seriously the promises we make. We are passionate, dedicated and driven to excel. With us it has never been about being the biggest. It has always been about being the best and doing the right thing.

At our core, we are a community. Each day we welcome into our community the varied talents of all people who embrace our culture of service, teamwork, and integrity. We offer the opportunity to work with the best companies in the world, and to make a difference in the communities in which we live and work.

Our values

  • We are personally responsible for our actions, outcomes, and reputation.
  • We build strong relationships and create Kelly advocates for life.
  • We own and resolve customer and candidate issues with urgency.
  • We treat every customer, employee, and supplier with respect and integrity.
  • We continuously seek opportunities to innovate and improve the Kelly experience.

Recruitment, wherever, whenever. 


Across time zones, locations and languages, we’ve got this. We’ve been doing this

for 76 years, after all and now across +60 countries.

Our journey

Check out how we’ve grown:

1946

William R. Kelly opens a service bureau in Detroit.

1953

Sales exceed $1 million.

1960s

Kelly expands to place thousands each year in light industrial, marketing, and technical roles.

1972

First European office opens in Paris, France.

1973

Sales exceed $100 million.

1979

Kelly has offices in all 50 states.

1986

Sales exceed $1 billion.

1995

Kelly is first listed on the Fortune 500®.

1996

Establishes the industry’s first MSP program; now manages $7.2 billion in MSP spend.

1997

Kelly opens 1,500th field office, and 500th Partnered Staffing office.

1999

Kelly launches specialized lines: Kelly Engineering Resources, Kelly IT Resources, Kelly Healthcare Resources, and Kelly Educational Staffing.

2006

Kelly acquires the Ayers Group™, a New York-based career management firm.

2007

Kelly now operates in many countries and territories and realigns into three global regions.

2015

One million workers are connected with employment opportunities through our staffing solutions and talent supply chain network of supplier partners.

2017

Kelly acquires Teachers On Call®, expanding K-12 market presence.

2018

Aligned with focusing on specialty solutions, Kelly Healthcare Resources is sold to InGenesis® and Kelly Legal Managed Services (KLMS) is sold to Trustpoint.One®.

2019

Kelly expands engineering and telecom footprint with the acquisitions of Global Technology Associates, LLC and NextGen Global Resources, LLC.

2020

Kelly transitions to a specialty talent company focused on five unique business units: Science, Engineering, Technology & Telecom; Education; Professional & Industrial; Outsourcing & Consulting; and International.

2020

Kelly acquires Insight®, expanding its education specialty business. Greenwood/Asher & Associates is also acquired, moving Kelly® Education into the higher education space.

2020

CEO Peter Quigley works to end systemic barriers to employment by unveiling a new company initiative, Equity@Work

2021

Kelly celebrates its 75th anniversary as a global workforce solutions company.

2021

For a fourth consecutive year, Kelly is named to the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s 2021 Corporate Equality Index, scoring 100 on the annual assessment.

2021

Kelly acquires technology staffing and solutions firm, Softworld—furthering the specialty strategy and growth of Kelly Science, Engineering, Technology & Telecom.

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