“It doesn’t make as much sense for me to have the big office,” James said with a smile. “I’m running between offices so much now, it made more sense to give it to our head recruiter here. I want them to have space to do what they need to do.”
This mindset reflects one of many skills James learned from his time in the U.S. Army.
He spent the first part of his childhood in foster care, where he was until his parents adopted him at age 13, before moving from California to Texas, where James spent his teenage years running around with friends, getting into trouble, and, in his words, "lacking structure."
As he neared adulthood, he didn’t have a clear path.
“I had skills I wanted to develop, and I’d always wanted to belong somewhere, to feel like I was part of a family.”
He saw that sense of belonging and purpose in his older friends who had joined the military.
So in 2008, at the age of 18, James joined the U.S. Army.
Adjusting to his new environment at infantry school in Fort Benning, Georgia, wasn’t smooth sailing.
“I struggled for a long time in the beginning,” James said. “I was used to doing things my way, and that isn’t an option when you suddenly have commanding officers.”
Despite that struggle, James soon acclimated to a life of structure and discipline. For the next eight years, he was exposed to a whole new world. He traveled, found a family in his fellow soldiers, and gained a wealth of skills he’d carry with him for the rest of his life.
He returned to civilian life in 2015, moonlighting as a bartender while training to be a medic. It was while he was bartending at Chili’s Grill & Bar, the former employer of many KP Staffing employees, that he met and became friends with Tucker Mullens and Nathan Doran, who would later talk to him about joining them in Nathan’s family business: a staffing agency.
After many attempts at persuading him, they finally succeeded in 2017, and he started in business development at the newly opened Arlington office.
He quickly took to staffing. In the Army, building relationships was a critical factor in a successful mission. In his new role, he found that same relationship-building came in handy when connecting with candidates and employers.
James was quickly promoted to Branch Manager of the Arlington office. James’ management pushed the Arlington office to grow 8x from when he started. He credits his success in staffing to skills he honed during his service.
“You never know what’s coming, so you need to be able to adapt and overcome,” said James. “Just like on the battlefield, you don’t know what’s going to happen. You’re going to deal with it one way or another, so you need to be able to adapt as the situation is happening. Sometimes you have to get creative to get through it.”
The persistence and determination James gained from his time in the army helped him deal with the day-to-day chaos that comes with the staffing industry. From last-minute job orders to associate management to even training candidates himself, James adjusts to bring out the most success he can from every situation.
When he was promoted to Area Manager in July of 2025, he took those skills and applied them to our Duncanville and Irving teams as well, now overseeing over a dozen recruiters, admins, and on-site personnel.
“I would go through a lot for my team,” James said about how his service impacted his leadership style. “We don’t do things halfway; we stick it out and bring the best results we can to deliver for our customers and candidates.”
Since James became Area Manager, all three of the offices he manages have hit all-time highs. James admits staffing wasn’t where he ever saw his life going after he left the Army, but he wouldn’t have it any other way.
When we asked him what he would say to someone just getting out of the service and starting fresh, he said he would emphasize being open to the unexpected.
“Keep an open mind for growth,” James said. “Just because life might look a certain way to you, doesn’t mean it doesn’t look different for everyone else. You need to take that into consideration – it’s the best way you’ll grow and open yourself up to opportunities you never would have imagined.”
KP Staffing specializes in light industrial and skilled trade staffing. We source employees for a variety of positions across skill levels for distribution and manufacturing facilities with locations in Texas, Georgia, Tennessee, and Arizona.
You can learn more about us here!
