Our History

 

In 1987, TaxSearch Inc. was formed to assist their clients to recruit and retain qualified tax professionals. Prior to founding TaxSearch, Anthony “Tony” Santiago had been operating a more generalized regional search firm. Looking to provide greater impact to his clients, Santiago began to identify certain market trends and opportunities that would soon lead him to focus and specialize in the tax profession throughout the U.S. and abroad.

In the late ’80s, the search industry was geographically constrained by three factors that limited the footprint of recruiting firms.

  • The high cost of telecommunications.
  • The lack of sophisticated applicant tracking software (Pre-Internet Era)
  • Most search firms at the time focused on industry categories rather than professional vertical markets.

Santiago had a vision and the supporting data he needed to branch out in what proved to be the right direction - eventually creating the nation’s first national, vertical market search firm specializing in the tax profession. He predicted that technology and telecommunications costs would eventually become a commodity. Based on these factors, Santiago believed that whoever could wrap around the tax profession nationally first would be in an ideal position to reap the rewards.

There were other reasons that tax was an attractive option as a search specialty. Many companies were already experiencing difficulty in finding and hiring tax professionals at a local or regional level. The supply of these unique individuals was low and was compounded by the fact that tax professionals could not be imported internationally due to the complexity of the U.S. Tax Code. Lastly, Santiago recognized that the Tax Code was being used as a political tool that would fuel future industry growth.

By focusing on the tax profession instead of a specific industry, TaxSearch could better withstand the economic volatility that challenged industries like Bio-Tech and Oil and Gas. After examining the opportunity, Santiago took a forward-thinking risk - diving head first into the tax search profession. His team built one of the very first proprietary applicant tracking systems that harnessed a national database of thousands of tax professionals. This helped the company effectively match the needs and wants of an employer with the needs and wants of tax professionals on a national basis.

As successful searches and placements grew, the company shifted from a contingency model to a fully retained search firm. The company hired and developed specialized tax recruiters and began leveraging new Internet technologies that could reach more tax professionals from the time they first considered a career in tax to the time they retired from the profession.

In 1999, TaxTalent was launched as a sister company. Designed as an online community for self-career management, TaxTalent included a tax job board, mentor program, an online tax salary calculator, and one-of-a-kind tax career reports and studies. An interactive career forum was also developed to help tax professionals get the answers and information they needed before having to make career decisions.

Today, TaxSearch Inc. has evolved into a group of related companies; all dedicated to helping tax professionals, finance leaders, and human resource executives optimize the tax function. In addition to search, the company is uniquely positioned to offer consultative and strategic value to the tax hiring authorities who were looking to build or maintain world-class tax departments.

With the explosion of technology and digital marketing, the companies work together to deliver highly valuable data points to all of its audience groups BEFORE decisions need to be made. TaxSearch is committed to leveraging new technologies and the value of interpersonal relationships to help clients succeed in their tax careers and to help optimize the tax departments they lead, serve or manage.