EXECUTIVE BIO

"If something is worth the time doing, then do it right."

Brian Hughes has been recruiting since 1997. That's nearly 30 years of picking up the phone, reading people, and figuring out who actually belongs in the job — not just who applied for it.

He founded Great Bay Staffing Group in 2008 after years of working for the big national firms and racking up a million-dollar sales track record, placing talent for Fortune 500 clients. At some point, he figured if he was going to do this every day, he might as well do it his way.

His way turns out to be pretty simple: be real, be responsive, and don't waste people's time. It's a professional but relaxed approach that clients and candidates genuinely like — which is why most of his business comes from referrals and repeat customers.

Brian's not a one-trick recruiter. He's placed everyone from senior directors to bank tellers across healthcare, manufacturing, engineering, tech, and a bunch of industries in between. He's got a deep nationwide network and a knack for finding the person everyone else missed. Not just whoever's available — the right one.

He's also not stuck in the past. He started his career with file cabinets and fax machines and now runs his searches with AI tools, automation, and a tech stack most recruiters haven't heard of yet. Nearly 30 years in, and he's still evolving how he works. That matters when the market moves as fast as it does now.

Brian currently leads the Healthcare Practice Group at NPAworldwide, a global recruiting network, and has built a following of 20k+ on LinkedIn where he shares straight talk on hiring, job searching, and what's actually going on in the market.

Outside of work, he's a capable golfer (sometimes), a competent skier, a black belt in Taekwondo, a self-proclaimed Starbucks junkie, and currently restoring a lakehouse in Maine with his wife — one project at a time.