profile updated Jul 1, 2008, 11:14 AM
This is a locally oriented recruitment marketing agency that has been around since the days when recruitment meant putting an ad in the Sunday newspaper "Help Wanted" section.
The company weathered that transition and the even bigger shift away from print to online that began after the turn of the century. That shift, however, wasn't without pain. A newspaper story detailed the hit the company took after 9/11: Revenue dropped $12 million and the staff was cut by a third. But you know that saying about what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. The early century recession pushed Alstin to embrace online recruitment and alternative media forms even more quickly.
Today, Alstin's range of creative media include kiosks, TV, billboards, broadcast, online and, of course, print. The company has won a number of awards for its work, though you wouldn't know it from the company website. Its awards section seems stuck in 2006, ignoring a 2007 award it won for a Comcast campaign at the Staffing and Employment Expo.
The company must be an interesting place to work, combining an odd bit of kitsch as in the mannequins seated on park benches in the company's foyer and park-like atrium, with cutting edge use of video and Flash on its website.(Don't miss the greeting from company owner and president Mike Schluth.)
Now pardon us for picking nits, but we think the weakest thing about Alstin is that website. In an effort to be clever and creative, Alstin has gone over the top with navigational links labeled "explore," "taste," "hear" and "book." If that was our only nit we could rightfully be called cranky, but we found the peculiar opening page and the Alstinesp microsite confusing at best. And the infernal music that turns itself back on with every click of the nav bar is better suited to a low-budget thriller.
When the company changed its name from Alstin Advertising to Alstin Communications it didn't change its website, creating instead a homepage that almost had us thinking the site was under construction until we looked more closely.
The Alstinesp is even trickier to figure out. Linked from the services section, Alstinesp deals with the company's Internet services, which include a job posting service, an ATS and the development and monitoring of a screeing and applicant monitoring program.
News & Updates 
Products & Services
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Alstinesp
AlstinESP stands for e-cruiting services and products. It include eQUIP, an online media strategy program; epost, a copy writing and job board placement program; eservices, which integrates a company's career site with applications, pre-screening components and an ATS. -
Creative Services
The company can design and place single ads or build an entire campaign. Alstin works in multiple media including newspapers, broadcast and online. Plus, the company develops fliers, brochures job fair showcases and other media such as kiosks and billboards. -
Employee Referral Programs
Company develops and executes ERPs.