About Us

The story of Amtec

Robert Underwood in the beginning

It All Started...

In 1959, Robert Underwood took over what was then a floundering, debt-ridden staffing company, with the mission of finding the right candidates for its customers. Renaming it Amtec Engineering, Inc., Bob worked hard to pull the company out of the red and honor his predecessor’s debts. With God’s help and a lot of elbow grease, he succeeded, and the little staffing agency company grew under the leadership of Bob and a new partner, Peter Van Dyken.

At first located on Commonwealth Avenue in Fullerton, California, the company served mainly technical companies like Beckman, General Dynamics, Honeywell, and Rockwell. Without the invention of computers or fax machines, candidates hand-delivered or mailed in their time cards and resumes, which were coded and painstakingly filed so they could be retrieved for the right direct hire or contract job. Each week, many contractors came in to pick up their checks, and they were always greeted by name.

The new Brea office in 1978

Wanting more space, Amtec moved to Brea in 1978. The advent of computers began making it much easier and faster to serve our candidates and customers.

In 1983...

Scott Kuethen joined the Amtec team as a recruiter. Young and full of new ideas, he constantly made suggestions for improvement, such as bringing in new technology (the fax!) and ways to cut costs so the company could survive the latest economic downturn. Scott loved the win/win opportunity that recruiting afforded him; helping both a candidate and an employer in one fell swoop was almost as good as eating ice cream!

When Pete decided to retire, Scott and a partner bought his share of the employment agency. A few years later, when Bob wanted to semi-retire, they bought him out, too, making Scott the CEO in 1999.

Scott Kuethen with friends and family

Jay's early days with the company

The winds of change continued to blow as Jay Ramos, fresh out of college in 2000, began recruiting at Amtec. Computer technology also rapidly evolved, enabling us to be even more efficient in tracking candidate resumes and employers’ open positions.

2006 brought us a new bookkeeping intern, Barrett Kuethen, just in time to help us weather the economic downturn of 2008. In 2012, Amtec moved its headquarters to Chino Hills. Jay, by now a dynamite salesman, became Amtec’s president and a partner in the company. Three years later, Barrett, intern-turned-bookkeeper, became our wise Operations Manager and a partner as well.

The Amtec managment team - Scott, Barrett and Jay

Having new partners has lead to fresh ideas and expanded Amtec’s vision. But the passion with which Amtec serves its clients and candidates is still what motivates us. Although we’re always improving our process and tools, our main goal is the same, to find the right candidates for our clients’ direct hire or temporary positions. Some things never change!

Meet Our Team