Russ Jones possesses an extensive background in human resource consulting spanning more than 20 years. Prior to joining First Transitions in 1988, Russ was a Partner in two Chicago-based corporate-sponsored outplacement firms where his responsibilities included individual and group outplacement assignments, as well as pre-retirement programs. Previously, he was a founding partner in a specialty executive search consulting practice.

Since 1983, Russ has completed consulting assignments for over 450 organizations in 35 states providing career counseling services for personnel at every level. These activities have included individual executive level, middle management, and group assignments as a result of downsizing, mergers, elimination of services, acquisitions or facility closures. In 1995, he was instrumental in creating the organizational career development program, Career Partnership.

Complementing his background, Russ’s corporate experience includes sales, management, marketing, and training for the Colgate-Palmolive Company and the Kroger Company.

A graduate of the University of Illinois in the College of Business at Urbana-Champaign, Russ writes a monthly career column for the Chicago Sun Times and started “In the First Place – Insights for Healthcare Executives” column for Hospital News, a monthly publication, in 2003. He has written more than 150 articles for Wall Street Journal publications and has written numerous articles for Hospitals and Health Networks, Modern Healthcare, and Healthcare Executive. He also has been interviewed by Money, Smart Money, Newsweek, Kiplinger and Gentleman’s Quarterly and has appeared on CNN’s "Take It Personally". Russ is the co-author of the book, Healthcare Executive Job Search, published in 2003 by the American Hospital Association.

Russ has been guest speaker for American Hospital Association conferences, local and national human resources conferences, American Business Women's Association national conferences, the New York Stock Exchange, as well as lecturing at the University of Illinois, the University of Chicago, Rush University and the College of Mount Saint Mary. Throughout his career, his primary focus has been in the area of innovative, strategic career planning and job search. First Transitions annually partners with House Speaker Dennis Hastert in creating a Job Fair for his Congressional district.