Rashi Khosla founded MARS Solutions Group in 2006 as a way to create her own employment flexibility as a working mother. MARS stands for Mona, Alisha, Rashi, Sapan — the names of Khosla’s daughters, herself and her husband — as a reminder of her initial motivation behind the business.
The Waukesha-based information technology (IT) consulting company offers technical staffing services for locally based clients including We Energies and GE Healthcare, as well as a growing list of large companies based elsewhere, including Under Armour and PepsiCo. MARS specializes in filling positions that Khosla calls “purple squirrels” — niche roles that don’t yet exist due to the rapid pace of technological change.
In the tight market for local tech talent where companies and staffing firms are competing for a small pool of qualified candidates, talent development is MARS’ competitive edge. MARS invests in training candidates who are strong fits for unique technical roles but who are missing a key skillset, Khosla said.
“Hunting is getting harder and harder and harder, so our focus is on talent creation,” Khosla said. “We take someone we find through our normal hunting process … and we’ll upskill them.”
MARS is also known for providing diverse, untapped talent that often comes from nontraditional sources, Khosla said. Her passion project is MARS Returnship, a program launched last summer designed to help women reenter the technology workforce after taking a break to care for a child or for other reasons.
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