Kforce, Inc.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. My name is Brent and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the KFORCE Q1 2022 earnings conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you'd like to ask a question at that time, simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you'd like to withdraw your question, again, press star one. It is now my pleasure to turn today's call over to Mr. Joel Liberatore, President and CEO. Sir, please go ahead.

Good afternoon. This call may contain certain statements that are forward-looking. These statements are based upon current assumptions and expectations and are subject to risk and uncertainties. Actual results may vary materially from factors listed in K-Force's public filings and other reports and filings with the Security and Exchange Commission. We cannot undertake any duty to update any forward-looking statements. You can find additional information about our results in our earnings release and our SEC filings. In addition, we have published our prepared remarks within our investor relation portion of our website. We delivered another quarter of exceptional performance in the first quarter as both revenue and earnings per share meaningfully exceeded the top end of our guidance. It has been widely publicized that the COVID pandemic accelerated many years of technology adoption and advancement. This has resulted in corresponding acceleration in demand for highly skilled talent to assist companies across every industry to rapidly digitize business models. The strength in our financial performance continues to be led by strong growth in our technology business. As our business continues to become more highly concentrated in technology, it is also driving significant increases in profitability levels, which meaningfully accelerated and were at firm record levels in the first quarter. Kai Mitchell and Dave Kelly will speak to our results in greater detail. Since growth resumed shortly after the onset of the pandemic, we have quarter after quarter improved our performance and raised our own internal expectations of what is possible. The improvement in our performance starts with our strategic positioning over the past 10 years. My thanks go out to our leadership team and associates for continuing to stay true to our strategic vision and for their relentless execution. Strategy without execution matters very little, and I'm proud of our team's consistent execution and unwavering commitment to serving our clients and candidates. We are clearly capturing market share and growing it over triple the market rate in our technology business in the strongest demand environment I have ever experienced in my 34 years at K-Force. Our team continues to have a meaningful impact on all the lives that we serve and achieve success through lasting personal relationships, and this is translating into our superior results. The tumultuous macro environment continues to be shaped by the highest level of inflation that we've seen in over 40 years. the tragic and senseless humanitarian crisis occurring in Ukraine and further challenges to supply chain that is already strained by the pandemic. This has raised concern as to the sustainability of growth in our economy as well. In terms of the impact of inflation, While we are certainly experiencing wage and cost pressure, it has thus far provided a further tailwind to our business. Bill rates continue to rise in tandem with pay increases as our clients continue to understand the need for the critical resources we provide. As to the risk of a U.S. recession, technology is core to all business strategies regardless of industry.

This secular shift began coming out of the dot-com era and was further accelerated by mobility