Yves Lermusi says his decision to leave his post as president of Taleo Research after seven years was prompted in part by a Gallup poll that found that employee disengagement is costing U.S. employers some $300 billion per year.
That’s why employers should be taking a closer look at how they’re attracting and then filtering job candidates. And that’s also why Lermusi and a team of developers will begin to line up beta testers for this fall for a new company called Checkster. For now, the Checkster website contains little more than a vague explanation of what the site will do, beyond that it will offer a “talent checkup for organizations and individuals.” A formal launch is planned for the end of 2006 of the solution Lermusi believes will help employers recruit the right people with the best possible fit.
“Let’s agree that half of the responsibility to find a good match is the candidate’s,” Lermusi says.
He explains that it often takes people a lifetime to figure out exactly what they want to do with their careers, and their lack of understanding of their interests, talents, motivations, and core competencies comes at a huge cost. For the candidate or employee, that translates into time wasted in unfulfilling jobs that don’t stretch their skills, and for employers it amounts to significant employee disengagement and an overall lack of workforce productivity.
Helping new recruits better understand themselves — and better gauge their fit and qualifications for a new job — is “definitely one [issue] that Checkster will definitely address,” Lermusi says.?
While candidates must take responsibility for matching their skills and career interests with prospective job opportunities, he adds, so, too, must employers take more responsibility for matching potential recruits to job openings, and being flexible enough to get the most out of each one.
On the employer side of the equation, Lermusi says, “Checkster will enable HR and [line] managers to optimize talent performance through a better talent match.”
Lermusi says many solution providers in the recruiting arena have become focused on talent management but that the majority are still overly concerned with producing a volume of candidates for their client employers. Checkster, he says, will help employers ensure that they’re choosing the right candidates for the right jobs, which, in the end, will ensure that a much higher percentage of their workforce is engaged and productive.