Taleo Corporation Projects that Fortune 500 Companies Filled 275,126 US Positions in December 2004

Taleo Corporation Projects that Fortune 500 Companies Filled 275,126 US Positions in December 2004

The Taleo Talent Index projects that Fortune 500 companies filled 91,486 positions with current employees through internal mobility and 183,640 with external hires

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Taleo Corporation, the leading global provider of on-demand talent management solutions and North America's third largest pure-play SSP (Software Service Provider) based on revenue, today announced the start of the Taleo Talent Index. This index of Fortune 500 talent movement was developed as an indicator of major employment trends within Fortune 500 companies, such as job stability, talent mobility and worker confidence. As a SSP, Taleo hosts on its applications and within its data centers, the talent management initiatives of what the company believes is an industry-leading market share of Fortune 500 companies, providing it with the data to measure and project talent movement among Fortune 500 companies.

For December 2004, the Taleo Talent Index shows 275,126 positions filled in the US among Fortune 500 companies, with 183,640 positions filled with hires from outside the company and 91,486 positions filled with internal hires. While the Taleo Talent Index does not provide data on new job creation, it projects total positions filled with full or part-time employees; these positions may be new or may be replacement of workers that have left or filled other jobs internally.

According to data released by the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics on January 7, 2005, non-farm payrolls in December continued to expand, growing 157,000 to 132.3 million in December, while the unemployment rate remained at 5.4%.

"The data shows clear movement among employees at Fortune 500 companies, which is what we had expected to see following an upswing in company performance," said Taleo CEO Louis Tetu. "Employees are feeling more confident about their prospects for employment and seem to be more willing to entertain offers from other companies."

Peter Cappelli, George W. Taylor Professor of Management and Director of the Center for Human Resources at the Wharton School, sees some important changes in the practices of Fortune 500 companies through the Talent Index: "The data shows that large corporations still offer lots of opportunities for entry and advancement. The fact that such a high percentage of openings are filled from the outside now represents a sharp contrast with earlier periods, when most vacancies would have been filled from within, and it suggests that these corporations are much more open to outside talent than they have been in the past. This might also suggest that something important has changed about careers, that movement across companies has now become a more important path to the top."

Jon Walker, global HR IT director with Dow Chemical, a Taleo client ranked number 44 on the Fortune 500 list, notes that internal mobility remains a focal point of Dow's talent management strategy. "In today's knowledge economy, it is essential that we continue to retain our top talent, rather than have them seek career opportunities with our competitors," Walker said. "We do this by providing our employees with the opportunity to manage their careers. In our industry, hiring tends to be cyclical, and during times when it's low, we continue to fill positions throughout Dow with qualified, internal employees who voice a preference in available career opportunities throughout our global enterprise. By allowing our employees to manage their career path throughout Dow, we have seen a reduction in turnover and moved to a point of organizational effectiveness, which significantly lowers costs and contributes to Dow's overall business strategy."

The Taleo Talent Index projection is based upon Taleo customers who are members of the Fortune 500 having filled 15,626 US positions in December; of these, 5,196 were filled by current employees and 10,430 were filled by external hires. Based on a sample size of 10 percent of the Fortune 500, the Taleo Talent Index projects that Fortune 500 companies filled approximately 116 positions for every 10,000 employees in December 2004. Taleo has approximately 165 Global 2000 customers. Including all Taleo customers, there were 34,521 jobs filled through Taleo solutions in December 2004. Taleo solutions are delivered on-demand to 400,000 users in 87 countries, and serve 20 million candidates from 190 of the world's 193 countries and independent states.

About Taleo Corporation

Taleo Corporation (formerly Recruitsoft, Inc.) is the world's leading company focused solely on on-demand talent management solutions that enable organizations to establish, automate and run worldwide talent management processes for salaried, hourly and temporary staff. Taleo customers use the company's solutions to enhance the quality, productivity and satisfaction of their workforces. Taleo solutions incorporate resource allocation principles to more accurately match total labor demand and supply across complex organizations. Taleo solutions are delivered over the Internet to nearly 400,000 users in 87 countries, and serve 20 million candidates from 190 of the world's 193 countries and independent states. Taleo's principal office is located in San Francisco, CA.

Taleo received significant recognition during 2004 for its solutions, technologies and continued growth, including: "Top HR Product of the Year," - HR Executive Magazine; "HR Technology Award for Creative & Innovative Development of HR Technology" - IQPC; "TecHR Award for Staffing Process and Content Delivery Technologies" - IDC and TecHR; "11th Fastest Growing Technology Company" - Deloitte Technology Fast 500; 7th Fastest Growing Technology Company in Silicon Valley" - Deloitte Fast 50; 23rd Fastest Growing Private Company in the Bay Area" - San Francisco Business Times; "Software 500 Listing" - Software Magazine's World's Most Foremost Software and Services Leaders; and "Top 100 Places to Work," MacLean's Magazine.


Source: Taleo Corporation

CONTACT: Diane Pardee, dpardee@taleo.com, or Kate Leeson,
kleeson@taleo.com, both of Taleo Corporation, +1-908-719-8922

Web site: http://www.taleo.com/


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