jobQ: Consulting That Empowers Individuals & Combats Employee Turnover

Gone are the days when a person found their job right out of university and stuck with it until retirement. Millennials are likely to trade-in jobs and even careers many times over in their working lives. For the current work force, company culture and environment are priorities in a way the industrial revolution has never seen. Given all this, jobQ consulting has a niche to fill in our local business community and their you-being-you approach, is one rarely scene in American capitalism
Company: jobQ
Tag line: You being you
Founders: Dave Sparling, Ty Darapiza, Duane Zingale
Contact: dave@getjobq.com, www.getjobq.com, 541-241-6320
Where did the company name come from? IQ is traditional intelligence. EQ is emotional intelligence. I’ve even heard of SQ, or spiritual intelligence. jobQ is about insight and intelligence into the person-job fit.
When did you open your doors?
February 2016.
What is your product/market niche? Creating job benchmarks to ensure the right person is hired into the right job. We want employers to be hiring people into their dream jobs.
What is your company’s number one goal in the next year? To establish a reputation as Central Oregon’s number one source for selection insight.
What other ways is your company involved in the community? We regularly attend EDCO’s Pub Talks. We are all avid mountain bikers and members of the Central Oregon Trail Alliance (COTA). We look forward to playing in the dirt and keeping the amazing local trails in shape.
No. employees? 3
Outlook for growth: Dynamic. Before ever contracting our first client, I was contacted by two people who were interested in being a part of jobQ. I am looking to have a team of jobQ consultants in place by summer 2017.
jobQ consulting is a local talent management company spearheaded by lead consultant Dave Sparling. Originally from Vancouver Island, Sparling relocated to Sunriver last fall and begun the typical job hunt so many locals are familiar with, he realized the area could benefit from services in advising for optimal hiring.
With experience in executive coaching and leadership development, Sparling brought in brother-in-law Ty Darapiza as a creative director and mountain biking companion Duane Zingale as a platform strategist. The three launched services this February. Sparling explains, “Consulting is built on trust and trust takes time. But, so far feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Especially for our info graphics on our blog.”
jobQ is dedicated to helping organizations reduce staff turnover and increase employee engagement through ensuring the right person is in the right place. One of the ways they accomplish employee engagement is through benchmarking. Once a comprehensive bendchmark, or job description is created, and a person is hired based on that, employee turnover can be eliminated.
Sparling gives an example of a coffee shop manager he recently met with. He explains, “Turnover with baristas was killing her and sucking her energy. She was pouring time and money into re-hiring and training with all the turnover.” Outside of the obvious stress this would cause a manager, Sparling says it can cost $5-15,000 to loss, re-hire and train a minimum wage employee.
“By creating a job benchmark,” Sparling says, “we look at two things, the person’s behavior style and whether the job will be emotionally rewarding. We create an accurate profile which accounts for all sorts of variables in a given job and find candidates and eventually employees whose behavior and driving forces match.”
Because the hiring pool is so large in Central Oregon, Sparling believes local businesses could greatly benefit from benchmarking. “Talented folks are moving here for the lifestyle and want to jump through hoops to secure a job. But what does it really mean if you get accepted for an interview; maybe it only means you are great at copy and pasting accomplishments and key words. Looking at the core of a person, what makes them unique, not a skill set or what they can develop. Tools we provide can highlight the crucial elements for what is being looked at from a candidate for a given job and make it very likely that turnover won’t continue.”
To create a benchmark for a position, jobQ charges around $3,000 with higher rates for more leadership oriented rolls. To review candidates against the benchmark they charge from $200 for an advanced assessment to $5 for a preliminary review. As elements of a job such as management, location and culture change, a new benchmark needs to be created for hiring.
While jobQ’s offerings to businesses are popular, individuals can also access a self illumination program through their TTI Success Insights Testing. This provides individuals with a Career Blueprint laying out ideal environments to be sought for employment.
When asked how jobQ sets themselves apart from other consultants who might offer similar services, Sparling pauses and thoughtfully explains, “jobQ is focused on individual empowerment. If the individual employees are thriving, the company is thriving. When they have the best people in the right place then the business will flourish.”
Sparling says, “In Canada I wasn’t interested in being an entrepreneur, the U.S. brings this out in people. The sense of diversity and individuality is much more powerful here than in Canada.”
It is this sort of individuality that Americans possess that demands attention and proper job placement. jobQ is excited to bridge vacancies with employees that truly fit the requirements of a job.
Knowing the pain of turnover, Sparling invites local business owners to take advantage of jobQ’s complimentary assessment and consultation. Interested parties might enjoy perusing the jobQ blog accessible through their website which includes innovative and clever graphics depicting reasons for and solutions to employment angst. See http://www.getjobq.com/how-to-solve-the-turnover-problem/.