May makes everything new: Taledo appoints Michael May as new managing director

Dear Michael, it's great to welcome you as Taledo's new managing director. What particularly appeals to you about your new role?

First of all, I would like to thank the founding team around Melikshah Ünver, his brother Mengühan, Marcel Poelker and Julius Cichon. Melikshah rightly told me: "I entrust my baby to you". I carry this incredible responsibility with the utmost care and joy. With the same care I also take responsibility for a large, but above all diverse, international and - despite the young average age - incredibly experienced team of more than 70 colleagues. I hope that with my many years of experience I can help each and every one of them to make progress every day - both professionally and personally.   

Furthermore, I am happy about the trust of the 70 private investors and will use my many years of experience as an entrepreneur to fulfil the challenging goals we have set ourselves in the Taledo team as a rapidly growing company.

Growth is a good keyword: Taledo is currently on a strong growth course and the recruiting market is more exciting than ever. What do you think are the biggest challenges and opportunities for companies right now?

What has always fascinated me and still does: Using technology in such a way that we humans can concentrate on the actual task. Especially the composition of a team or the decision for a new workplace is highly emotional. After all, for employees it is not just about securing their livelihood with their salary. Rather, it is about pursuing a meaningful activity and gaining a connection with the job that is performed 40 hours a week. I think this is an extremely important factor, because people can only be happy with a real connection to their job. Although changing jobs is an option for more than a third of German workers, many people who want to change jobs shy away from the outdated, analogue and also non-transparent application processes. 

Employers also suffer from these dusty processes. 

That's why I think that tech-enabled recruiting is the most promising opportunity and challenge for both parties and thus for the entire market. But if we manage to use technology as a tool and not rely on it completely, we can overcome this challenge. After all, technology serves people and not the other way around. And this is especially true at a time when the exclusive obstacle to growth for companies is finding and recruiting team members. In my view, this trend will increase massively, so Taledo's tech-enabled service approach addresses an exponentially growing need for companies. 

Exciting insights! What is the most important thing for you when working in a start-up?

For me, the most important thing has always been the people we work with and for, even in all our business activities. As a Rhinelander, I attach great importance to the fact that, in addition to all professional seriousness, there is plenty of room for personal encounters, a hearty laugh and the odd bit of fun. Especially the current situation of the Corona pandemic and our colleagues spread all over Germany and abroad make it tempting to experience work only on a factual level in telephone calls and video calls. I am already looking forward to our next analogue event in Berlin, with all colleagues - similar to last summer.

Last but not least: What should new team members be like?

Basically, we are on a journey to realise the vision of Taledo. It is important to find people who want to go on this journey with us, who are willing to take on responsibility within the framework of their task, who feel the sense and who enjoy contributing to and developing in a diverse team, both professionally and personally.