CASESTUDY

Hyatt Embraces Emerging Technologies to Attract Top Candidates

Hyatt Hotels Corporation, headquartered in Chicago, is a leading global hospitality company with a proud heritage of making guests feel more than welcome. Thousands of members of the Hyatt family strive to make a difference in the lives of the guests they encounter every day by providing authentic hospitality. The Companys subsidiaries manage, franchise, own and develop hotels and resorts under the Hyatt Park Hyatt , , Andaz Grand Hyatt Hyatt Regency Hyatt Place and Hyatt House . Hyatt House is , , , changing its brand identity from Hyatt Summerfield Suites Hyatt Residential Group, . Inc., a Hyatt Hotels Corporation subsidiary, develops, operates, markets or licenses , Hyatt Residences and Hyatt Vacation Club which is changing its name to Hyatt Residence Club . As of December 31, 2011, the Companys worldwide portfolio consisted of 483 properties in 45 countries.
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Hyatt believes their people make the Hyatt experience an exceptional one. Guided by their corporate values, Hyatt strives to equip and empower associates to develop careers and not just see employment with the company as a job. Innovation and an entrepreneurial spirit are foundational values for conducting business at Hyatt. The goal is to attract and retain a workforce thats motivated to provide a high level of service excellencewhich is innovative and customer-focusedand reflects the local cultures where Hyatt does business.

Using Talent for Competitive Advantage

Hyatt differentiates itself from the competition by employing the best associates and giving their customers more than they expect. We are a hospitality company. It is our talented workforce that is taking care of our customers that ultimately makes the biggest difference for Hyatt, says Randy Goldberg, Vice President of Recruiting at Hyatt. In order to attract and retain a workforce that is able to provide this level of service, Hyatt needed to embrace emerging technology.

Using Technology to Attract and Engage Top Talent

Hyatt has embraced emerging technology to find future leaders through its college campus recruiting program. Its these recruits that are Hyatts main source of talent for the Corporate Management Trainee (CMT) program. Hyatts CMT program is designed for college graduates with the potential to become a part of Hyatts top management team and to progress rapidly within the company. Hyatt uses the training program to provide employees the knowledge to understand Hyatts operations and management skills to ensure superior customer service. Trainees spend two months rotating through each department in the hotel before landing in their chosen area of concentration.

Employees going through the program have such a great experience and are so well-rounded with what we are able to teach them that they become the future management of the company.
Randy Goldberg Vice President Recruiting Hyatt Hotels & Resorts
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Streamlining Interviews with Prescreening and Assessments

Hyatt consistently visits dozens of colleges and averages about 300 new CMT hires and interns annually. Before Taleo, college students found the paper-based application process cumbersome and would not return paper applications. Now Hyatt posts job requisitions on its Taleo hosted career portal to invite students to fill out applications before the college recruiters visit the campus. With prescreening tools and assessments integrated through Taleo, Hyatt evaluates all candidates through behavioral assessments that gauge cultural fit, customer service values, and work ethic. As a result, Hyatt college recruiters can identify the best student candidates and arrange personal meetings during the campus visit. Recruiting managers focus on a targeted list of higher quality candidates quickly and spend time only with candidates that are best suited for the positions.

Embracing Emerging Technologies on Campus

Once Hyatt has identified these top candidates, it uses online resources like Facebook and LinkedIn groups to start building relationships with the candidates applying for the CMT program before they even accept positions. The online groups are used to answer questions such as where to live and how to find roommates. Once a candidate accepts a position, these online groups are used to welcome the new employee to the Hyatt family. In addition to these online communities, campus recruiters at Hyatt have embraced other technologies such as text messaging and QR codes to communicate with college students. The ultimate goal is to reach the college audience in a way they are most comfortable communicating. These technologies also support Hyatts sustainability efforts eliminating paper marketing materials previously used on campus. College recruiters are also able to access the Taleo system via mobile devices while on campus to see which positions have been filled and which positions are still open. This allows them to make job offers immediately to qualified candidates. In a further example of smart social media leverage, the company periodically launches CMT YouTube video challenges to recent college graduates participating in the CMT program. One challenge encouraged the trainees to create videos talking about their CMT experience and their experience working at Hyatt. Selected videos are posted on the Hyatt Careers website and Hyatt Careers YouTube channel that describe the CMT program and explain the hotels sustainability and environmental efforts. Since launching this program, theyve seen about 50,000 hits on these videos. The YouTube video program not only allows the college recruits to begin building relationships with other CMTs, it also provides a great stage to reach to a large audience of potential candidates.

Filling the Pipeline While Targeting the Right Candidates

When Hyatt looked at all their different recruiting efforts, it was clear that the pipeline was increasing year over year due to great branding and word of mouth but that wasnt enough to match their growth needs. The only way to sustain application flow and global growth was to fully take advantage of the Taleo solution. Taleo is the backbone of what we do in recruiting, says Goldberg. Taleos partnerships with prescreening and assessment providers help Hyatt get through nearly two million applicants globally to choose the best candidate. The more applications we get, the better choices we can make on the best candidates. This goes back to the primary goal of providing excellent service and taking care of our guests, says Goldberg.

Hyatt is using emerging technology to source, attract, and retain the workforce necessary to differentiate itself from its competitors. Hyatt is able to hire hundreds of college graduates for internships and management training programs globally. The employees entering these programs play a huge role in the success of Hyatt. Beyond filling entrylevel management positions, these recruits directly affect customer satisfaction and employee engagement. Entry-level managers are key to making sure customers and employees are satisfied.

Increasing Retention and Grooming Future Leaders

The CMT program also has a long-term effect on the company. By embracing a variety of emerging technologies, Hyatt helps new hires build relationships that are important to keeping them engaged. Hyatt retains over 90 percent of employees who go through the CMT program in the first year of employment. Part of what makes Hyatt unique is that while it is a large company, the culture makes it seem like a more intimate family run business. Our culture is extraordinary and I think thats part of the reason why we have such great retention, says Pete Sears, Senior Vice President of Field Operations at Hyatt. The CMT program feeds the pipeline for future leaders at Hyatt. Employees going through the program have such a great experience and are so well-rounded that they are set up to become successful future managers for the company, says Goldberg. In fact, Im proud to be a graduate of our CMT program and have shared in a similar experience as many of the current leaders at Hyatt who also went through our management training programs including the chief operating officer for North America and the senior vice president of HR. In addition to grooming leaders of the future, Hyatts future strategies include enhanced global talent management capabilities, performance management, and even better articulated career paths. With a continued focus on global rollout, mobile applications, and a great candidate experience, Hyatts partnership with Taleo continues to grow and a unified talent management vision sets the stage for a bright future even in uncertain times.

Because our workforce ultimately makes the biggest difference for Hyatt, we rely on Taleo as the backbone of what we do in recruiting.
Randy Goldberg Vice President Recruiting Hyatt Hotels & Resorts

About Taleo
Leading organizations worldwide use Taleo on demand talent management solutions with talent intelligence to attract, engage, and reward their workforce for improved business performance. Copyright 2012 Taleo Corporation. All rights reserved. No portion of this document may be reproduced in any form without the prior written permission of Taleo Corporation. Taleo and all Taleo product and service names mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of Taleo in the United States, France, The Netherlands, U.K., Canada, Australia, and several other countries. All other product and company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

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