CASE STUDY BERSIN & ASSOCIATES Social Networking for Recruiting Hyatt Corporation Uses Social Networking Sites to Strengthen Its Employer Branding and Sourcing Strategies Madeline Laurano, Principal Analyst April, 2010 IN THIS CASE STUDY FOCUS: PLANNING & STRATEGY CONTENT DEVELOPMENT LEARNING PROGRAMS LEARNING CULTURE ANALYTICS & MEASUREMENT TALENT MANAGEMENT Social networking has moved beyond simply catching up with former classmates. Today, social networking is a true business tool, particularly useful for service organizations that continuously hire large numbers of people. Smart enterprises have embraced social networking as a talent management, recruiting and employerbranding strategy. While some organizations can spend millions on their social networking sites, typically the cost is lower than traditional Internet-based job boards and the nature of the network allows referrals and prescreening, greatly increasing the quality of applicants. In many cases, social networking sites need only a single individual to manage them. At the same time, the recruiting function greatly benefits from the ability to prescreen and manage the application process to assure the quality of candidates. Over the past year, Hyatt Corporation s recruiting group has fully embraced the use of Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Blogger and Twitter to build its employee base as well as to recruit candidates for both professional and hourly positions worldwide. In doing so, it has increased hiring efficiency, while also cutting recruitment costs. LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT SOURCING & RECRUITING
This case study will explore: How Hyatt uses YouTube and other Internet phenomena to disseminate its employer culture and brand; The methods utilized by Hyatt careers to engage users with its Facebook fan page, while also reaching out to current and potential employees around the globe thereby reducing the cost of recruiting, while improving the quality of candidates; The use of Twitter to post job openings and career happenings, as well as engage with Hyatt guests; Using professional online networks (such as LinkedIn) to keep track of Hyatt alumni and connect with potential professional recruits; and, The college recruiters blog, Ning community, and other tools that bring valuable candidates into the pipeline. e
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TABLE OF CONTENTS Company Overview and Business Environment 5 Talent Management and Talent Acquisition at Hyatt 5 Maturity of Talent Management Systems 6 The Recruiting Process 7 Search Engine Optimization 7 Social Networks 8 Social Media Tools 8 Social Networking and Talent Acquisition 14 Business Impact and Metrics 15 Lessons Learned 16 Conclusion 16 Appendix I: Topics for Discussion and Learning 18 Key Learnings 18 Ideas for Action 18 Questions to Consider 19 Appendix II: Table of Figures 20 About Us 21 About This Research 21
Company Overview and Business Environment Hyatt Hotels Corporation, headquartered in Chicago, is a global hospitality company with approximately 80,000 employees in 45 countries. The company s subsidiaries manage, franchise, own and develop hotels and resorts under the Hyatt, Park Hyatt, Andaz, Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Regency, Hyatt Place and Hyatt Summerfield Suites brand names and also has locations under development on five continents. Hyatt Vacation Ownership, Inc. (a Hyatt Corporation subsidiary) develops and operates vacation ownership properties under the Hyatt Vacation Club brand. As has been true throughout the hospitality industry, the downturn in corporate and business travel has had an impact on the company. So, too, have the past few years proven challenging for Hyatt Hotels from a human resources standpoint. On the one hand, the unemployment rate has encouraged more employees to stay in their jobs, particularly in higher turnover industries like hospitality. Hyatt employee turnover has historically averaged about 30 percent but has decreased in the past two years. On the other hand, higher unemployment means more available talent for each Hyatt position, dramatically increasing the number of résumés received for each opening. Filtering through so many résumés to find the best candidates using traditional methods has proven to be challenging. Talent Management and Talent Acquisition at Hyatt Hyatt follows a centralized HR structure with some exceptions. It includes a recruiting function at the corporate level that oversees both hourly and salaried recruitment, college recruiting, and all of the systems necessary to manage talent efficiently. The only departure from the centralized structure happens locally, for which each hotel has its own recruiters working primarily on hourly positions. Hyatt has made an effort to further centralize its recruiting in concert with its employer-brand image. 1 A centralized model places all budget, decision-making and operational staff in a central group, and uses shared services and outreach programs to service the needs of business units.
This centralization lends itself to a simple chain of command, with hotel HR staff reporting to the local general manager and indirectly to the senior vice president of HR for North America. Over the past five years, Hyatt has made an effort to further centralize its recruiting in concert with its employer-brand image. College recruiting, for example, was formerly managed through individual hotels via recruitment forays to nearby campuses. Now, three specialized corporate recruiters visit universities. This change has resulted in more control with the overall employer brand and the quality of candidates for management trainee positions. The company s vice president of recruiting notes that, in the future, Hyatt plans to apply the same strategy to hourly recruiting. To best do this, the company is looking at opportunities to establish a regional model, with several hotels in the same region sharing a single recruitment function for hourly employees, allowing more mobility between properties and a sharing of recruiting resources. Through recently implemented technologies, job seekers can search Hyatt openings in the company s internal and external career sites, on Facebook, or through an RSS feed. Systematizing hiring has become key to the company s global strategy, as well. Five years ago, a coordinated talent acquisition system was in place for North America, but disparate systems were in place elsewhere. As the company continues to centralize these systems, it has been able to implement a talent acquisition system across all brands and all countries, applying Taleo s system in13 different languages. Hyatt also implemented the solution provider s newest feature, Taleo Anywhere, which allows job seekers to search Hyatt openings in its internal and external career sites, on Facebook, or through an RSS feed. Maturity of Talent Management Systems While Hyatt has made strong efforts to centralize talent management systems, the company is still working toward a total integration of Hyatt s worldwide properties. As of early 2010, Hyatt was using Taleo for talent acquisition, Authoria for performance management and compensation, ADP for payroll, and PeopleSoft for learning management. Efforts to streamline and integrate talent management systems have been slowed by the economic downturn, as well as local compliance and privacy laws, stymieing further any investment in an integrated talent management system. For a worldwide company such as Hyatt, this has led to technological speed bumps in terms of implementing a full suite of integrated and Softwareas-a-Service (SaaS)-based talent management strategies that integrate with talent acquisition systems. In some cases, those hurdles are caused by external forces. For example, some jurisdictions required additional control Efforts to streamline and integrate talent management systems have been slowed by the economic downturn, as well as local compliance and privacy laws.
over the flow of online personal contact information due to the incidence of identity theft and snooping in those areas. Nevertheless, Hyatt hopes to pare down to one integrated worldwide system for talent management. The Recruiting Process The Hyatt careers department has been under pressure to find more effective and less expensive recruiting alternatives. As part of this mission, it has moved away from traditional job boards and recruiting tactics (both of which are expensive and inefficient) to newer technologies that tend to attract stronger employee candidates and disseminate the company s brand message more efficiently. The effort to centralize hiring began as an attempt to redesign the company s organizational structure; it soon wound up focusing on developing the employee pipeline. In an organization such as Hyatt, in which turnover is relatively high, having a ready pipeline of potential employees (especially those recruited or recommended by fans of the company) is key to maintaining its quality. This has allowed the company to use its HR to aid in the recruiting process. With a better quality of applicants from known sources, Hyatt recruiters are able to sort through candidates and choose the best for present and future openings. Search Engine Optimization The company began using search engine optimization (SEO) in 2007 and implemented social networking for Hyatt careers in 2008. Hyatt careers began by creating an official job posting site, explorehyatt.jobs, for all internal and external positions. Using the explorehyatt.jobs as a hub, the search engine-optimized site places Hyatt at the top of certain keyword job searches; it also links to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube.com and the company s recruiting blog. Anyone passing through those social networking sites who then clicks on a job link ends up at explorehyatt.jobs. This allows the company to build its employer brand awareness and maintain a consistent image. Hyatt has moved away from traditional job boards and recruiting tactics to newer technologies that tend to attract stronger employee candidates and disseminate the company s brand message more efficiently. Another reason for the move toward its own search-engine-optimized site came from the ineffectiveness of job boards. While these Internet-based services brought in plenty of applicants, Hyatt recruiters were concerned about the applicant experience. Hyatt careers had little control over the process of posting jobs and available positions often showed up on multiple (and sometimes inappropriate) sites. In addition, some of the job boards did not allow potential employees to apply to Hyatt s jobs directly. The end result was that it was nearly impossible to track whether a particular job
board was effective in bringing in the right kinds of candidates and even more difficult to control the brand message those applicants were receiving. Social Networks As Hyatt careers implemented its career page website, and through personal experience and peer-to-peer conversations, Hyatt careers managers noted a very interesting trend. Candidates who connected through the company s social networks tended to be more engaged and interested in a position with Hyatt than those responding to one of the innumerable ads on job boards. This was particularly clear on a Ning network, set up specifically for college recruiting. The Hyatt Ning group was created for alumni of college internships with the company and specifically targeted to Generation-Y. Hyatt s College Ambassadors group accesses the Ning site to share best practices for college recruiting. New recruits can interact with alumni to learn about Hyatt culture. Ultimately, many college recruits become management trainees, so the Ning site serves as a kind of virtual onboarding program, even before the applicant is hired. Almost immediately, the implementation of this network proved remarkably fruitful for recruiting. It allowed college recruiters to interact with many high-quality candidates. Then came Twitter and the unforeseen positive branding social networks can provide. By simply following Hyatt s Twitter feed, the vice president of recruiting noticed how thrilled customers were when a Hyatt employee responded directly to their complaints or concerns. It painted a positive, customer service-oriented company brand, and did so within the social networks that their customers and future candidates were using. This same combination of fast response and easy oversight has been applied to Hyatt hiring, as well. Candidates who connected through the company s social networks tended to be more engaged and interested in a position with Hyatt than those responding to one of the innumerable ads on job boards. Social Media Tools In many businesses, often it is the marketing department that takes the first steps to implement social media for the purposes of brand dissemination. In the case of Hyatt, it was the recruiting and talent management department that first reached out to the social networking universe. 2 A Ning network is a social networking platform that allows users to join under an easy-to-maintain administrative framework. 3 Generation-Y (also known as Millennials ) are those individuals who were born between 1981 and 2000, and are culturally known to be confident, impatient, socially conscious, family-centric (or tribal-oriented ) and technology-savvy.
Social media for recruiting and talent management has several key advantages for a truly global company. First, it is relatively inexpensive. Second, it has a vast and viral reach. Third, it tends to target exactly those individuals Hyatt is seeking to attract. Currently, the company uses multiple social media tools to reach different audiences. Facebook HyattCareers Facebook presence currently has 10,000 fans. With its global reach, Facebook fans are able to ask Hyatt careers direct questions and recruiters are able to engage with individuals one on one. Like other successful Internet apps, Facebook reduces perceptions of corporate bureaucracy, allowing users to interact without a long series of phone calls or traditional correspondence. Social media for recruiting and talent management has several key advantages for a truly global company. Figure 1: Hyatt s Facebook Page Source: Hyatt, 2010.
Twitter Achieving even more communicative transparency, Twitter tweets from Hyatt are now a major resource for advertising job openings. Employees also tweet about what it is like to work for the company. Hyatt careers notes, however, that the number of followers on Twitter does not mean as much as the number of Facebook fans. On Twitter, the more important element is the quality of the conversation and overseeing all of this has required some delegation of tasks. At present, @hyattcareers has about 4,500 followers. Figure 2: Hyatt s Twitter Page Source: Hyatt, 2010. 10
LinkedIn A professional network, Hyatt careers uses this service to build an alumni database and to recruit for professional-level positions. As the business lunch of the social networking world, LinkedIn is used for more traditional recruiting, such as searching for applicants with specific skills through connected alumni. Figure 3: Hyatt s LinkedIn Page Source: Hyatt, 2010. 11
Blogger College recruiting is the focus of Hyatt careers blogger usage. Using the informal writing style of this medium has allowed Hyatt careers to focus its tone and references to a college student sensibility. Effectiveness is also easy to establish through site visit statistics and reader comments, not to mention hiring directly accomplished via this method. Figure 4: Hyatt Blog Source: Hyatt, 2010. 12
Figure 5: YouTube Screenshot Source: Hyatt, 2010. YouTube Primarily used to share video produced by employees and its own recruiting advertisements at the moment, it gives potential applicants an idea of what it is like to work for the company. All of these Internet-based services require some corporate flexibility. For Twitter, in particular, Hyatt careers noticed that it was answering a lot of service-related questions. Hyatt s public relations and marketing department put together a separate Twitter presence meant to address guest concerns, @hyattconcierge. Hyatt careers, under the Twitter account @hyattcareers, focused discussions on job application processes, openings and the applicant experience. While social networking can cost as little or as much as a company is willing to spend, most of Hyatt careers investment is simply the time it takes to manage the accounts, respond to tweets and post new content. The three 13
social networks are managed by three different individuals, each of whom spends about 30 minutes a day overseeing his / her particular network. Social Networking and Talent Acquisition Although the company does not directly post job openings via its Twitter account @hyattcareers, it alerts followers to openings of new hotels and staffing needs. For specific openings, it utilizes a separate Twitter account, @hyattjobs. Hyatt works with tweetmyjobs.com to distribute its jobs. This low-cost service (only about $1,000 per quarter), pools Hyatt job postings and applications manageably. It also brands those openings for the company and links applicants directly to the Hyatt site. This helps overcome a deficiency of traditional job boards the lack of control over the applicant process. Another of the company s current projects is connecting currently disparate Facebook accounts of the company and current employees. By interweaving already existing employee Facebook accounts together with the company presence, Hyatt has current employees serve as advocates, encouraging them to populate their individual Facebook pages with Hyatt openings. The goal is to use the ever-growing web presence of individual Hyatt employees as an outreach tool for potential future employees. Prospective employees applying through the current applicant tracking system are asked to include information about how they heard of the position, including via Facebook, LinkedIn or tweetmyjobs.com. The solution provider has also made changes that enable the use of social networking in the recruiting process with the Taleo Anywhere product. The program now includes RSS feeds of jobs and a Facebook direct link. At present, Hyatt careers still sends applicants to its career site, where they must create a profile to apply for a job. It has implemented a tell-a-friend feature for all job listings, allowing an interested individual to forward a job posting directly to another potential candidate. Two other search-engineoptimized sites (optijob.com and directemployers.com) integrate with the talent acquisition system, but only do so by pulling in XML feeds. It is important to note that different networks serve different audiences and different purposes. Twitter works best for quick conversations and pressing immediate needs. Facebook engages communities of users with common interests, such as working for Hyatt. LinkedIn works well as a more traditional professional-level recruiting and college recruiting tool. Although it has a status update feature like Facebook, LinkedIn is not used for instant communication as much as it is for long-term relationship building. It is important to note that different social networks serve different audiences and different purposes. Because social networks are constantly evolving, there is no way to predict with certainty how these networks will be specifically used in the future. 14
Keeping up with technology trends and reevaluating online strategies now require daily attention. For example, Hyatt careers is exploring video social networks. Deciding to engage in video social networking demands not only knowledge of the software / hardware applications that provide the service, but also the effect and effectiveness such services have on the intended purpose and on the company brand. Jumping into a new technological realm simply because it is the next big thing is a mistake, according to the vice president of recruiting. It takes a lot more strategic planning. Business Impact and Metrics As Hyatt careers has implemented new tools and integrated them into its process for talent acquisition, there have been several significant business gains. Accurate determination of the cost-savings is difficult to pinpoint, as some savings have been caused by the economic downturn and concomitant fewer openings. Still, since reducing its use of the three big traditional jobs boards, the company has seen a recruitment cost-savings of about 80 percent. Much of that savings can be attributed to the use of these newer and less expensive resources. The company is able to quantifiably measure results of social networks through the number of applicants and hires. Hyatt notes that it has received thousands of applicants and has made hundreds of hires directly through social networking. In a recent six-month period, just under 4,000 applicants came from its college recruiter blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter presences. Although the branding aspect of a social network presence is hard to measure, Hyatt has received some external recognition. For example, College Recruiter magazine ranked Hyatt as the recruiter of choice. Hyatt careers personnel have been asked to speak at a conference of healthcare executives, and Business Week and FORTUNE magazines have both recognized the company s efforts along this line. Additionally, direct feedback is made possible by listening in to easily accessible experiences that individuals have with the recruiting process as expressed through Twitter and RSS feeds. Facebook s global nature allows the company to easily connect with employees worldwide, aiding the recruiting process in some of the more difficult locales. It is interesting to note that North Americans constitute only about 30 percent of HyattCareers Facebook page s total fan population. The worldwide communicative reach will demand a greater multilingual emphasis on the part of the company in coming years. Since reducing its use of the three big traditional jobs boards, Hyatt has seen a recruitment cost-savings of about 80 percent. In a recent sixmonth period, just under 4,000 applicants came from its college recruiter blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter presences. 15
Lessons Learned While Hyatt careers came to the social networking landscape almost accidentally, it has learned a great deal about how to manage these dramatically expanding services and use them most effectively. Several key lessons have emerged from the experience as follows. Of critical importance is to respond early and often. Online users demand quick turnaround, and it is vital for firms to find conversations about the company and / or brand, and respond positively and immediately. Sites must be managed intensively. It is not enough to drop in once in a while. Internet users, and particularly younger Generation-Y audiences, expect sites to change, be updated and continuously evolve. Sites left unmanaged are perceived as stale and possibly dead. Stale or dead sites not only are not visited, but lead to a perception of unprofessionalism and a tarnished brand image. The role of social media involves ongoing learning. The role of social media involves ongoing learning. Exploration of tools, sites and uses is key. Personnel involved in these efforts need to keep learning and receive encouragement to learn. Part of this learning involves knowing not only where to leap, but also where not to go. Decision-making in this area needs to be quick, informed and thoughtful. Becoming informed requires constant monitoring. Trends do not announce themselves in traditional ways, but bubble up through a newly evolved word-of-virtual-mouth process. Killer apps like Twitter and Facebook became popular virally, not through advertising or TV commercials. It is paramount that personnel involved with managing company interactions with social networks keep up with changes and successfully adapt to the opportunities such changes elicit. Online interactions need to be authentic. Internet users are repelled by blatant marketing speak. 16
Conclusion The tools now available in Web 2.0 4, from Facebook to YouTube, allow companies to have more robust and meaningful interactions with current and potential employees. By targeting the correct audiences with the correct tools, and doing so authentically, companies can expand their pools of applicants and improve the quality of hires before the employee even fills out the application. Additionally, online social networking allowed Hyatt to control its positive employer brand image, an element that is lacking in many traditional job sites. It can also keep better track of its applicant pool numbers and closely note the quality of candidates that each of its networking efforts are generating. The evolving nature of the Internet means that Hyatt careers use of social networking changes frequently. The adoption of new technologies is done with planning and thought as to which networks should be used to reach a corresponding audience. Although new technologies are available all the time, Hyatt careers implements them strategically. A N A LY S I S By targeting the correct audiences with the correct tools, and doing so authentically, companies can expand their pools of applicants and improve the quality of hires before the employee even fills out the application. 4 Web 2.0 refers to a perceived second generation of web-based communities and hosted services (such as social-networking sites, wikis, folksonomies, weblogs / blogs, social bookmarking, podcasts, RSS feeds, social software, web application programming interfaces / APIs, and online web services), which aim to facilitate creativity, collaboration and sharing between users. Although the term suggests a new version of the World Wide Web, it does not refer to an update to any technical specifications, but to changes in the ways software developers and end-users use the web. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/web_2.0#defining_.22web_2.0.22. 17
Appendix I: Topics for Discussion and Learning The following sections will provide you with considerations for sharing and implementing the best practices that were highlighted in this report. Key Learnings Below is a list of key learnings (the gems ) from this case study. 1. A social media strategy can help talent acquisition departments strengthen employer branding and provide a positive candidate experience. 2. Organizations can identify quality of hire when leveraging social networking sites, such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. 3. The use of social media for talent acquisition requires constant monitoring to stay informed and connected with hiring trends and job candidates. A social media strategy can help talent acquisition departments strengthen employer branding and provide a positive candidate experience. Ideas for Action The following is a list of actions that you can take in order to apply or implement the best practices highlighted in this report. These are some of the foundational elements that we highly recommend be in place within your company in order to execute such a plan, process or program. 1. Create a social media strategy for your talent acquisition efforts and communicate that strategy with key stakeholders in the organization. 2. Target younger generations by creating a Twitter account and Facebook page for your career site. These sites can help strengthen the company brand and help attract passive candidates who may contribute to a talent pipeline. 3. Respond early and often. Online users demand quick turnaround and it is vital for firms to find conversations about the company and / or brand, and respond positively and immediately. Online users demand quick turnaround and it is vital for firms to find conversations about the company and / or brand, and respond positively and immediately. 18
Questions to Consider Below is a list of discussion questions that you can ask your team, colleagues and business leaders, which will help you to take the next steps. 1. Have you considered replacing the use of traditional job boards with social networking sites as a way to source job candidates? 2. Does your organization have a formal social media strategy in place today? What challenges did you face when implementing this strategy? 3. How would a social media strategy help your organization identify quality of hire? How would it help you to identify passive candidates? 19
Appendix II: Table of Figures Figure 1: Hyatt s Facebook Page 9 Figure 2: Hyatt s Twitter Page 10 Figure 3: Hyatt s LinkedIn Page 11 Figure 4: Hyatt Blog 12 Figure 5: YouTube Screenshot 13 20
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