Company Overview: The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C.

is the parent company to the luxury hotel chain, Ritz-Carlton Hotels. The hotel company is a subsidiaryof Marriott International. The company also hasm a r k e t i n g a g r e e m e n t s w i t h B u l g a r i H o t e l s & Resorts, and two privately owned hotels, The RitzHotel, London, and the Hotel Ritz Madrid.T h e c o m p a n y g r e w t o b e c o m e t h e h o s p i t a l i t y leader in the US under the leadership of President and COO Horst Schulze. Schulze's strong conviction of customer loyalty and emphasis on av a l u e / m i s s i o n d r i v e n p h i l o s o p h y f o r t h e " L a d i e s a n d G e n t l e m e n s e r v i n g L a d i e s a n d Gentlemen" became a benchmark in the industry to which other companies aspired. Under his leadership the hotels earned an unprecedented two Malcolm Baldrige National QualityAwards and grew from four to forty U.S. locations.T h e R i t z - C a r l t o n a l s o k n o w n f o r i t s i n f l u e n c e o n s e r v i c e i n a w i d e r a n g e o f i n d u s t r i e s , through the creation of the following organizations: The Ritz-Carlton Learning Institute The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center T h e s e o r g a n i z a t i o n s c r e a t e d f o r t h e p u r p o s e o f w h e r e e x e c u t i v e s f r o m o t h e r c o m p a n i e s worldwide in many disciplines come to learn Ritz-Carlton principles of service. The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company is now headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland, located in theWashington, D.C. MSA. Slogan of Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company You can't be a legend without a great story. 100 years of history, countless rewards and with an unshakeable credo a n d c o r p o r a t e philosophy of un-wavering commitment to service, both in hotels and in communities, TheR i t z - C a r l t o n h a s b e e n r e c o g n i z e d w i t h n u m e r o u s a w a r d s f o r b e i n g t h e g o l d s t a n d a r d o f hospitality. Case Summary When The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C. was preparing to open, then recruiting to fill in major positions became a major challenge for the HR Director, Marie Minarich. The HR Director used the both conventional and creative approaches to fill the major vacancies in the hotel. The several recruiting techniques such as signs were put on the building about the information of recruiting and applying system, newspaper advertisement. The managers and staffs of Ritz-Carlton Hotel hand out business cards and service praise cards to the employees of other restaurants and hotel before few weeks of job fair. These are the creative methods that were followed by HR Director of Ritz-Carlton Hotel. The job fair was the major source for recruiting 2300 applicants in two days. During the job fair, one of the exceptional creative method applied, which was to keep with upscale theme of Ritz-Carlton Hotel played by the m u s i c i a n s . Th i s t h e m e i n t r o d u c e d t h e a p p l i c a n t s w i t h t h e c u l t u r e o f t h e c o m p a n y a n d attracted them. The applicants completed the application blanks and faced the preliminary screening interview. After the screening interviewing process those who passed, then they were scheduled for more in depth 1.5 hours interviews consisting of 55 questions. More than150 in- depth interviews were conducted at the job fair.

The HR Director and HR staff filled the positions with appropriate people by applying such kind of successfu l c r e a t i v e a n d conventional recruitment approaches within short time period.

Question No 1. Describe why a strategic approach torecruiting was crucial at the Ritz-Carlton? Recruitment refers to the process of attracting, screening, and selecting qualified people for a job. A n d s t r a t e g i c R e c r u i t m e n t m e a n s i d e n t i f y i n g t h e r e a l r e c r u i t m e n t n e e d s o f a n organization and fulfilling those needs. The organizational needs are tied t o t h e o v e r a l l strategic business plan. The needs are in terms of number, quality, and specialized skills andtalents in every area of the organization's activities. The use of strategy in recruitment isi n t e n d e d t o a t t a i n t h e o b j e c t i v e " M a t c h i n g P e o p l e w i t h J o b s . " W i t h t h e a b s e n c e o f t h i s approach, an organization may have to change its plan and may end up "Matching Jobs toP e o p l e . " T h i s g o e s a g a i n s t t h e d i r e c t i o n o f a b u s i n e s s p l a n . S t r a t e g i c r e c r u i t i n g m a y sometimes need to go beyond just filling empty positions. It can focus on discovering talent5

before it is needed, capitalizing on windfall opportunities when there is an abundance of highly qualified people" This is proactive action to ensure that nothing is left to chance.There is correlation between the HRM strategy and the overall corporate strategy. As HRMas a field seeks to manage human resources in order to achieve properly organizational goals,an organization's HRM strategy seeks to accomplish such management by applying a firm's personnel needs with the goals/objectives of the organization. Specific HRM functions, suchas recruitment and selection, reward/recognition, an HR plan, or

learning and development policies, would be tailored to achieve the corporate objectives.Strategic Human Resource Management helps you achieve success. Strategic human resourcemanagement aligns your human resource function to your core business objectives. StrategicHR management involves more than just the administration of human resource programs or activities.Close co-operation (at least in theory) between HR and the top/senior management, in thedevelopment of the corporate strategy. Theoretically, a senior HR representative should be present when an organization's corporate objectives are devised. This is so, since it is a firm's p e r s o n n e l w h o a c t u a l l y c o n s t r u c t a g o o d , o r p r o v i d e a s e r v i c e . T h e p e r s o n n e l ' s p r o p e r management is vital in the firm being successful, or even existing as a going concern. Thus,we can say that a strategic approach to recruiting was crucial at the Ritz-Carlton.The importance of strategic recruitment becomes obvious when an organization plans for i m m e d i a t e a n d f u t u r e e x p a n s i o n . U n d e r a s t r a t e g i c r e c r u i t m e n t a p p r oa c h , f i r m n e e d s to link the business strategy to recruitment strategy. Business strategy can change and mustc h a n g e i n r e s p o n s e t o c h a n g e s i n t h e b u s i n e s s a n d e c o n o m i c e n v i r o n m e n t . R e c r u i t m e n t strategy must also change accordingly.

There are several tools that have been used by companies with the aim of recruiting their employees. Some of them are more traditional or considered to be generally effective, whileo t h e r s m a y p r o v e a p p r o p r i a t e f o r s p e c i f i c s i t u a t i o n s o n l y . I n o r d e r t o c h o o s e w h i c h recruitment method the employer is going to use, the employer needs to consider m a n y aspects, for example, the cost of reaching the candidates, the time scales involved, and theculture of the organization. And the firm will form a recruitment strategy that links with the business strategy.

Measurement of Recruitment Effectiveness: The quality of people that you can recruit will determine the future of your organization. Youneed to have the right mix of experience, skills and talents in order to grow stronger in everyway. The strategic recruitment approach requires your organization to measure theeffectiveness of your recruitment policy and activities. This is important because a lot of money is involved in recruitment.

Considerations in Evaluating Recruitment include: Cost per hire which includes all the costs involved from the t i m e t h e r e c r u i t m e n t process commences until the selected candidate reports for duty. Speed of Hire also referred to as Time to hire referring to t h e t i m e t h e p o s i t i o n f e l l vacant to the time a replacement is found. Quantity of applicants. Because the goal of a good recruiting program is to generate alarge pool of applicants from which to choose, quantity is as natural place to beginevaluation. Quality of applicants & hire. Some consider this as the most important measure. Thismeans that the requesting department or unit now have the right people in order to be more productive. Question No 2. Why were the conventional recruitingapproaches less important than the creative methods ingenerating a large number of applicants at one time? Recruitment refers to the process of attracting, screening, and selecting qualified people for a job. The stages in recruitment include sourcing candidates by advertising or other methods,screening potential candidates using tests and/or interviews, selecting candidates based on theresults of the tests and/or interviews, and on-boarding to ensure the candidate is able to fulfilltheir new role effectively. Recruiting is a sales and marketing process. In the marketing of thecompany's detailing services the marketing manager choose marketing strategies that willattract the customers who can most use and therefore want to buy services. Why waste moneyon customers who don't want to buy? The same is true for recruiting.Recruiting is simply marketing your company's employment to potential employees. If thecompany uses recruiting methods that attract the employees whom the company wants, thosewh o

c a n " m o s t u s e " a n d t h e r e f o r e wa n t t o " b u y " y o u a s a n e m p l o y e r , t h e n t h e c o m p a n y should attract only them and spend a lot less time and money.So, how does the company choose the recruiting methods that will be most successful, savetime, save money plus bring you the desired candidates? It depends on how the HR recruiting plan is made. Like for the new Ritz-Carlton hotel in Washington, D.C, the HR Director useda perfect blend of both conventional and creative recruiting approaches. As the hotel was being built, signs were put on the building indicating the opening date and how to apply for jobs. As the opening got closer, some newspaper ads were placed, but no internet or radio adswere used.Additionally, Ritz-Carlton managers and staff made it a point to hand out business cards andservice praise cards to employees at other restaurants and hotels in the months and weeks before the peak hiring was to occur. Those individuals were encouraged to apply at RitzCarlton and many of those receiving the cards showed up at a two-day job fair held by Ritz-Carlton.The job fair was the major source for recruits, generating 2300 applicants in two days. Tog e n e r a t e m o r e a p p l i c a n t s a t t h e j o b s f a i r , R i t z C a r l t o n r e c r u i t e r s h a n d e d o u t j o b f a i r invitations at subway stations the job fair. During the job fair, refreshments were served byemployees of other Ritz-Carlton hotels in the area. To keep with the upscale theme of Ritz-Carlton, musicians played at the fair.A l t h o u g h f or the new RitzCarlton hotel in Washington, D.C. a perfect b l e n d o f b o t h conventional and creative recruiting approaches were used but it was the creative recruitingmethods that helped Minarich and the HR staff fill the needed positions for the opening for the hotel. Now to understand why the conventional recruiting approaches were less important than thecreative methods in generating a large number of applicants at one time for RitzCarlton wemust first learn about the methods and understand pros & cons of the methods.Conventional Recruitment Methods 1 . Wr i t t e n j o b a p p l i c a t i o n i n r e s p o n s e t o a n a d v e r t i s e d p o s i t i o n - d i r e c t l y t o t h e company. This is the most common method of recruitment. Many p e o p l e s t i l l s e e m t o t h i n k t h a t a written application means a hand written application. If a company does want a handwrittenletter they will say so. 2. Written job applications to recruitment / employment agencies Treat this same as a letter to an employer; however, refer to the employer as Your client asthey are a second party in this process. 3. Registering with a Job Recruitment / Employment Agencies Job Recruitment / Employment Agencies are effective recruitment tool. Agencies advertise a position on behalf of the employer and conduct the interview to short list stage. This could bea pool or the best 3-4 applicants. This job search strategy requires less work and allows youto access to job opportunities you might not have found on your own.The disadvantage of this recruitment method is that the agency is working for the employer,and will need to satisfy all their criteria. Nevertheless,

Recruitment Consultants who havedeveloped a good rapport with a client may ask an employer to look at a "wildcard' - a personwho may not meet all the criteria, but has potential. 4. Registering with a Job Search Firm These are more exclusive employment agencies a t t h e t o p e n d o f t h e m a r k e t - mainly executive r e c r u i t m e n t . As p a r t o f t h e i r h i r i n g s t r a t e g y R e c r u i t m e n t C o n s u l t a n t s " h e a d h u n t " a p p l i c a n t s f r o m o t h e r f i r ms o n b e h a l f o f t h e i r c l i e n t s . T h e y o f t e n d o c a r e e r transition programs for retrenched workers on behalf of companies. 5. Employee referral This method of recruitment occurs more often than you may think and can be a traditionalmethod of employment for many companies. The advantage is that an employee would notrecommend someone they know that is not up to the job as it reflects back on them. It wasfirst tried as a traditional recruitment method by American Express over 30 years ago. 6. Accepting applications from job seekers cold calling In the past smaller employers were impressed by the applicant who cold called, by visitingthe company and leaving their resume. Research confirms a view that has been held for along time, those job seekers who cold call are considered to be highly motivated with a lot of initiative and confidence and really wanted to work. The extensive use of the internet for looking for work 7. Phone application in response to an advertised position Generally this recruitment method used by smaller companies. If you are asked to phone youmust do so immediately. You will probably be screened by the receptionist who may take joband personal details. They will tell you that the employer will ring you back. This is a hit andmiss method of recruitment and used by many smaller companies and very frustrating for jobseekers. 8. Industry/Corporate Websites A good example is mining companies and larger o r g a n i s a t i o n s . M o s t h a v e v a c a n c i e s advertised on their site. 9. Group recruitment - information sessions If a company is doing group recruitment they may ask you to attend an information session if you pass the telephone interview. They may do recruitment testing or simply get you to playsilly games meant as a recruitment assessment technique. Psychology tests are available for use; the main one is to find out if candidates are team players. 10. Temporary Staff Recruitment / Employment Agencies This should be a popular recruitment method yet many job seekers feel it is too insecure.These agencies can make arrangements to transfer an employee to the company full time if required (at a fee to employer). Often companies use agencies to 'trial employees' as they donot have to deal with Industrial relations issues. Points to consider: Many people have been placed in good permanent jobs after proving themselves.

 Usually this arrangement is considered a 'perfect match' for both the employer andemployee. Temporary agencies are very selective in their recruitment. Job seekers may need toestablish themselves and build credibility with an agency to be selected for some of the better positions. 11.Telephone or screening interviews A s c r e e n i n g i n t e r v i e w ma y b e c o n d u c t e d l e g i t i ma t e l y b y a g o v e r n m e n t a g e n c y o r a n e w company who are bulk recruiting. An employer, (and also an employment agency/recruitmentfirm), may ring the jobseeker to talk or "chat" about their application. This is really telephoneinterviewing. Consider this as an important screening interview. From this contact you willeither be put on a shortlist for a face-toface interview, or your application will be discarded. Non-Traditional/Creative Recruitment MethodsHere are a few alternatives to the usual sourcing methods. Famous article & column writer Kevin Wheeler in this articleNon-Traditional Recruiting Methods, Revised: Some Ideas and Examples classified advertising, employee referral, and Internet searching and job boards inthe traditional category. According to him some of the non-traditional things may requireyou to stretch your corporate policy a bit may even require you to ask for forgivenessinstead of permission but may land you that great candidate you need. 1. Event Recruiting. Cisco pioneered this approach and it has brought them success. It isv e r y s i m p l e : g o t o t h e e v e n t s t h a t t h e p e o p l e y o u a r e s e e k i n g g o t o . I n t h e c a s e o f programmers in Silico n Valley, the choice spots have been microbreweries, marathons, and bike races. When you go to these events, become involved in some way that promotes your name and cause. Sponsor or co-sponsor the event. Pass out refreshments. Give away a prize.Give a gift to everyone who participates. Just be sure that they KNOW you are recruiting andhave a good idea of what you are looking for. This is where you build a brand and create animage of the kind of company you are. 2. Re-Recruiting. Again, a simple concept: find those reasonably good people who left your c o m p a n y f or a n e w c h a l l e n g e , m o r e p a y , o r w h a t e v e r , a n d t r y t o r e c r u i t t h e m b a c k . H R Magazine just had an article with a graphic depicting an office with a velvet rope across thedoor carrying a sign that said RESERVED. This was to indicate how many firms are tellingemployees who leave that they are always welcome back. Employees who leave and come back are good contributors and stay longer than many of those hired for the first time. They produce quickly, are familiar with the environment, require less assimilation time and effort,and may already have an internal network of associates in place. 3. Make Every Employee A Recruiter.

Many firms are enlisting the average employee to bea recruiter. This is not the same as asking employees to refer friends to the company and thisi s n o t p a i d f o r . R a t h e r , e q u i p e m p l o y e e s wi t h s i m p l e b u s i n e s s c a r d s t h a t d o n o t h a v e anyones name on them. These cards just say something like: We are always looking for great XXXXX. To find out more, log onto our website at www.xxx.xxx These cards areg i v e n o u t a t p a r t i e s , s p o r t s e v e n t s , f a mi l y g a t h e r i n g s , p i c n i c s , t h e p a r k , o r w h e r e v e r a n employee goes. They are used to let people know that your company really does want peopleto apply. Employees can use the cards as a way to talk about what they do and about howwonderful your company is to work for. 4. Cast A Wider Net. Expand your recruiting to include some people who do not have all theskills you would like, but who have potential to contribute if they are trained. Again, Ciscohas an excellent trial program underway called the IT Apprenticeship Program. This programo f f e r s u n d e r g r a d u a t e s w i t h d e g r e e s i n m u s i c o r m a t h a n o p p o r t u n i t y t o l e a r n H T M L programming. They are hired as programmers, are given intensive training at the same timethey are handling basic customer service issues, and then are assigned a programming job. Sofar this program has had superb results and success. If there was ever a time to look at a wider set of skills and devote more effort to development, then this is that time. Recruiters need to be strategic enough to suggest these programs to management and to push the traditionali d e a s o f w h a t ma k e s g o o d r e c r u i t i n g . O f c o u r s e w e w o u l d a l l l i k e t o h i r e t h e c r e a m , b u t reality says we can only get a share of it. We will have to make some cream of our own andthese kinds of programs can work well. Hope that some of these will work for you! Ritz-Carlton followed strategic approach to recruit and s t r a t e g i c r e c r u i t m e n t m e a n s identifying the real recruitment needs of an organization and fulfilling those needs. The needswere in terms of number, quality, and specialized skills in every area of the organization'sactivities. The HR director Marie Miarich identified the real recruitment needs and a major challenge that is recruiting to fill all of the positions. Additionally, RitzCarlton regardedemployees as the cornerstone of its exceptional service culture. The company understoodthat, as a service organization, the quality of its end product was only as good as the people p r o v i d i n g i t . T h e r e f o r e i t t o o k c a r e t o s e e t h a t i t r e c r u i t e d t h e r i g h t k i n d o f e m p l o y e e s . According to Ritz-Carlton, the company did not 'hire' its employees; it 'selected' them.The conventional recruiting methods became less important than the creative methods as theorganization planned for expansion i.e. to open a new RitzCarlton hotel in Washington D.C.And we know that under a strategic recruitment approach, firm needs to link the businessstrategy to recruitment strategy. So using creative recruiting methods to attain

business goalat the time became crucial for Ritz-Carlton. And we know that in tight labor markets withs i g n i f i c a n t s h or t a g e s o f q u a l i f i e d a p p l i c a n t s , e m p l o y e r s t urn to more creative recruitingm e t h o d s . R e g a r d l e s s o f t h e methods used, the goal is to generate a pool of qualifie d applicants so that the positions in organization are filled in a timely manner. Recommendation and Conclusion: From our case analysis, we can say that though Ritz Ca r l t o n H o t e l f o l l o w e d m a n y recruitment approaches, they might follow the other recruiting approaches such as Holding raffles & attractive price giving ceremony for employees who brought inskilled candidates Advertising for the positions at important locations in the city. University fresher and graduate might be encouraged to apply for front desk,guest services, maintenance etc. positions. So campus recruiting could be a goodsolution Retired Govt. security forces might be encouraged for security position.After that the HR Authority of Ritz Carlton Hotel might evaluate quality of recruitment toincrease the recruiting effectiveness.R i t z C a r l t o n H o t e l f o l l o w e d t h e b o t h c o n v e n t i o n a l a n d c r e a t i v e a p p r o a c h e s f o r t h e i r successful recruiting process. The HR director took most effective recruitment approach torecruit a good number of right people to the right place in a short period. The recruitment wast h e m a i n c h a l l e n g e f o r t h e H R d i r e c t o r b y w h i c h t h e o r g a n i z a t i o n w o u l d g a i n c o r e competencies over its competitors. Employees knowledge, skill and ability (KSA) are thema i n f a c t o r s f or g a i n i n g c o m p e t i t i v e a d v a n t a g e o f a n o r g a nization. For this reason ther e c r u i t m e n t p r o c e s s w a s d i v i d ed into many steps of screening and short, ind e p t h interviewing. All these types of creative approaches helped the organization successfully findout the right one.

References:

 Kevin Wheeler | Nov 29, 2000 | Non-Traditional Recruiting Methods, Revised: SomeI d e a s a n d E x a mp l e s | h t t p : / / w w w. e r e . n e t / 2 0 0 0 / 1 1 / 2 9 / n o n - t r a d i t i o n a l - r e c r u i t i n g - methods-revised-some-ideas-and-examples/ Raymond A. Noe, John R. Holenbeck, Human Resource Management,4th Edition,Page no: 40-44 Ritz Carlton Wikipedia: The free encyclopedia. http://en.wikipedi a.org/wiki/Ritz-Carlton http://www.strategic-human-resource.com/strategic-recruitment.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recruitment http://www.strategic-human-resource.com/ http://www.strategic-human-resource.com/strategic-recruitment.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recruitment http://www.icmrindia.org/casestudies/catalogue/Human%20Resource %20and%20Organization%20Behavior/HROB100.htm http://www.proactivehrm.com/JobSearch/Recruitment_Methods.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_resource_management