Challenge
Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group is the award winning owner and operator of some of the most luxurious hotels, resorts and residences located in prime destinations around the world. Increasingly recognized for creating some of the world’s most sought-after properties, the Group provides 21st century luxury with oriental charm.
As the Director of Human Resources and Talent Acquisition, it is Lien Chu’s responsibility to drive global talent acquisition to support organizational growth. However, the impact of COVID-19 led to a significant drop in hiring needs with recruitment freezes across many organizations in the Hospitality industry. For Lien, this was an opportunity to rethink and pivot the Group’s talent acquisition strategy to focus on employer branding and building talent communities.
Focus
Mandarin Oriental identified its alumni networks – former employees – as an untapped source of quality hires. With no structured alumni program in place and only 3% of hires coming from former employees, Lien needed to attract and engage this audience. The goal was to increase alumni hiring to 20%, reducing recruitment and onboarding costs whilst increasing employee engagement and retention.
With budgetary restraints, Lien was keen to identify a cost-effective technology solution to extend the current Mandarin Oriental Colleague experience to alumni. “We steered away from traditional recruitment marketing channels used to drive alumni programmes. To deliver a branded, immersive alumni experience, we sought a solution that was flexible, customizable and user-friendly.”
“Given the complexity of times, we shifted our focus on fortifying the Group’s employer brand positioning to attract untapped talent communities. We needed a technology vehicle to facilitate that.”
Lien Chu, Director, Human Resources and Talent Acquisition,
Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group
Solution
PageUp partnered with Mandarin Oriental to deliver a recruitment marketing solution that creates an exclusive and engaging experience for alumni, known as their ‘Forever Fans’.
A dedicated landing page was created to allow alumni to easily register and interact with the content on the ‘Forever Fans’ portal. Behind the scenes, Lien can quickly update the landing pages with fresh company news, videos, and blogs based on alumni feedback. “The ability to engage with the alumni by sending out newsletters and customising it so that it was on brand to Mandarin Oriental is hugely important to us.” says Lien. “I appreciate the flexibility that the technology allows me”.
Lien is also leveraging the powerful CRM capability of the PageUp Recruitment Marketing platform to easily search her alumni network for right-fit talent. “If I’m looking for an Executive Chef in a particular location, I love that I am able to look into the alumni database, quickly identify who is a current or former Executive Chef and be able to approach the alumnus. Building the alumni community is effectively building a talent pool.”
When it comes to working with PageUp, Lien appreciates the personalized approach. “The PageUp team recognizes there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution for their clients. I appreciate that they recognized our unique set of challenges and partnered with us in the journey to achieve the best possible outcome.”
