TM - December 2007 - (Page 49)

application by Ben Warden Hilton Hotels Corporation: Checking Out the Merits of Paperless Efficiency As one of the most recognizable hotel chains in the world, Hilton Hotels Corporation (HHC) deals with talent management issues on a massive scale. With a half-million rooms and more than 100,000 employees in 80 countries. HHC faced significant challenges in making the transition from paper processes to electronic ones. The sheer size and scope of the HHC organization made the option to transition from paper processes to electronic ones an easy one to choose, despite the relative difficulty associated with such a move. HHC has more than 2,600 hotels around the world, many of which have slightly different hiring, recruiting, assessment and compensation practices. It will take a few years before HHC is under the same talent management system, said David Mallett, senior director of human resource information systems (HRIS). “Prior to 2006, our approach was to have a bunch of spare processes in place, and we knew we needed to bring things together to streamline them,” Mallett said. “ of our hotels and our corporate locations All recruit in any number of different ways. We have known for a while that wouldn’t last, and ultimately we needed a new way.” Mallett has been with HHC for 23 years and has been in the HRIS group for almost four. He said he has seen nearly an entire career’s worth of changes in the business from a technology standpoint, but the principle that drives the business has stayed the same — people. As the business has switched from paper to PC, HHC faced some challenges based on the sheer size of the company and has implemented a blitz of talent management applications in an effort to keep up. Until a few years ago, if you were a hiring manager advertising a job opening, you would post it internally, put an ad in the paper, and if you got desperate, maybe set up a booth at a job fair. Those options have grown exponentially in the age of online job search engines like CareerBuilder, Jobs.com and even unofficial channels such as Craigslist and various social networking sites. Part of HHC’s new talent management rollout has been to gradually reduce job-posting responsibilities from the individual properties and collect them in one central hub, via a PeopleSoft application. “We knew we needed to get all of our jobs out into PeopleSoft land, so to speak, as soon as we know there’s going to be a position available,” Mallett said. “It’s what we call the candidate gateway, which is where we have all of these jobs posted in order to capture the greatest number of job seekers that we can.” Another issue hampering HHC’s talent management and recruiting efforts is the sheer volume of applicants. Last year, its two biggest hotels, the New York Hilton and Waldorf-Astoria, received approximately 50,000 applications. This would have produced an impossible amount of paper to process for just two flagship properties. By setting qualification parameters on their HRMS, HHC can spend more time on qualified candidates. 48 December 2007 talent management magazine www.TalentMgt.com http://Jobs.com http://www.TalentMgt.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of TM - December 2007

Talent Management - December 2007 Editor's Letter Contents Letters to the Editor Human Performance Leading Edge Capabilities The Engaged Difference: What People Want Analytics in Talent Management: The Sports View The Use of Merchandise for Employee Recognition Taking Aim at Performance Appraisals Talent Management Drives Organizational Change Generational Diversity: Mastering the Boomer-X-Y Divide Dashboard: Security-Savvy Workforce: Designing a Security Awareness Program That Works Application: Hilton Hotels Corporation:Checking Out the Merits of Paperless Efficiency Insight: Unlimited Engagement: Innovative Corporate Communication at Deloitte & Touche USA Advertisers' Index Editorial Resources Foundations

TM - December 2007

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