Hilton Hotel's Head of HR discusses innovations such as TikTok campaign, same-day hires
In an increasingly competitive job market, being seen as an "employer of choice" is no longer a nice-to-have—it's a business imperative.
Mary Hogg, Senior Regional Director for HR for Hilton Hotels Australasia, spoke to HRD about how hospitality, a sector hit hard by the pandemic, can redefine its appeal to attract top talent.
“When you’re dealing with any kind of change, the foundations of it are about being a trustworthy organisation and acting in a trustworthy way”, she said. “We were guilty of being one of those companies that asks for all of your experience – and then asking for a CV at the end.”
The pinch-point, Hogg told HRD, was the fact that formal qualifications weren’t necessary – they wanted ‘people-people.’
“Two-thirds of candidates were put off by even having to put together a CV. But the thing was we didn’t necessarily care about people's spelling, grammar and formatting skills,” she noted.
The game-changer came in the form of radical recruitment innovation. Hilton launched a "Hire Me Hilton" campaign on TikTok, encouraging applicants to submit short-form video resumes.
“Our dream wasn’t just to make Hilton look cool,” Hogg said. “It was to make hospitality feel exciting again. We didn’t care if people knew that it was us making the content – as long as they considered hospitality as a viable choice of employment.”
Recognizing that Gen Z doesn’t respond to traditional CV formats, Hilton dropped the expectation of polished applications in favour of authenticity and personality.
Although only three TikTok resumes were ultimately submitted, the campaign’s ripple effect was significant. “Hire Me Hilton” sparked a 125% surge in applications per vacancy, reduced cost-per-hire by 67%, generated 1.8 million video views, and reached an audience of 70 million.
“We knew we were great,” Hogg noted. “But we had to stop assuming candidates did too.”
There were a number of other changes implemented to improve employer branding, including reducing the lag between interview and job offer, she said.
“We introduced same-day hire. If managers had a positive interview with somebody, they could just extend the offer there and then. It wasn’t about compromising quality—but we needed to respond faster.”
This was a particularly important change, Hogg said, as top candidates for roles often have multiple opportunities at once.
“All of this was done with well-trained managers, giving them the authority to go ahead with it quickly. It’s difficult to get managers on board but hiring good people – and making them feel that they’re in a good working environment – is what drives success.”
The needs and demands of prospective employees are constantly evolving and it’s important to ensure that change is managed effectively.
“Trust is so important because, when dealing with change and becoming an employer people want to work for, your team need to be able to work with you,” Hogg emphasised, “When you’re looking at reacting to new industry trends or finding ways of attracting new talent, trusting your team makes that so much easier.”
Trust is one of the most vital forms of capital a leader has today. Amid economic turbulence and global uncertainty, people are increasingly turning to their employers and business leaders as a source of truth, rather than their institutions and government officials, according to Harvard Business School.
Whilst it is important to ensure you innovate and develop your management and recruitment practices, it’s important not to have all the answers.
“You need to keep reviewing things like your application process and hiring practice,” Hogg said. “I recommend getting children to go through it – they’re especially brutal.”
“It’s so easy to think something works, but if you don’t go through it yourself – or get it tested and checked – you never know. Humility is so important,” she noted.
This sentiment is echoed by research from Randstad – which emphasise that there is still work to be done: “Despite its acknowledged importance, there remains a significant disconnect between the expectations of job seekers and the reality of workplace practices.
In the end, “constant improvement outweighs perfection,” Hogg said. “We’re HR people. We think we know the right way to do things. But sometimes, the right way is the brave way.”
“We go through processes now every six months. You know, what's there, what might be outdated.”
