Welcome back to work. Hope you had a good holiday. Were you one of the 50 million people who watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV by any chance? The retailer turned to social media to promote it and even track it with a mobile app for the iPhone and Android smartphones. Macy’s uses social media, particularly Facebook, to publicize shopping specials and holiday gift guides. They are also using social media more and more to recruit and hire.
And they do a lot of hiring this time of year! As Staffing Talk reader Amir Lehrer pointed out in the comments section of my recent post on UPS’ holiday hiring efforts, Macy’s Inc. will hire about 78,000 seasonal workers to staff their department stores, call centers, warehouses and online fulfillment centers this holiday season.
That’s a 4% increase over last year, and reflects the retailer’s optimism about the 2011 holiday shopping season.
That optimism might seem to be misplaced given the overall state of the economy and consumer spending. But in actuality, Macy’s same store sales year-to-date are up 5.3%.
“We always hire aggressively during the holidays to ensure our customers are well-served in this important shopping period,” said Terry Lundgren, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Macy’s Inc. “We expect additional hiring this year given the continued sales growth in our business – both in-store and online.”
“We expect additional hiring this year given the continued sales growth in our business – both in-store and online.”
Macy’s, Inc. employs about 170,000 associates on a year-round basis. The company operates about 850 department stores in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico under the names of Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s, as well as the macys.com and bloomingdales.com websites.
On some months well over a million people visit the Macy’s Jobs career site, and the retailer says typically 60% of those who visit will apply for a job.
Visitors to the site can apply for positions via a mobile device, register for e-mail notifications or e-mail a job opening to a friend.
For its executive recruiting team, Macy’s has a rich, well-rounded presence on LinkedIn, including an active LinkedIn group and extensive connections.
To target the college market specifically, they’re turning to Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. There’s not a lot of crossover between the two targets, so the strategies and approaches are very different, though seemingly equally effective.
Macy’s also recently turned to the web for the launch of their new Diversity Leadership HR campaign.
The site is designed to increase awareness of the company’s diversity efforts and drive deeper engagement with the target audience.
It features Macy’s holistic plan for diversity as well as perspective from senior leadership within the Macy’s organization.
The retailer has been recognized as a top company to work for by Essence, the National Association of Female Executives (NAFE), Latina Style, Hispanic Business, DiversityInc., and the Human Rights Campaign.
“We’re proud that our workforce reflects the diversity of the markets where we do business, “says Macy’s vice president of diversity strategies Corliss Fong.
Women represent over 75% of the Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s workforce and more than 65% of managers. Racial minorities make up more than 46% of the workforce and 28% of management ranks.
“Simply put, diversity is a business imperative for the company,“ echoed Terry Lundgren, Macy’s chairman and CEO.
And so it seems, is the use of technology to sell potential candidates on working for the retailer, and then using those staffers to in turn sell to customers who come in via all kinds of channels.
Lundgren says “a lot of the capital investments I’ve made for the company have gone into technology over the last three years. And it’s really paying off.”
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I didn’t realize all that Macy’s was doing online and with social media, but it doesn’t surprise me. Until recently, I don’t think they were very well known for being very forward thinking about the way they use social media, so they had some catching up to do. And I know they have made a big investment in technology, as you allude to, making hundreds of IT hires and beefing up their e-commerce capabilities. I think the last I heard they were doing something like $2 billion in online sales, so it is reasonable that they would be spending a lot of time – and money – re-imagining their online presence in all sorts of ways. I am also glad to read about the optimism shown in their holiday hiring numbers. Let’s hope that they are warranted and that retail can help lead the way out of the malaise.
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Thanks for the mention David. Once again, a well researched and written article.
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Thanks for the comment Amir, and the story tip. I know I have said it before, but I will repeat it, I had no idea these handful of companies took on that many additional employees at the holidays. It is mind boggling to think of onboarding that many new heads, huh?!
Right now anyway, it appears as if their optimism to actually increase hiring this year over last is well founded.
Black Friday sales jumped 6.6 percent to $11.4 billion from 2010, according to ShopperTrak. Retail foot traffic also rose 5.1 percent.
But some analysts are taking exception to the popular notion that a strong Black Friday weekend injects “momentum” into the holiday shopping season.
They contend that consumers don’t think about momentum, and that they already spent all of their money on Black Friday.
Consumers don’t need to think about momentum, they are already in motion. Visiting a store on Black Friday will give the consumers a reason to go back to the stores again and again. It’s like visiting Disneyland. On top of that, seeing what their friends just bought can get them back to the stores to get the latest toys and gadgets.
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“Consumers don’t need to think about momentum, they are already in motion.” I LOVE that line! You should be in retail, but I bet you’re really good at staffing as well. Maybe we can read one of your blog posts in this space soon and I can comment on your story.