1. Vail Resorts – College Recruiting
KEENA GUARNEROS
REED PORTER
BEN SCHROEDER
JUSTIN WILEY

2. Agenda Purpose Approach Focus Groups/Surveys Supporting Data
Strengths and Weakness
Opportunities and Threats
Recommendations
Here is our agenda for tonight’s presentation. We will start with why we actually did this project and how we went about it. Then we will talk about our focus groups, surveys, and the supporting data that goes along. And finally we will talk about our SWOT Analysis and how we developed recommendations.

3. Purpose Build new strategies for Vail Resorts regarding:
To help Vail Resorts market itself to new graduates
To create effective means of attracting and retaining talented employees
The purpose of our project is to position Vail Resorts as an attractive employer to new college graduates. Our objective was to craft strategies to better enable the Company to attract and retain talented young employees.

4. Approach Create relevant topics Administer focus groups
Distribute survey
Client interviews
Secondary research
Data interpretation
SWOT Analysis
Final Recommendations
We started by creating relevant topics to develop a focus group outline. After summarizing the results of the focus groups, we were able to narrow our survey questions and distribute the surveys to graduating seniors. Simultaneously, we interviewed recently hired Vail associates to discover the process by which they obtained their jobs. We also interview the HR team to develop an insight as to what Vail does today. Following this, all members of our group conducted secondary research on best practices of other companies. Finally, after interpreting the data we constructed a SWOT analysis and developed final recommendations.

5. Focus Groups/Surveys Focus Groups Surveys Interests
Prospective Companies
Navigation Process
Vail Resorts
Surveys
Background and Career Goals
Perceptions and Considerations of Vail
Our focus groups consisted of small, select groups of graduating seniors. To understand their backgrounds and types of jobs they were hoping to find, we asked questions about their interests and what companies they considered as prospects. We discussed their means of navigation that they are using to find these jobs. We then talked about what the students actually know about Vail and its operations.
In our surveys we asked questions that aimed at gaining information of their backgrounds and career goals. And then we asked them about their perceptions and considerations of Vail.

6. Primary Strengths and Weaknesses
Recruits People From All Majors
Provides Opportunity For Advancement/Hires From Within
Green Company
Weaknesses
Perception of Having to Live in Vail
Limited Knowledge of Vail Operations
We do not have time to discuss our entire SWOT analysis, so we will only list a few. The first strength we found was that Vail recruits people from all majors. Two recently hired Vail associates said that their course work did not specifically apply to their current positions. Opportunity for professional growth is a second strength. This was rated most important by 54% in our survey of graduating seniors. A member of HR staff said Vail really hires from within and encourages employees to move up. Another strength is that they are a Green company. “Vail Resorts off sets 100% energy use with wind-power credits.” Moving on to weaknesses. There is a misconception that you have to live in Vail to work for Vail. Of the 67% who said they would not work at Vail, 17.6% responded that working for Vail was too far away. The second weakness we found is that people are also not aware of Vail operations. As the graph shows, one third of respondents were only familiar with Vail as a ski resort, and another third had limited or no knowledge of company operations. More awareness is a necessity to Vail Resorts.

7. Opportunity for Professional Growth
REED

8. Primary Strengths and Weaknesses
Recruits People From All Majors
Provides Opportunity For Advancement/Hires From Within
Green Company
Weaknesses
Perception of Having to Live in Vail
Limited Knowledge of Vail Operations
We do not have time to discuss our entire SWOT analysis, so we will only list a few. The first strength we found was that Vail recruits people from all majors. Two recently hired Vail associates said that their course work did not specifically apply to their current positions. Opportunity for professional growth is a second strength. As the graph shows, this was rated most important by 54% in our survey of graduating seniors. A member of HR staff said Vail really hires from within and encourages employees to move up. Another strength is that they are a Green company. “Vail Resorts off sets 100% energy use with wind-power credits.” Moving on to weaknesses. There is a misconception that you have to live in Vail to work for Vail. Of the 67% who said they would not work at Vail, 17.6% responded that working for Vail was too far away. The second weakness we found is that people are also not aware of Vail operations. As the graph shows, one third of respondents were only familiar with Vail as a ski resort, and another third had limited or no knowledge of company operations. More awareness is a necessity to Vail Resorts. And finally we found through focus groups that the students are frustrated with the length and level of involvement of the application process.

9. Vail Resorts Familiarity

10. Primary Opportunities and Threats
Corporate Internship Program
Utilize Communications Methods
Threats
Limited Knowledge of Job Availability
Other Companies Recruit on Campus
An opportunity for Vail Resorts is to create a corporate internship program that will enable Vail to hire talented employees that have knowledge about Vail’s culture and expectations. As you can see in the graph, roughly 50% of the respondents said they use internships very often or often. Another top opportunity is to better utilize communication methods with the students. The best way to reach students is through CSO which is used by 35 out of about 90 students and Career connections which about 35 out of about 100 students use.
As for potential threats, there is limited knowledge of job availability among students. Of those who said they wouldn’t work at Vail roughly 10% said they did not have enough information about Vail Resorts’ job openings. Secondly, other companies recruit on campus. Doing this is very beneficial to Enterprise Rent-A-Car that has new hires visit students to tell their own recruitment stories and showcase possibilities for advancement, and also Google built a program that allows “continuous presence” on campus which we will talk about in just a minute.

11. Use of Internships

12. Primary Opportunities and Threats
Corporate Internship Program
Utilize Communications Methods
Threats
Limited Knowledge of Job Availability
Other Companies Recruit on Campus
Bad Economy
An opportunity for Vail Resorts is to create a corporate internship program that will enable Vail to hire talented employees that have knowledge about Vail’s culture and expectations. As you can see in the graph, roughly 50% of the respondents said they use internships very often or often. Another top opportunity is to better utilize communication methods with the students. The best way to reach students is through CSO which is used by 35 out of about 90 students and Career connections which about 35 out of about 100 students use.
As for potential threats, there is limited knowledge of job availability among students. Of those who said they wouldn’t work at Vail roughly 10% said they did not have enough information about Vail Resorts’ job openings. Secondly, other companies recruit on campus. Doing this is very beneficial to Enterprise Rent-A-Car that has new hires visit students to tell their own recruitment stories and showcase possibilities for advancement, and also Google built a program that allows “continuous presence” on campus which we will talk about in just a minute. The bad economy has also had an impact on Vail. From the start of the season through Jan. 6, total skier visits were off 5.8% compared to the same period last year. The CEO is taking a 15% pay cut in 2010 and his employees will end up with a 2.5% - 10% pay cut depending on earnings.

13. Recommendations Develop an On-Campus Ambassador Program
Create Corporate Internship Program
Highlight Entry-Level Section on Website
More presence from Vail Recruiters
We would like to recommend an on-campus ambassador program similar to Google’s where Vail would recruit students to have a “continuous presence” on campus . These students are responsible for planning events and answering questions at any time.
Secondly, we would like to restructure the internship program where students are able to intern for Vail Resorts once or twice a week during their junior and/or senior year or participate in a summer internship program.
Next we would like Vail Resorts to highlight a section dedicated to entry-level jobs. Qualcomm does something similar to this by creating a link that goes directly to the entry-level jobs available for graduating seniors.
And finally, we would like to see more presence from Vail recruiters on campus at Career Fairs, as guest speakers, as facilitators at workshops and mock interviews. We also recommend that they continue their current interaction with the Leeds School of business offering projects such as this one.

14. Questions???