Gaylord Opryland's Approach to Recruiting in a Challenging Unemployment Market
Nashville, Tenn., is one of the fastest-growing U.S. cities with the lowest unemployment. With the additional growth of top companies moving into Middle Tennessee, including Amazon, recruiting talent requires innovative strategies. This session will highlight different recruiting and staffing strategies that Gaylord Opryland deploys to staff five separate businesses and recruit 400 seasonal STARS (employees).
Learning Objectives:
- Understand market dynamics and their impact on recruiting strategies.
- Learn how relationships with the community can be leveraged in your recruiting plan.
- Learn the key business strategies used to position Opryland as employer of choice.
- Learn how to deploy a recruiting plan to achieve target goals.
- Gain tips to more efficiently leverage your current workforce and drive retention.
Leah Owens
Leah Owens, Senior Director of Human Resource Operations for Gaylord Opryland Resort & Attractions. In her role, Leah is instrumental in recruitment, total compensation and wage planning, STAR relations and the execution of key objectives as outlined in the Resort’s HR Goals and total property business plan. Additionally, Leah also oversees analytical reporting for the HR team in order to identify key market trends for hiring and recruiting throughout middle Tennessee.
With more than 11 years’ experience in Human Resources, Leah began her career as a Human Resource Assistant at the Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark, and within a year, she was promoted to Human Resource Manager at the Doubletree Collinsville/St. Louis. In this role, Leah was responsible for overseeing all human resource functions for the property, including training, interviewing, implementing community events, managing benefits enrollment and more. From there, she moved to the Crowne Plaza St. Louis-Downtown where she was Director of Human Resources. In 2012, Leah returned to the Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark as Director of Human Resources and spent two and a half years in this position. Following this role, Leah relocated to Savannah, Georgia, where she became the Director of Human Resources at the Bohemian Hotel Savannah Riverfront.
Since 2016, Leah has been a part of the Gaylord Opryland family, joining the HR team as a Human Resource Business Partner. In this role, she assisted our Rooms and Engineering Divisions with all aspects of human resources, including employee relations, training, recruiting and retention initiatives, as well as employee engagement in both strategy and execution. In September 2017, Leah was promoted to Director of HR Operations and has been thrilled to grow her career with Gaylord Opryland and Marriott International.
Leah holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Management with an emphasis in Human Resources from Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri. Additionally, she is a 2018 graduate of the Marriott International ‘Emerging Leader Program’. When not in the office, she likes to travel, attend concerts and practice yoga. She also enjoys being creative, and in her spare time, she restores furniture, crafts and takes on a variety of home improvement projects.