Recruiting

A priority at REI is to attract and engage a talented workforce that reflects the diversity of our communities. In 2006 we began moving REI's hiring functions from a staffing model to a recruitment-oriented organization. In 2007 we made major organizational investments by hiring a director-level leader to oversee recruitment and adding two field-based recruitment positions to support management hiring in local markets.

Our vision of talent management and recruiting is to "fuel the longevity and success of REI as a premier recruiting organization known for driving talent strategies and inspiring a recruiting culture." Six aspirations guide our efforts:

• Build a best-in-class recruiting team
• Create an REI recruiting culture
• Leverage our employment brand to better communicate that REI is a great place to work
• Implement strategic sourcing methods that enable REI to proactively build a pipeline of candidates representing the diversity of our communities. Techniques include employee referrals, cold calls, internet recruiting networking and outreach
• Identify internal and external talent through a talent management strategy
• Develop integrated talent management systems to recruit and track talent effectively. Deploy and communicate with that pipeline of talent

Additionally, in the coming year we will enhance our recruiting process by implementing a new enterprise-wide applicant tracking and on-boarding system to enable us to have full access to all available candidates, and improve the efficiency of our hiring processes.