Callumn Waites

Strategic lead for Marston's employer brand and talent attraction strategy and budget, owning the initial creation and on-going evolution of the People Promise. Delivering integrated data-led attraction strategies across operational and head office roles - partnering with senior leaders to position Marston's as an employer of choice within UK hospitality.

• Lead the end-to-end evolution of Marston's people promise and employer brand strategy, ensuring alignment with business strategy, values and priorities across a multi-site, UK wide business.
• Owned and delivered integrated talent attraction strategies across digital, social, paid media and offline channels - driving brand awareness, engagement and conversion across operational and HQ hiring needs.
• Acted as senior partner to stakeholders up to Executive level, influencing attraction priorities, advising on market dynamics and embedding employer brand thinking across wider people and business strategies.
• Identified career site performance challenges through data, insight and ROI analysis, building a robust business case that secured investment for a full career site rebuild - focusing on UX, ATS integration, SEO and conversion optimisation.
• Led agency partnerships across UX, ATS, CMS, media and creative, ensuring delivery against performance metrics, budget efficiency and long-term scalability.
• Held accountability for all external organic and paid attraction activity, optimising spend and channel mix to meet annual brand awareness and hiring demand targets.
• Developed and governed social media and external platform strategy across LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Indeed and Glassdoor - ensuring consistent employer brand presence and performance optimisation.
• Line managed and coached a Talent Attraction Partner, building capability in campaign planning, content strategy and data-led optimisation.
• Championed authentic storytelling and brand advocacy, enabling local teams and leaders to amplify real employee stories while maintaining brand consistency.
• Used performance data, audience insight, and market intelligence to continuously refine attraction approaches, improving candidate quality, "right-first-time" hiring, and overall ROI.

• New role: leading development and delivery of easyJet's Employer Value Proposition, successfully launching during a period of significant organisational and market disruption (Covid-19).
• Partnered closely with senior leaders, People teams, and Marketing to align employer brand activity with wider business and brand priorities across UK and Europe.
• Delivered high-volume recruitment and graduate attraction campaigns in-house for the first time - improving agility, reducing agency dependency and driving cost efficiencies as the business recovered post pandemic.
• Owned employer brand content strategy across social channels, using performance data and audience insight to optimise engagement and conversion.
• Introduced a structured EVP content calendar and quarterly performance dashboards, enabling data-led decision making across all employer brand platforms.
• Played a key role in repositioning easyJet's employer brand to reflect evolving culture, values and workforce needs.

• Led full-cycle recruitment delivery across c.1,200 Whitbread restaurant and hotel sites, supporting large-scale operational hiring at pace.
• Managed and developed a team of 6 Resourcing Partners, driving performance, capability uplift, and consistent delivery standards.
• Partnered with stakeholders managing 75-170 vacancies each, contracting 700-800 hires annually across core management roles.
• Designed and implemented attraction campaigns and recruitment approaches aligned to workforce plans and business priorities.
• Played an active role in internal employer branding initiatives, supporting EVP activation and attraction campaigns across multiple channels.
• Built strong relationships with operational leaders, influencing hiring decisions and improving candidate quality and time-to-hire.

• Managed performance and delivery of large, international teams across multiple global locations.
• Ensured a consistent, high-quality customer experience aligned to brand standards across all hotel concepts.
• Managed serious guest incidents, escalations and service recovery.
• Held accountability for end-to-end recruitment delivery, including high-volume assessment centres - meeting tight seasonal deadlines.
• Contributed to the introduction of video interviewing as a new screening method, improving candidate experience and hiring efficiency.
• Built strong relationships with cross-functional stakeholders to deliver operational excellence in fast-paced, customer-facing environments.