Foundation document for the Interactive Workshop held during TalentNet Interactive at SXSW in Austin, March 2013. Participants used the 24 Hour Fitness program as a working "case study" to learn how to improve social recruiting & employer branding through: 1) Messaging 2) Social Platforms 3) Sourcing Over the course of 4.5 hours, 24 Hour Fitness received marketing research suggestions for the improvement of their Social Recruiting program by nearly 100 practitioners & industry leaders. Participants received not only the same suggestions, but templates of the audit documents & step-by-step instructions on how to build the business case for program improvement to take back to their own organizations. This was the first of what will be an ongoing workshop offered for organizations looking to improve their programs & conferences that want to offer hands-on, cutting edge material to their attendees. For more information, please contact crystal@brandedstrategies.com

2. We appreciate your involvement
and support in today’s
#TalentNet event! On behalf of
our case study sponsors
24 Hour Fitness and SHRM,
a very warm welcome and
thank you!
Sincerely,
The #TalentNet Team
Craig Fisher (@fishdogs)
Matt Charney (@mattcharney)
Crystal Miller (@theonecrystal)
24 Hour Fitness Team
Mark Foley (@fmarksthespot)
Lance Sapera (@LSap3pc)
Welcome to the 3rd Annual TalentNet Live conference event during Austin
Interactive. The TalentNet team has worked hard in concert with our
sponsor partners to put on what is a very different learning event for our
industry: TalentNet Interactive - a “living case study” excersise to be
conducted through hands-on workshop sessions. These workshop sessions
will be held as a track option in addition to the valuable general learning
sessions on pertinent industry topics that TalentNet conference attendees
have enjoyed over the years.
The workshop will begin with a brief overview of 24 Hour Fitness’ talent
function and interview with Director of Talent Acquisition, Lance Sapera.
In the weeks leading up to the conference, TalentNet team members have
worked in concert with 24 Hour Fitness
leadership to conduct a brand, culture,
and recruiting audit of their programs.
After the overview session, attendees
will participate in three sessions
acting as “focus groups” exploring how to
improve 24 Hour Fitness’ talent program
through:
1. brand story & messaging/content
2. social media platforms
3. candidate pipelining and engagement
At the conclusion of each session,
recommendations will be recorded by
the session facilitator. Following the
conclusion of all three sessions, track
participants will reconvene to present
recommendations & obtain first
impression feedback from Lance.
Templates are provided in workshop
workbooks for attendee use.

3. Overview –
For the last 20 years, 24 Hour Fitness has worked to bring value to over 3.5million members across
400+ clubs nationwide through fitness. The execution of this mission to“improve the lives of others
through fitness”makes each of the team members that work for the company part of something that’s
bigger than just themselves, their individual roles.
Until recently, 24 Hour Fitness had a limited online presence with very little employment brand
presence. The roughly 3,000 positions that were open and candidates being recruited for were largely
managed through job boards and club-level recruiting. Upon reviewing their recruiting process,
24 Hour Fitness identified several areas of concern that were affecting both their brand and recruiting
program:
1. An inadequate applicant flow of candidates who
match company culture requirements of commitment to
fitness & healthy lifestyle.
2. 25 years of poor perception from previous/
outdated practices such as high-pressure sales from
commissioned sales people.
3. Fragmented brand messaging & recruitment
processes due to recruiting disconnect between
corporate and club levels.
4. Employer reputation issue that club level
employees were not adequately supported or prepared
for their career by corporate.
5. Perceived lack of internal mobility
6. Poor compensation leveling and structure,
impacting candidate flow in certain highly-competitive
talent segments (i.e. tech, cash-driven commission sales)
7. Significant levels of negative reviews on sites such
as Indeed and Glassdoor (where the company has
invested in a branding presence)

4. 24 Hour Fitness: Current Talent Attraction Strategy
Leadership not only took measures to address the issues impacting their employer reputation, but
determined that a more deliberate focus on culture creation, employment branding, and social
recruiting was needed. In an effort to improve their online footprint, 24 Hour Fitness created a
strategy centered around their .jobs career portal and SEO footprint, with the help of the Direct
Employers Association. The strategy includes 15 microsites to address regional recruiting &
specialized recruiting needs such as college, diversity, and military hiring. As a result, 24 Hour
Fitness has seen a 661% improvement in Google Indexing (see graph) since April of 2011, with growth
from 2% to a 25% conversion rate from visitors to actively clicking to begin the apply process.
24 Hour Fitness also created a talent network, Careers Facebook page and career site leveraging SAP’s
Jobs2Web platform. In the first 4 months, they gained 105k talent network members. Finally, they are
in the process of creating a focused careers strategy for Twitter, utilizing the Company-created hashtag,
#24HRFitness, and tweeting from their consumer account via their corporate Social Media Team.

5. Benefits Overview: Brand Perceptions
Perhaps the strongest benefit and aspect of 24 Hour Fitness’strategy is their brand promise
alignment with employees. 24 Hour Fitness has been extremely deliberate in educating both
consumers and employees on their mission/promises and then“living out”those values.
Both current and former employees consistently reflect on this delivery as a reported positive
aspect of employment. This is a strong, underlying factor of their reported employee engagement
levels of 86% - significantly above the industry average.
24 HOUR FITNESS BRAND STRATEGY:
Maintain values alignment through shared consumer and
employment vision. One story, One Voice.
24 HOUR FITNESS BRAND STORY:
Primary Vision: “Our team members are dedicated to improving lives through fitness.”
Secondary Vision: “More than a career… part of something bigger than ourselves.”
Perceived Primary Brand Personality Traits:
Passionate, Service, Teamwork, Community, Opportunity

6. 24 Hour Fitness Brand Positioning Statement:
More than a career:
- A passion: We improve lives every day by helping our members succeed in fitness.
- A community: We work and play as a team to create an exceptional experience for all.
- A lifestyle: We make fitness a way of life, for ourselves and the people we inspire.

7. Benefits: Culture Branding
Employees are screened for and expected to maintain a passion about improving lives through
fitness – and must firmly believe in that mission as an essential element of both 24 Hour Fitness
corporate culture and hiring criteria. Enthusiasm about fitness and a healthy lifestyle, passion
about great customer service and helping them on a fitness journey is engrained into the
Company DNA.
The company provides every employee with a complimentary gym membership, pays for the
recertification of personal trainer employees, and has expanded onboarding training for
personal trainers to eight weeks to help ensure employees are properly trained to know and
share fitness best practices with club members.
Recently, select employees from both club and corporate levels were used for recruitment
marketing videos that have been integrated into branding efforts and are visible on 24 Hour
Fitness’ careers sites and YouTube channel.
One of 24 Hour Fitness’ primary selling points is the enthusiasm of employees for their work
and its fitness-driven mission. Periodic employee engagement surveys have shown internal
engagement at 84-86%, well above industry benchmarks.
Within its category, 24 Hour Fitness enjoys the highest sentiment of employee reviews on
employee review websites, specifically Glassdoor.com, where the company has made a
significant branding effort.

8. According to Glassdoor, when current and former employees are asked whether or not they’d
recommend working at each respective organization to their friends, almost 50% of
respondents for 24 Hour Fitness responded yes, compared with only 32% at LA Fitness,
and 28% at Lifetime Fitness, two of their primary competitors.
Additionally, CEO Carl C. Liebert III enjoys a 64% approval rating, compared to 23% for his
counterpart at LA Fitness or 43% for the CEO of Lifetime Fitness.

9. Recruiting Program:
Organizational Structure:
Under the leadership of Chief People Officer and Corporate EVP Mark Foley, 24 Hour Fitness’
dedicated talent acquisition team consists of one Director (Lance Sapera), and two in-house
recruiters who handle corporate requisitions for:
1. San Ramon headquarters
2. Technology group based in Carlsbad, California,
3. Field positions at the General Manager level or higher.
Typically, these recruiters are actively managing 18-20 open requisitions. Despite many
hard-to-fill roles such as IT and finance staff, there is almost no usage of third party agencies or
search firms, and limited investment in traditional job boards such as CareerBuilder or Monster.
24 Hour Fitness does utilize the use of LinkedIn and Dice for technology postings as needed.
For exempt positions at the department manager level or lower and all non-exempt roles such as
personal trainer, recruitment and hiring is the responsibility of the General Manager at each
respective club.
The in-house recruitment team is responsible for driving applicants to the club level for review
through the use of Brassring’s Talent Scout Product. The General Manager at each club can
access this ATS to view relevant resumes for their location and oversees screening, selection
and hiring at the local level.
Microsites:
The recruiting program maintains 15 microsites to help with optimizing online presence, SEO, &
driving applicant flow through the .jobs initiative created by the Direct Employers’ Association
(DEA):
All candidates receive an automated response upon receipt of application acknowledging their
candidacy and offering them a link to sign up for a free trial membership, an effort that’s
designed specifically to improve candidate experience while aligning employer and consumer
brands.

10. Referral Program:
Although their hiring function is extremely lean, 24 Hour Fitness does not have a formalized
employee referral program – primarily because for the vast majority of their volume hiring
(front desk receptionists, service representatives, etc.), they do not have the internal capacity to
support the candidate experience and personal touch 24 Hour Fitness believes is necessary to
maintain a successful program. Referrals are accepted on an individual basis.
Recruitment Advertising:
24 Hour Fitness’ core career site is built on Jobs2Web; for corporate or GM positions, recruiters
initiate a kick-off meeting with the hiring manager to capture key requirements and build a job
description which is optimized for search engines through keyword targeting, organically driving
candidates with relevant experience and skills directly to the primary 24 Hour Fitness Careers
Site (http://careers.24hourfitness.com/).
Once a position is created, it is automatically posted to their Careers site via the Jobs2Web
platform, as well as relevant microsites. These position descriptions are also scraped by
aggregators such as Indeed, SimplyHired and Glassdoor. 24 Hour Fitness has invested in
building enhanced, branded profiles on both Glassdoor and LinkedIn, as well as specialized job
boards such as Dice for specific hiring needs such as technical and accounting professionals.
Social Recruiting Program:
24 Hour Fitness’ consumer Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/24hourfitness) has a
dedicated careers tab, exposing job opportunities to an active community of approximately
225,000 fans:

11. Social Recruiting Program:
24 Hour Fitness Social Sites:
Twitter: http://twitter.com/24hourfitness
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/24hourfitness
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/24-hour-fitness
Fitness Community: http://community.24hourfitness.com/
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/24HourFitnessInc
Foursquare: https://foursquare.com/24hourfitness
Instagram: http://instagram.com/24hourfitness/
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/24hourfitness/

12. Appendix A: Sample Job Description
Job Description: Sr Java Web Developer
24 Hour Fitness is a leading health club industry pioneer, serving nearly four million members in
more than 400 clubs across the U.S. Throughout our 30+ year history, we've held fast to our
mission of helping people improve their lives through fitness. Join our energetic team and deliver
high-quality software applications while enjoying what you do.
We are looking for an energetic and team focused Java developer with experience in website
design to join our team, using technology to reach potential customers and give a competitive
advantage to our team members. This is an exciting opportunity to develop for multiple platforms,
both mobile and desktop, that will reach consumers both internally as well as externally through
our corporate website.
Responsibilities
Senior Java Web Developer will design and develop new features and applications supporting
the sale of memberships and ancillary services. You will play a critical role in the design,
implementation and delivery of the application releases. You will work on projects with cross-
functional teams building new applications and creating new features.
Core job functions include:
· Develop, design, and troubleshoot new and existing Java-based applications
· Design and develop reusable components/services using industry standard design patterns to
access business data
· Create necessary technical design documents based on functional requirements from the
Business Analyst
· Create prototypes and mock-ups, and translating those into working applications
· Review and approve code solutions and deployment instructions provided by other team
members to ensure adherence to standards and to validate quality
· Provide both technical and leadership direction to less experienced teammates and resolves
issues at the lowest possible level and escalates when appropriate
Required Skills
· 6 or more years of development experience with Java enterprise applications (JEE)
· Java experience in web application environment required; JSP, JavaScript, jQuery, HTML, and
Web Services
· Knowledge of object oriented design principles
· Knowledge of UML
· Frameworks including Spring and Hibernate (or other ORM)
· PL/SQL and Oracle database development knowledge
· Knowledge of Adobe Flex a plus
· Strong debugging and problem solving skills; analytical skills
· Excellent communication skills
· Leadership skills: ability to lead a team to accomplish goals and mentor others
Keywords
Java, Spring, Hibernate, Web Services, Oracle, JSP, JavaScript, jQuery, HTML, San Diego

14. To leverage the considerable work that 24 Hour Fitness has made into creating a
cohesive, authentic brand story that resonates with both its consumers & employees to create a
scalable and sustainable recruitment marketing & social recruiting programs that positions 24 Hour
Fitness as the employer of choice within the fitness industry at both the corporate and individual club
level.
This strategy should support 24 Hour Fitness’long term talent objectives of expanding and diversifying
24 Hour’s Candidate Pipeline as well as developing passive candidates and brand advocates with
in-demand experience and skills in a highly competitive industry and marketplace.
You will work in teams to develop a strategic employer brand and interactive recruiting framework to
be delivered to Lance Sapera, Director of Talent Acquisition for 24 Hour Fitness. Your recommendations
should include how to develop, launch, manage and sustain a comprehensive talent acquisition
strategy for candidates across functions, levels, titles and geographies.
When developing your recommendations, please note:
1. The maximum budget allocated by 24 Hour
Fitness for these initiatives is $5,000/yr. All strategies
must fit within these budget parameters.
2. 24 Hour Fitness’talent function is lean, composed
of one Director and two in-house recruiters; all strategies
must not take more than 10 hours a week to implement
/ integrate into current workload due to these resource
limitations.
You will work with teams to develop a strategic employer
brand and interactive recruiting recommendations that
at the conclusion of the workshop will be presented to
Lance Sapera, Director of Talent Acquisition for 24 Hour
Fitness.
Your recommendations should include how to
develop, launch, manage and sustain a comprehensive
social talent attraction & acquisition strategy for
candidates across functions, levels, titles and
geographies.
After the conclusion of the conference, Lance and 24
Hour Fitness’executive leadership will review your
recommendations for potential implementation,
documenting and delivering feedback which will be
shared directly with conference attendees no later than
April 17, 2013, at the conclusion of the SHRM Talent
Management Conference.
The information on the preceding pages
provide the background information on 24
Hour Fitness’current talent acquisition
initiatives and recruitment strategy
necessary to answer the question:
How can 24 Hour Fitness position itself as
the top career destination within the
fitness industry to attract, hire, and retain
the best talent possible, while
ensuring a candidate experience which
makes even those applicants who are not
selected feel engaged and positive about
the 24 Hour Fitness consumer brand?
Lance and the entire TalentNet team are
here as resources to answer or address any
outstanding questions, concerns, feasibility
information or context you’ll need to
succeed in helping one of the world’s
leading consumer brands become one of
the world’s leading employment brands for
today – and tomorrow.