2013 Game Changer: Marc Viola

Marc Viola’s career certainly could not be labeled: “Canada dry.” Instead, he has overseen a lot of exciting changes during his tenure.

Viola, 36, took over five years ago at the then-newly created role of senior director of talent acquisition at grocery retailer Loblaw Cos., which is known for its President’s Choice products, such as chocolate-chip cookies and club soda.

At that time he helped establish the company’s first centralized recruiting team, and he heads up 24 recruiters and coordinators. Impressively, 20 members of his team have been promoted to senior-level positions since he began his current role.

Susan Lloyd, senior director of talent at Loblaw, reports on Viola’s Game Changer application that jobs are filled 31 percent quicker than the national average under Viola’s leadership, and that the average cost per hire is 9 percent below retail average and 21 percent below the industry average.

“Marc manages large-scale projects and implemented the first national assessment pilot for store hiring as well as the first criminal history check program at Loblaw,” she adds.

Since 2008, Viola’s group has hired 7,000 people, and he has turned to social media to help with recruiting, employing tools like Twitter, LinkedIn’s InMail system and Facebook.

Besides being named a Workforce Game Changer, Viola has also been given a Generation Next award from Canadian Grocer magazine and a Silver Star from Enactus Canada, a Canadian entrepreneurial organization.

James Tehrani is Workforce’s assistant managing editor. Comment below or email editors@workforce.com. Follow Tehrani on Twitter at @WorkforceJames.