Opinion: Marriott in search for "food ambassadors" - a clever act

If you are a huge foodie, this job is probably for you - Marriott International is now on the hunt for "foodie ambassadors".And for sure there are more duties to fulfil. According to its LinkedIn post, the new food ambassador will work at some of the group's 2,500 restaurant and bars across 24 countries in Asia Pacific, including cocktail bars, Chinese restaurants and Michelin Starred fine dining restaurants, and take charge of creating, innovating and elevating its food experience - which sounds like a dream job to any food lover.Marriott is also keen for the Foodie Ambassador to take on the role of building strong relationship with customers, as well as grooming talent for the company.A sneak peek over its requirements will see the group looking for people that are guest-oriented, with strong organisation, communication and creative story telling skills, as well as have strong understanding of social media platforms.The recruitment is part of LinkedIn's "job of the week campaign" to highlight interesting opportunities on the platform.As a matter of fact, more unconventional, cool jobs have been surfacing, especially on digital platforms these past few years. Another announcement in early November 2017, for example, sees travelling startup Klook recruiting two management trainees which will be offered unlimited period of leave, and be encouraged to go travelling every year. (Read more: Klook kicks off aggressive marketing campaign with new funding)The trend is partly to do with an increasing business demand to deliver engaging experiences, especially those in the hospitality and F&B sector. As customers become more demanding about what they want, marketers have been looking for ways to develop more experience-focused strategies. Marriott, for example, has launched their own M-live studio to do social-listening in real-time, just to engage their audience.The evolution itself has been here for a while, but the need for talent to help with the experience-led transformation is finally getting reflected in recruitment.The act of recruiting unconventional jobs itself is a powerful marketing strategy.There's something way beyond talent recruitment too. As you can guess, the act of recruiting unconventional jobs itself is a powerful marketing strategy. Recruitment has always been a form of marketing, and there's no single way to reach everyone in town, even if they're searching for you, so announcing one job that seems too good to be true is a great way to get noticed.By recruiting two management trainees, and with a budget of probably no more than 50k per month, the company itself often becomes the talk of the town, its branding very much associated with "innovative" and "open".With the help of social media, this recruitment news always go much more viral than you would expect.Look at Marriott now, and the organic exposures it has won on LinkedIn and media (like Marketing). For companies who are looking for more marketing talents to engage customers, a small tweak on your job description might provide a happy surprise.