Desperate for applicants

System

I am desperate for some creative recruiting methods. We are a company of 13 gourmet full service pizza restaurants. Newspaper classified ads just aren't cutting it. Any suggestions?

Paul in Cannon Beach

Can you be a little more specific as to what kind of applicants you are looking for?

Trained cooks? Delivery drivers? Counter help? What kind of experience is needed?

The type of applicant you are looking for would determine the best recruiting method. We hire ninety summer staff who are mostly college age young people.

I have found that recruiting online has been very succesful. Most colleges have job boards or employment opportunity listings on their websites. Most will let you post for free.

Consider hosting a free pizza party for anyone interested in job opportunities with your organization. You will get a few freeloaders but you may also generate some good applicants.

Contact your local workforce training organization if you have one. Let them know of your needs.

Don't over look older workers or the semi-retired. As the boomers retire, there are alot of folks available who could work part-time if they enjoy the work and feel appreciated.

Contact your local churches. They often know who just lost a job or who is looking for work.

Consider posting your job opportunities on popular websites like [url]www.craigslist.com[/url]

Offer a $100 referral bonus to any current employee who refers a friend that gets hired and works for six months or more.

Make sure your employment opportunities are clearly posted (along with the benefits) in each of your 13 locations.

Got a website? List your jobs there.

Good luck!

HRCalico

Paul has given you some GREAT ideas (WOW, Paul!) - the only thing I can add is radio ads. We have used them because we're looking for very good people (who isn't?) and many of our target population already has a job and may not be looking in the want ads or actively seeking a job. So this is a way of getting in front of them.

Love the pizza party idea.

C Wilson

Look at local Technical Schools that offer work study interships. We fill several positions each year in our kitchen and grill areas by offering paid interships. These postions are any where from cook to entry level manager. Students who are career minded jump at the opportunity to earn money while earning school credits. I have found that the students school schedule are usually easy enough work around. Also make use all the local college career centers. If there are any local free publications like "About Town" that you find in almost every restuarant, you can run a half page ad for what a small colum ad would cost in the newspaper and in my area and I have found it to generate the most applicants for the 3 restuarants that I staff, as well as other deparments. Also, know what your competition is paying, if it is your budget run ads listing the hourly wage of just a little more. I utilize internet recruiting with Careerbuilder or localjobs.com., Job Service, and I have established a good working relationship with a temp agency that can send me people in an emergency. Are there any job fairs happening in the area that you could participate in? If not host your own. Good luck. I hope this helps.

Wildsporty

Job service has worked well for me. They have an online site called Jobs America.

Also Job fairs are good places to find jobs.

You could also go to the high schools and talk to the seniors.

Shirley

aliciac

We offer a $100.00 instant referral bonus and then $250.00 after the referred employee reaches 6 months of employment and another $250.00 at the 1 year mark. Seems to work well for getting and keeping good employees.

Online also works well for us, both monster.com and craigslist

(that pizza party idea is super fun!)

WT

Have you used some of the temp agencies? They have already done the recruiting and screening. Generally, they will let you convert their employees to your payroll for some sort of financial consideration.

Brother Bluto

You might want to do some research on what your competition is offering. Are you offering a competitive wage and/or flexible hours? If you're advertising that you need gourmet chefs but you're only paying $7.00 an hour, you'll never find good employees. If you're advertising full time employment and you go to the college to recruit, you probably won't get a lot of takers as most of the students are full time students that need part-time employment. Is the resturant business saturated in your area? Is your hiring criteria too strict?
Have you gone to any street fairs, food festivals, or expose and searched for employees there?

System

one of the companies we own is a temp agency - so I always like to see that as a recommendation for finding recruits; it does work. Other ideas include putting up small signsaround town, near area community colleges or busy intersections (similar to the ones politicians use around election time) indicating you are hiring and if the pay is good, include starting pay or expected earning potential. You could also offer hiring bonuses of say, $25 or $50 for anyone you hire who makes it past 30 days of employment.