Fast food and retail businesses live and die by their frontline hourly workforce. But with rising turnover and a shrinking labor pool, hiring enough staff with the right skills is tougher than ever. This article will explore proactive talent attraction strategies beyond just posting jobs that will entice qualified applicants.
Spotlight Your Employee Value Proposition
Begin by identifying the key pillars of your employee value proposition. What makes working for your establishment appealing compared to competitors? Possible differentiators could include above-average pay, flexible scheduling, advancement opportunities, family-like culture, discounts, etc.
Design the entire candidate experience by highlighting your differentiators in mind. Train to hire managers to communicate your unique strengths repeatedly throughout the process. Use employee testimonials that validate your value proposition.
Creating intrigue and interest in why your company is a great place to work is critical to talent attraction.
Highlight Growth Opportunities
Especially for younger hourly workers, visible paths for professional growth and promotion are key motivators. Bring potential for advancement to life in your external recruitment marketing.
For example, fast food chains could showcase stories of crew members who worked their way up to management or corporate positions. Retail stores can feature supervisors who started as seasonal cashiers back in high school.
This communicates you support employees building long-term careers, not just transitional roles. Conveying these real examples also strengthens your employer’s brand.
Leverage Referrals
Nothing convinces top talent to apply like an endorsement from current employees. But simply waiting for referrals to happen organically often leads to missed potential.
Consider launching a formal employee referral program with incentives for recommending candidates that get hired and stay on successfully. Require submitting referrals through a specific channel to allow tracking.
Promote open roles on internal collaboration tools and social channels. Enable employees to easily share job posts externally. The more proactive you are internally, the more referrals you generate.
Candidate-Friendly Application Process
Even the most qualified individuals will be deterred by a lengthy and cumbersome application process. Begin by ensuring mobile friendliness and optimized load speeds for your careers site and application.
Limit the application to essential info only. Cut any duplication in questions across forms. Provide the option to import profiles from LinkedIn or upload resumes to auto-populate details.
If resumes aren’t required, clearly state so upfront. Implement user-friendly digital tools for video interviews, skills testing, and scheduling that integrate seamlessly.
Removing the ” apply now friction will increase the conversion of interested candidates into completed applicants.
Ongoing Community Outreach
Remaining visible and building connections across your local community also strengthens talent pipelines long-term.
Partner with nearby high schools, trade schools, community colleges, and workforce development agencies. Attend local job fairs to meet candidates face-to-face.
Let neighborhood civic and social organizations know you welcome volunteers or speakers at relevant events. Support local charities through donations, drives, and volunteer days.
The more that residents see your business positively engaged in the community, the more compelled quality candidates will be to explore job opportunities.
Curating an Authentic Employer Brand
One critical but often overlooked aspect of talent attraction is developing a compelling employer brand. This goes beyond touting benefits and perks.
It involves articulating your company values, culture, and mission in a way that resonates with top candidates on a deeper level. Why does your business exist beyond making a profit? What principles guide your leadership and staff?
Share stories of employees being empowered to make a difference, from sustainability initiatives to volunteering events they orchestrated. Feature employee spotlights on social media that humanize your culture.
Candidates, especially younger ones, want to work for brands whose ethos aligns with their own values. Curating an authentic employer brand allows you to connect with talent on that level.
Monitoring and Optimizing Outcomes
To know which of your talent attraction strategies deliver the best return, meticulous monitoring is required. Track applicant traffic sources, engagement metrics on job posts, and new hire references.
See which specific channels—job boards, social posts, referrals, events—that top applicants are coming from. Double down on the sources producing the highest quality candidates.
Regularly gather candidate feedback on their job search experience and application process. Continuously optimize based on that input so you improve conversion rates over time.
Hiring Automation with Chattr
Executing a stellar talent attraction strategy takes significant resource investment. Chattr offers powerful recruitment automation to streamline your efforts.
With Chattr, you can instantly distribute job posts across multiple channels from one centralized platform. Chattr chatbots even engage candidates over text and email.
Automated candidate communication removes manual messaging and calling. User-friendly apply now links drive applicant conversion rates.
Chattr syncs with your ATS so all candidate data flows seamlessly into one system. Automated reminders reduce no-shows and keep candidates informed.
Advanced analytics provide data-driven insights so you can optimize attraction strategies for maximum ROI. Sign up for a demo today to experience how Chattr transforms hiring.
