5 Reasons Restaurants are Turning to Text Messaging to Interview Job Candidates

Many restaurants today are speeding up the seating process and improving the customer experience by texting guests when their tables are ready. Now, more restaurants are continuing this communication convenience by turning to text messaging for screening job candidates.

Gen Z and the millennial generation are taking over the workforce, as the median age of workers in food services and drinking places is just 29. Text-based communications can help restaurants speed up the interview process with an on-the-go, technology-obsessed talent generation.

This new technology is helping hiring professionals in the restaurant industry screen more job candidates and hire faster during seasonal rushes. This is especially important as 59% of restaurant operators cite staffing as a top challenge.

Check out the following reasons why restaurants are turning to text messaging to interview their job candidates.

Meet Today’s Workforce Where They Are

An estimated 50 million millennials are joining the workforce in the next decade, and a large percentage of those millennials are searching for jobs in the restaurant industry. A 2014 Gallup poll indicated 68 percent of millennials send or receive a text every day, while only 50 percent make or receive a phone call on their cell phone. Your future employees are turning their attention to their keyboard, so it is crucial to adapt.

A survey from Yello found that 86 percent of millennials "feel positively about text messages being used during the interview process." Plus, research has shown that Generation Z prefers texting to all other forms of communication, including messaging apps and meeting in-person.

By meeting today’s restaurant industry workforce where they are, candidates are not only reached effectively, but being left with a positive impression of their potential employers. In addition to being millennials’ preferred method of communication, texting is the simplest way to stay in touch with applicants, showing them your restaurant is committed to the candidate experience.  

Reduce Candidate Bias in Screening

Texting helps to combat biased decisions in the hiring process. With options to deidentify candidate chat transcripts and resumes, communicating via text allows for opportunities to reduce bias in the hiring process.

This anonymity allows managers to solely focus on the candidate’s qualifications and lets their experience speak for itself, promotes candidate diversity, and establishes your restaurant as one that hires honestly.

Bring in the Best Candidates

Managers often spend countless hours reaching out to and following up with applicants who may no longer be interested in or were never qualified for the position.

By screening candidates via text message, managers can not only reach three to five times more candidates each day but connect to the best people for the job. Engaging candidates through text messages first helps narrow the candidate pool and allows managers to invest their second and third interviews, whether it be over the phone or in-person, with the right candidates for the job.

Speeds Up Hiring Decisions

The job interview process is getting longer. The average overall job interview process in the U.S. today takes 22.9 days, compared to 12.5 days just seven years ago, according to Glassdoor Economic Research. In the restaurant industry, speed is critical, particularly with higher employee turnover rates. According to The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, the restaurant employee turnover rate in 2016 surpassed a whopping 70%.

Texting can help solve this issue. A job candidate can respond in less than one minute without disrupting their day. It’s fast, clear, and doesn’t pull the candidate away from current work. With robust recruiting platforms, the average time to screen a candidate is just 4.4 minutes. Additionally, a manager who typically conducts four to six phone screens per day can reach 10 times that volume using a text-based recruiting platform. 

Impress Candidates with a Seamless Experience 

Utilizing a text-based interviewing platform not only looks better, but works better, especially in the restaurant and hospitality industry. Being able to access a candidate’s profile and responses in one app can streamline the recruitment process for managers by allowing them to easily organize and analyze candidates.

Text-based interviewing can open up new, clearer processes for both applicants and managers. Restaurants can send culture videos, menus, HR docs, link to forms, and get to the in-person interviews faster, all in one space.

 Hiring methods are rapidly shifting and require a modern, multi-channel approach to candidate engagement in order to stay top of mind. The restaurant hiring process is changing, and it might be time to answer its call text.