Article
QSR hiring via Twitter shows promise
The industry is learning how social media can broaden the management talent pool.
October 11, 2009
Over the last few weeks,Dunkin' Brands,Sonic Corp.andDel Tacohave each named new talent hires. And it's possible some of those initial connections took place on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook or even YouTube.
Historically, quick-service brands have posted management and hourly openings on their online job boards. Some also have followed other industries in posting openings on LinkedIn. In recent months, the growing popularity of Twitter as a professional communications tool has human resources professionals and job candidates alike using the site—as well as other social media—as a viable portal for recruiting.
Quick-service is behind other industries in using social media—and the Internet in general—as a means for recruiting. But brands like Burger King and Taco Bell are starting to see the value in leveraging those tools, mainly because traditional job boards don't offer the interactivity that sites like Twitter do.
"You can't just go post a job on a job board and hope you can find the most talented people for that position," said Shyam Patel, chief operating officer at People Report. "Social media gives the opportunity to not only talk about the positions that are available but to engage with people on a more personal level as to why this position is best and why they want to come and work for that company."
Patel said about 10 percent of QSR managers are recruited online—regardless of the means—compared to 25 percent in all other industries. Nearly 50 percent are internal hires, 13 percent are walk-ins, and a little more than 8 percent are referrals, according to People Report.
But QSRs would certainly benefit from doing more online recruiting, especially through social media, he said. Online recruiting, especially through social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, helps create an employment brand that demonstrates why the restaurant company is a great employer and workplace. As QSRs build their employment brand, they open themselves up to a new management talent pool.
"At the end of the day, this is about recruiting the best talent that we can find, and social media adds another outlet for us to be able do that."
Case for Twitter
Scott Rosenburg, managing partner for executive search firm Yellow Dog Recruiting, said that social media is an important component in relationship building—between the company and its clients as well as between clients and potential job candidates.
"There's absolutely a need for Twitter in recruiting," he said. "What this offers candidates is an opportunity to get themselves out here, and what it offers companies is an opportunity to do mass job postings for free."
Yellow Dog Recruiting, which specializes in hospitality and restaurant management and corporate searches, has come to depend on social media sites for its job postings as well as communicating and building relationships with candidates and clients.
The company began its social media efforts four years ago with LinkedIn and found it a successful tool for connecting candidates to its clients, Rosenburg said. A few years later, the company began using Facebook and Twitter, often interchangeably with LinkedIn, driving visitors from one portal to another.
Rosenburg said that socal media, especially Twitter, adds a new dimension to the recruiting process. Through Twitter, the company shares insight and information with its nearly 1,800 followers of@yellowdog_01daily, a much more immediate result than a weekly e-mail newsletter. And those posts are often re-tweeted, further expanding the firm's reach.
"In that respect, we're able to demonstrate the commitment that we have to our contacts," he said.
Branching into YouTube
In March, Yellow Dog Recruiting expanded its social media efforts to YouTube, inviting candidates to post 30-second video introductions on the site and post a link to it on the company's Web site.
While a few candidates have been too uncomfortable to create a video, restaurant recruiters appreciate the chance to get a sense of the candidate's personality, Rosenberg said.
"In our industry, image, energy, passion, enthusiasm are so important, sometimes even as important as (a candidate's) background and resume," he said. "The restaurant recruiters love to be able to see that before they invest their time or maybe their regional (representative's) time going on an interview."
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Whatever form of social media is used, it's a means Rosenberg only sees growing and developing in the coming years.
"This is where it's at now," he said. "Moving forward, when people are looking for a job, they're not going to think of going to old-fashioned job boards. It's cumbersome to go on there and for candidates to put up their information. Twitter is easier, it's more user friendly and easier to follow."
QSRs recruiting on Twitter
John Nykolaiszyn, senior recruiter for Burger King Corp., said that the company has used Twitter for its recruiting for only a few months but already is seeing its potential.
He suggested Burger King start using sites like Twitter after observing the success companies in other industries were having. He began tweeting under@BKRecruiterin February and uses that account to connect with other HR professionals, as a networking tool and as a way to build the chain's employee brand.
Those efforts are paying off. For instance, at the recent National Black MBA Association Conference where Burger King had a recruiting booth, his tweets led to several attendees stopping by to meet him. Nykolaiszyn said the new contacts were especially gratifying because they were all prospects who otherwise would not likely have considered QSR a viable career.
He also has seen how using Twitter and LinkedIn in tandem helps attract a new type of candidate. He launched the@BKCareersTwitter account in July and uses it to promote the company's management opportunities with links that connect to LinkedIn or BKCareers.com, the company's job board.
"We really broadened our candidate pool," Nykolaiszyn said. "My colleagues were very impressed with that dual strategy of using Twitter and LinkedIn to see different types of candidates, candidates we'd never seen before for that role."
The company is still developing its social media recruitment strategy, having only been using the sites a few months. But in that short time, Burger King already as been recognized by bloggers as one of the top companies using Twitter for job recruiting.
Nykolaiszyn said the company is evaluating whether it will use @BKCareers to post corporate- or entry-level jobs. It also is considering a mobile recruiting strategy. Whatever the final strategy is, he is sure it will have value.
"Anecdotally, we're seeing different types of candidates, and we're getting the employee brand out," he said. "We're really able to not only leverage the employment brand but also help evolve that and move it along too, and that's really exciting as an HR professional."
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