Harness the power of this overlooked recruiting tool
New jobs are being added to the restaurant industry every day (20,000 in November alone), making it more challenging than ever to find the best candidates for your business. While you might consider your restaurant website as an online hub for listing your contact info, showing off your menu items, and taking reservations, it’s also an amazing resource that helps give a competitive edge to your restaurant staffing efforts. Just like your guests, potential employees find your restaurant online to learn more about your business.
Here’s some essential information to include on your restaurant website so that you never miss an opportunity to connect with a new hire.
Tell them what you’re all about
It may sound simple, but including an About page where potential employees can learn about your restaurant’s ethos and values is a great way to begin engagement. Just like the About section you would put at the bottom of a job description, this page gives job applicants a general sense of who and what are behind your restaurant. Include information about your food and beverage philosophy, your origin story, and overall mission. Be authentic with what you’re all about so you can begin to spark a true connection with like-minded potential restaurant staff.
Have a Careers page
Another section that you’ll want to include in your restaurant website design is a Careers page. This is different than your About page — here, you should include information about your company culture and job availability. If you use a job hiring site, like Poached Jobs, for recruiting, this is also the perfect place to link out to your job listings.
BentoBox websites make it easy to update job postings or career information on the fly as your restaurant staffing needs change. You should also include quality, high-res photography to help paint a picture of your staff and workplace environment. Once your Careers page is up-to-date, you can use it to link out on social media or share in an email campaign to promote that you are hiring.
Include an application form
If a job applicant is on your website, they’re probably interested in submitting their resume. Nothing makes that easier than having an application form right on your website, ideally included in your Careers page. Your job application form should include fields for name, email, interested position, cover letter, and finally, a file uploader where prospective applicants can attach their resume. Once the visitor submits their information, you will have the preliminary details you can use to start to evaluate the candidate and decide whether you want to bring them in for a trial or an interview.
Promote your jobs with website notifications
Once you’ve got all your information set up and your job postings listed, it’s time to use your website as a promotional tool. One of the best ways to do that is by utilizing a homepage notification. This might be a banner at the top or a more robust graphic that says “We’re hiring!”. But either way, the notification should be set to appear whenever a new visitor comes to your restaurant website. What’s great about these notifications is that they help capture the attention of all your website visitors: Someone might be passively checking out your menu, and within minutes actively apply to join your restaurant staff. Your homepage notification should link directly to your Careers page, or wherever you want a candidate to apply. Then, you can start the review process and get the quality restaurant staff you’ve been looking for.
BentoBox helps restaurants grow their business online through a connected suite of tools. Our platform offers thousands of restaurants worldwide an integrated web presence to connect with their guests and drive revenue online. Learn more at getbbento.com.