By DINA  BERTA

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GOLDEN, Colo. (Nov. 17, 2008 ) —Looking to deflate a high turnover rate among hourly employees, the 53-unit Good Times Burgers & Custard chain based here has stopped accepting applications at its stores.

Instead, job seekers are directed to the Internet, where their applications are automatically assessed for attitude and availability. Managers then can focus on interviewing only those candidates that are highly rated and predetermined to be a good fit with Good Times’ culture, said human resources director Gary Staton.

But while the decision to screen candidates online puts Good Times among a growing group of restaurant operators that are using the Internet to streamline the application process and identify better-qualified candidates, human resources experts warn that the process does have limitations and should supplement, not replace, more traditional methods of employee selection to ensure that a diverse array of applicants has access to job opportunities.

For that reason, Staton insisted on finding a screening service that had an alternative to Internet applications. Good Times’ job seekers can also apply by dialing an automated phone service.

“I was uncomfortable just using the Internet,” Staton said. “What about people who do not have access to the Internet? What are they going to do?”

Industry analysts report that Internet recruiting is up, particularly among quick-service operators that have yet to be stung as badly as casual-dining chains by current drops in consumer spending and traffic. But while Internet recruiting is less expensive and can help screen candidates better, operators still need such traditional recruiting methods as referrals, walk-ins and community outreach to maintain and encourage a diverse workforce, observers said.

A recent study of job applicants by JobApp Network Inc., a Troy, Mich.-based provider of application screening and assessment tools for online and telephone, found that minorities and women were less likely to use the Internet to apply for jobs, and more likely to use the phone.

More than 80.9 percent of nonminorities applied online, versus 19.1 percent who used the phone, the study found. Among minorities, less than 58.7 percent used the Web, while 41.3 percent used the phone. The study looked at the preferences of more than 26,000 applicants in foodservice and retail.

Access to the Internet may still be an issue for minorities, said JobApp researcher Edgar Johns.

Job seekers’ usage of phone, Internet
Minority applicants are more likely to use the phone

SOURCE: JOBAPP NETWORK

“The hardest penetration of high-speed Internet access has been in the suburbs, I think largely due to the average higher income in the suburbs than urban areas,” Johns said. “In rural areas, while there might be the income to afford high-speed access, the technology is not there.”

Johns cited a 2008 report by the Pew Internet Project that found only 55 percent of U.S. households have broadband Internet access. Households bringing in $75,000 a year were 2.5 times more likely to have Internet access than those bringing in less than $30,000.

By DINA  BERTA

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Internet use is definitely related to income and age, said hospitality recruiter Clive Solomon. Young people, including minorities, with average incomes are the easiest population to reach with online tools.

“With those over 60 and lower-income people, we need to look to alternatives to reach these audiences than just the Internet,” said Solomon, a co-founder of the Association of Hospitality Recruiting Executives.

The Internet is proving to be an efficient recruiter for operators, however.

Snag-a-Job.com , an employment site for hourly jobs, has noted that more restaurants no longer accept walk-in applications, but instead are directing people to go online for positions, either through their own company site or employment sites.

“More restaurant clients are tightening up their branding and selling their company message more than ever before on postings and company websites,” said Kelly Lobanov, a spokeswoman for the Richmond, Va.-based company.

The cost is a fraction of newspaper classifieds, and restaurants are becoming more innovative, using social networks, blogs and video sites like YouTube to reach applicants, said Teresa Siriani, president of People Report, a firm in Dallas that tracks human resources practices for restaurant companies.

“That kind of action gets noticed by employees,” Siriani said. “When you communicate to them in a way they like to communicate, it speaks volumes.”

The percentage of hourly workers hired through the Internet has grown from 6 percent in 2005 to 14 percent in 2008, according to People Report’s latest Survey of Unit-Level Employment Practices.

Foodservice management company Sodexo, which has more than 6,000 clients in the United States, uses the Internet to find management candidates, using not only job sites but also conducting virtual job fairs on social-networking sites.

About 36 percent of its management candidates from Internet sources are minorities, said Arie Ball, vice president of Sourcing and Talent Acquisition for Gaithersburg, Md.-based Sodexo.

“Still, due to potential Internet access limitations, as well as disabilities that may restrict computer use, Sodexo offers multiple options of posting résumés to our applicant tracking system,” Ball said. “Frontline and hourly employees also are encouraged to complete applications in person at many of our client accounts.”

Since Good Times began rolling out its new online and telephone application processes in October, about 40 percent of hourly job seekers are using the phone to apply, Staton said. Good Times contracted with JobApp to do the screening.

The restaurant chain already has a very racially diverse workforce, Staton said, and the new process should allow it to maintain that diversity.

“I know a lot of applicants whom we hire do not have convenient access to the Internet,” Staton said.