These days, a job at McDonald’s is just a Snap away.
The Oak Brook, Ill.-based burger giant is turning to Snapchat in a bid to hire more workers.
McDonald’s and its franchisees expect to hire 250,000 employees this summer at the chain’s more than 14,000 locations, the company said Monday.
More than half of the hires at company-owned restaurants are expected to be young, 16 to 24 years old, a group that represents the lifeblood of the quick-service restaurant workforce.
McDonald’s has started using social media and other applications more aggressively to attract these workers. The chain has used the music-streaming site Spotify and the television-streaming site Hulu to reach potential jobseekers.
Now the company is taking applications via Snapchat, or what it calls “Snaplications.” The tool enables someone to start the application process through the Snapchat app. McDonald’s used a similar tool in Australia earlier this year.
Starting on Tuesday, Snapchat users nationwide may be served 10-second video ads of restaurant employees discussing the benefits of working at McDonald’s. Viewers can then swipe up to instantly visit the McDonald’s career webpage in Snapchat to explore opportunities and apply to jobs.
“We’re always looking for new and innovative ways to find jobseekers,” said Jez Langhorn, senior director in human resources at McDonald’s USA. “We thought Snaplications was a great way to allow us to meet job seekers where they are — their phones.”
Restaurants frequently provide many Americans with their first jobs, and as the largest restaurant chain in the country, McDonald’s is a frequent employer of teens. Teens are becoming a more vital group as the unemployment rate falls and wages rise.
While the unemployment rate has declined in recent years, teens are still far more likely to be unemployed. The unemployment rate in May among 16- to 19-year-olds was 14.3 percent, according to federal data, compared with just 4.3 percent for the entire working population.
McDonald’s has worked in recent years to beef up its competitiveness with this group. It has started education programs, such as Archways to Opportunity, which provides workers with the ability to earn a diploma and receive tuition assistance.
“As we see younger generations seek out their first jobs, we want to make them aware of the great opportunities available at McDonald’s, especially considering we’re committed to being America’s best first job,” Langhorn said.
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