Yes, it is important for you to detail the exact responsibilities you are expecting to get done within this position. And yes, it is important for you to do so in a way that shows the culture of your restaurant. But your job description is an advertisement – which means it must be appealing to the job seeker who sees potentially hundreds of these a day.

One way to make your job description and posting catch some eyes is to provide a healthy amount of benefits within it. The first thing employers think of when they see the word “benefits” is costly health insurance, dental insurance and other medical factors that they may not even offer to all of their work staff. However, there are many things beyond money-costing factors that are considered benefits to an employee.

Here are some benefits that employees maybe looking for beyond a medical package:

• Flexible schedule
• Flexible hours
• Working in a fast-paced environment
• Advancement opportunity
• Uniforms provided
• Working in a fun culture
• Ability to help launch new product
• Competitive wages
• Weekly pay
• Set schedule
• Overtime offered
• Vacation time offered after one year

Do you use some that we left off the list? Share them in the comments below.

Post your open restaurant job now. Click here.

Check out the video below to learn how to answer these tough job interview questions and come out on top.

While it is clearly harder for employees to find work during a recession due to the low number of open positions, the positions that are open are not necessarily getting filled quickly.

In a strong economy, the unemployment rate hovers around 5%, meaning about one in 20 people are looking for work. With our current unemployment rate, we’re looking at one in every 10 people looking for a job. The economy being as low as it is means there are less jobs available for double the amount of job seekers. Technically, this should lead to an increase in resumes and applications for every open position.

Are you not seeing those resumes stream in? It could be because you don’t have a solid online presence for recruitment.

Job seekers are turning to the internet to find jobs now. With less cash in their pockets, they are less likely to spend the gas money to go to job fairs or drive from restaurant to restaurant picking up paper applications. Applicants need assurance that if they are going to spend money to go somewhere, there will be open jobs to apply for. The traditional method of driving around or taking public transportation to different businesses doesn’t necessarily guarantee the applicant that each business is hiring.

That’s why the internet has come in as their number one tool for job searching.

Applicants are able to access numerous jobs that are just a few miles from where they live through different applicant tracking systems and online job boards like WyckWyre.com, Indeed.com and SimplyHired.com. The applicant can easily apply for dozens of jobs from the comfort of their own home in just an hour or two.

Employers who are using these sites to recruit are noticing an applicant jump, not only in the total amount of applicants as compared to their “walk-in” or job fair method, but they’re also noticing they are attracting a different kind of applicant as well.

“The caliber of applicant is just significantly better, for hourly or management,” Ed Anderson, owner of several Wendy’s in the Richmond, VA area and a user of WyckWyre’s online applicant tracking system, said.  “WyckWyre has given us the opportunity to go out and source people from different avenues.”

Another Wendy’s franchisee, Anne Williams, agreed, saying that the quality of applicants increased after using WyckWyre’s online recruiting system.

“The quality of applicants is just much higher,” Williams said.

If you’re looking for an increase in applicant flow, the first step is to advertise your job post online and reach hundreds  more than you could before. Your next great employees are waiting for you there.

Click here to post a job online now.

While the instant satisfaction of your friends coming to your aid on the social network may comfort you, the repercussions that could possibly come later on will definitely make the situation worse than it ever was when you typed out your woeful status or tweet.

Employers are taking to Facebook to check up on their employees and for some, the check-ups have not gone well. ABC News did a story recently that showed how different employees in a number of different positions venting on Twitter and Facebook led to their dismissals. Read the full story here.

While there is no universal social media policy for all human resource departments on how to deal with social media situations, what you say on a social network will most likely not be taken lightly. Think before you tweet. Or put up a status update. Or YouTube it.

Next time you’re about to post an update or picture on your social network that is related to your job, ask yourself the following questions:

• Is it easy for your boss to take it out of context?
• Is it demeaning to you, your work ethic, your co-workers or your company?
• Does it display your company or anyone that you work with poorly?
• Does it attack a customer, or degrade a customer in any way?
• Does it attack someone who does business with you, such as a vendor or provider?

If you can answer yes, or are even hesitant to answer no to any of the above questions, it’s safe to say that you should keep whatever you’re about to say or post off your social networks.

If you truly are having issues at work and are using social media as a way to get results, take this advice:

“Employees are going to social media, and making complaints, and then getting upset that things aren’t changing in the work environment,” Polly Wright, senior consultant at HR Consultants, Inc told FoxBusiness.com. “You aren’t going to get any results going on social media. If you want something to happen, you need to make a complaint internally.”

From hiring someone who has tons of experience but lacks any passion for the job to thinking that using your same form of recruitment will get you better potential employees, there is room for improvement.

Mistake #1: Hiring For Experience, Not Enthusiasm

If someone comes to you with 15 years of experience under their belt, but is honestly burnt out from and bitter toward the industry, would you hire them? Let’s take this to the next level, say someone who only has six months of experience but leaps and bounds of energy and passion comes walking through the door wanting to work for you, who would you hire first?

For me, it’d be the six monther. Here is why:

While someone may have all the technical experience in the world for your next line cook position or server position, but lacks enthusiasm about that work, it’s going to show in what they produce for you every day.

On the other hand, if someone has less experience, but a sincere passion for his or her job, that person will go miles further in order to work their way up the chain. They have less of a past in the industry, which means that they have less of the bitterness you’re sensing off of applicant #1.

Does that mean that you should always hire the person with less experience? NO.

It means that you should always hire the person with more enthusiasm and willingness to work, even if they may have less experience than the person who doesn’t seem to care whether they get the job or not.

Still wondering what to look for when hiring? Watch this short video to learn more:

If you only use word of mouth, or perhaps just a sign on the door, and you’re expecting a different caliber of people to come walking in to apply, you’re going to be sadly mistaken.

You’re always going to tap into the same pool of applicants with the same methods. Your restaurant workers only know so many of their friends that want to apply, and the sign on your door will only reach so many people.

Think of working different angles to get new employees. You’ll be surprised at how just advertising a job in a few different ways can bring in massive results.

Mistake #3: Think A Hire Is Just A Hire

A hire isn’t just a hire, and you shouldn’t be just picking up the first application off the pile and expecting your restaurant to be wildly successful. The thought and preparation you put into hiring will directly relate to the work that gets put out.

Sure, you might get lucky and pick a great application, but if you had a system in place to pre-screen applicants for you and make you “lucky” every time with someone completely qualified, wouldn’t you rather that?

Mistake #4: Treating Your Workers Like Cattle

Yes, you may think this headline is a little harsh. But think about it. Do you treat workers like they’ll just come and go due to the high turnover rates in restaurants? If you do, then they are more likely to skip out.

With a little more personal emphasis on each worker, including getting to know their strengths at work and praising them versus harping on their weaknesses, you’re more likely to retain better workers.

Studies show while money is a top incentive for workers to stay where they are and continue to perform at their peak, positive reinforcement and a positive work environment also top the charts for employees charting a longer career at your restaurants.

Need more help? Contact us now.

It takes money to make money. It’s the old saying that everyone knows. But, it takes time and initial effort to make money, too.

Starting and maintaining a restaurant is never easy. There are hidden expenses around every corner and that’s just getting the building ready. When it comes time to hire employees, you’re probably out in the dark. That’s because you didn’t open a restaurant to spend your days hiring, evaluating and firing employees – then starting the entire recruitment process again. Are we right?

I hate to break it to you, but there is no magic one-stop-shop formula that will reduce your restaurant turnover. People are people. They have minds of their own, and even if an algorithm is going to tell you that they will not leave in six months, they still may if their own life circumstances change. You can’t predict human behavior and you can’t predict the future. You can, however, find great employees who will give you a positive return on your hiring decision.

But what you can do is find the best person for your open position but you need to position your open opportunity in a way that will attract those high-quality applicants.

How can you do this?

Here’s a few tips:

1.) Always make sure your job title is clear, descriptive and enticing for the applicant to click on.

Never have your job title be one that is straight from your employee handbook if it doesn’t really describe what the person will be doing. Job titles are the first thing that people see, so you want to make sure they know what the position is off the bat. Otherwise, they are less likely to click into your job advertisement.

2.) Don’t be shady about your location.

At WyckWyre, we encourage employers who work with us to list their street address on their job description. The reason for this is that studies show for quick service restaurants and even fast casual restaurants, one location or multiple locations, potential employees often apply for jobs that are within a 5-10 mile radius of where they live. By letting them know exactly where you are located, you’re bound to get a better qualified employee location-wise.

3.) List out exactly what you want the person to do in the role he or she is applying for.

Bullet points in job descriptions are your best friend. Did you know that many people use the “hunt and peck” method when reading on the internet? Rarely will someone read an entire advertisement. They’ll look for the concise version, or make up their own.

Your most important information needs to be in the first paragraph. Then, list bullet points towards the middle of your job description that allow the candidate to use those as a “check list” to qualify themselves for the position.

Want to chat more with WyckWyre consultants about how to make your restaurant recruitment work better for you? Contact us now.

Unless you really, really like socks.

Gift cards are growing in popularity for obvious reasons: they are quick and easy to buy, you don’t have to fight the crowds, you don’t have to agonize over what to get everyone on your list, your recipient can pick out exactly what they want, and there are endless choices. Retail gift cards still top the popularity charts, but guess what is next in line? That’s right, restaurant gift cards.

More and more people are giving the gift of food and drink. It’s an easy choice if you know what restaurant or kind of food someone enjoys. It might be easier for a gift giver to pick out a restaurant gift card for family and friends than try to figure out where they prefer to shop.

They're more popular than ever!

A November 2011 study done by the National Retail Federation estimated that 80% of people shopping for holiday gifts would purchase gift cards for the 2011 Christmas season. Another study by NRF found that almost 60% of people would like to receive a gift card as their present.

Those numbers encompassed all types of gift cards (retail, gaming, internet shopping, etc.). So where to restaurants fit in? Out of all of the gift cards purchased this season, about 34% of them were for restaurants. This makes it the second most popular type of gift card right after department store cards at about 39%.

However, the numbers shift a little as you look at different age groups. It seems that adults aged 55-64 are more fond of restaurant gifting options, because they actually beat out department stores for this age group. Restaurant cards topped their list at about 37% of card purchases.

NRF had some other amazing facts and figures. They estimated that Americans would spend almost $28 billion on gift cards, and that’s just during the 2011 holiday season. And for the fifth straight year in a row, gift cards were the number one requested gift during the holidays.

To meet the demands, it seems like most stores and chain restaurants have gift cards as an option. Do you have a gift card for your restaurant? If not, you might want to think about incorporating them. Local and independently-owned restaurants can profit from them in the same way that larger businesses do.

Not exactly the best way to welcome the new year...

I wrote some previous blogs about how holiday meals are changing by becoming more restaurant dependent. Making gift cards available at your restaurant can bring customers in the door at the end of the year as their gift cards from Christmas are burning holes in their pockets. I’m talking about New Year’s Eve. (No, Ashton, the holiday, not your excuse for a movie.)

The tail end of the holiday season brings a lot of business as people splurge for a night on the town. One way to increase the chances that your establishment is on their itinerary is to sell those gift cards at Christmas. Customers want a fun night out, but money is tight after all that gift giving. Receiving a restaurant gift card will allow some customers the financial freedom to ring in the new year in style, with good food and drink, instead of sitting at home drinking a box of wine and subjecting themselves to Ryan Seacrest. To avoid that fate, an estimated 100 million Americans turned to restaurants or bars on December 31.

Going out on New Year’s Day is also quite common. In fact, I used some restaurant gift cards from my stocking to go out for a post-NYE brunch. There was no way I felt like cooking that day. The crowds in the restaurants that day led me to believe that a lot of other people felt the same way, and couldn’t wait to dwindle those gift card balances, either.

So if you haven’t yet, think about the option of providing gift cards to your customers. They not only make great presents during the holidays, but all year round for birthdays, wedding gifts, and other special occasions. Be sure to browse WyckWyre.com for more fun ideas to improve your business.

Online posting and advertising of restaurant jobs in 2011 continued to be very popular. Based on the results of 2011′s restaurant recruitment’s move to the online world, here are four trends you’re likely to see continue throughout the new year.

1.) Everything continues to move online – and it does so quickly.
Many companies are ditching the paper applications and putting their job opportunities online. Restaurants included.

Many restaurants feel the need to get rid of additional, bulky paperwork and streamline their hiring process by sending potential applicants to online applications. There, employers can not only gather the information they would from a paper application, but also put the applicants through a pre-screening virtual interview.

On average, an initial online interview saves the employer four to six hours per hire. It also helps the employer to focus on the best candidate for the position faster since the first interview is done online and they can then focus on those who responded with great results.

Applications are more easily accessible when they are filled out online by both the employers and applicants, as well. Managers who are not physically at the restaurant can still check in on potential applicants, schedule interviews and more without ever having to have restaurant staff send over the potential employees’ paper applications. Now, it’s all available online and you can get to it so long as you have internet connection.

2.) Diversity in the workplace will impact your restaurant – in a great way.
You may just be looking for a server, a cook or a crew member to staff your open positions. But in a world that has become accustom to mufti-tasking, you now have the ability to hire someone that can do a variety of tasks in your workplace.

New hiring technologies have eclipsed the paper application and now allow you to quickly assess applicants different backgrounds, languages, skill sets and more without every having to bring them in for an interview. Questions that gather applicants background information online, without ever bringing them into the restaurant, will allow you to save time and make faster, more sound hiring decisions when it comes to who you want to interview in-person.

3.) Social media will continue to play an important role in the hiring process.
Why use the same method you’ve always been using? It’s time to change. You can’t rely on walk-in traffic to fill your positions anymore if you’re expecting new results.

If you want to reach out to a broad audience that has different skill sets and ideas they can bring to your restaurant, social media will be a great tool to reach out with.

With social media, you will be able to not only reach a wide-range of individuals, but you’ll also be able to cross-check candidates by looking at their social networking profiles. The beautiful thing about social media is also the fact that you can now divert traffic from your social media profiles to your open positions online. This way, you are getting the attention of the candidate and having them easily apply for the position online, versus telling them about the position and hoping they follow your instructions to come into the restaurant to fill out an application.

4.) You restaurant is bigger than the four walls it is laid out in.
Social networking and websites give your customers and potential employees immediate access to other customers, applicants and even current employees.

The information is instantaneously distributed and your presence is always known – even after you turn off your lights and lock the doors at night. How your brand is perceived online will impact the types of candidates you see applying for your position.

If you have strong presence online, word will spread quickly about your open positions. If your presence online is weak, the word will not travel as far.

Work on building an online presence by interacting with customers on a regular basis. An easy way to interact would be to put up your daily specials on your Facebook page with a picture of one of the meals. This way you can start the conversation off in a delicious way.

If you don’t have a website for your restaurant yet, get one. An online “home” for your business will be even more popular in 2012 than it was in 2011. With smart phones only getting better, computers only getting faster, and people being more reliant on getting information when they want it, not just when your restaurant is open, not having an online presence could be killing your business.

Want to learn more about online hiring? Check this out:

Get started with WyckWyre now, click here.