Recent trends in the food and hospitality industry show that hiring managers are looking for quality over quantity when it comes to their applicants. The trend is supported by the latest WyckWyre survey, gathering information from more than 750 of its customers.
WyckWyre is the applicant tracking system created specifically for the food and hospitality industry. The system recruits both hourly and management employees and provides access to a suite of additional services, including I-9/eVerify, tax credit screening, background checks, and more.
An overwhelming 94.9 percent of those surveyed reported they preferred to have less applicants who were more qualified versus more applicants to sift through who may all be less qualified.
The reasoning behind the shift is the need to save time while recruiting and ultimately lower the industry's high turnover rate.
Hiring managers are leaning toward online hiring tools to pre-screen applicants and save the time they had initially lost with other forms of recruiting.
Applicant tracking systems allow hiring managers to only focus on the best candidates for the job. The system pre-screens each candidate with a series of questions related to the position he or she is applying for, the culture of the company, and other questions the hiring manager deems fit. The questions vary by position, allowing hiring managers to maximize their time while recruiting by weeding out the less-than-qualified candidates applying for jobs.
Applicant tracking systems can be used for all positions within a company, ranging from entry-level to top-level management.
In order to apply, each candidate must go through the pre-screening process. Once completed, hiring managers are able to log in and easily focus on the best candidates out of those who applied for the job.
Some hiring tools go beyond a simple yes/no pre-screen, offering long-form questions to be included during the application process that would normally be completed during the first phone pre-screening interview or during a group interview.
According to the survey, hiring managers using applicant tracking systems that provide robust pre-screening, including virtual interview capabilities, are saving between one to four hours finding qualified employees compared to previous recruiting methods.
"The need to save time and reduce turnover is imperative in an industry that is so fast-paced. Hiring managers want to take advantage of the time they have and only spend it in-person with highly qualified candidates. That's why heavy pre-screening is so welcomed," says Lisa DiVirgilio, director of business development at WyckWyre.
