PLANO Texas —For Raising Cane’s, a media blitz to fill 27 jobs when the quick-service chain relocated its headquarters from Baton Rouge, La., to the Dallas area resulted in a deluge of 10,000 applications.
“It’s been unbelievable,” said Sean Self, president of Self Opportunity, the Dallas-based recruiting firm that the chain, which specializes in chicken fingers, hired to help process applications. “The quality [of applicants] is fantastic.” —For Raising Cane’s, a media blitz to fill 27 jobs when the quick-service chain relocated its headquarters from Baton Rouge, La., to the Dallas area resulted in a deluge of 10,000 applications.
Only two of Raising Cane’s more than 70 units are in Dallas. —For Raising Cane’s, a media blitz to fill 27 jobs when the quick-service chain relocated its headquarters from Baton Rouge, La., to the Dallas area resulted in a deluge of 10,000 applications.
Other restaurant operators looking to fill both corporate and unit-level positions have had similar experiences. The recession has flooded a labor pool that had been shallow for more than a decade. But having more candidates to choose from isn’t making the hiring process that much easier, operators said. If they’ve learned anything from the lean hiring years of the late 1990s and early 2000s, it’s the importance of finding and hiring the right people to control labor costs and keep turnover down—and sifting through thousands of applications is no easy feat. —For Raising Cane’s, a media blitz to fill 27 jobs when the quick-service chain relocated its headquarters from Baton Rouge, La., to the Dallas area resulted in a deluge of 10,000 applications.
“It costs you every time you lose a person,” said Arthur Lee, whose company, Lee Wesley, owns six Burger King restaurants in Jacksonville, Fla., and manages the food concessions at the Amway Arena in Orlando, Fla. “You’ve got folks now who are just looking for a job, but you’ve still got to run a business.” —For Raising Cane’s, a media blitz to fill 27 jobs when the quick-service chain relocated its headquarters from Baton Rouge, La., to the Dallas area resulted in a deluge of 10,000 applications.
Lee estimated his restaurant managers last year handed out approximately 5,000 business cards with application information on them. Of those, maybe 3,000 went to serious job seekers, he said. —For Raising Cane’s, a media blitz to fill 27 jobs when the quick-service chain relocated its headquarters from Baton Rouge, La., to the Dallas area resulted in a deluge of 10,000 applications.
Tens of thousands of hospitality workers lost their jobs in 2008. Hotels and restaurants had 339 layoff actions from September to November, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Each action involved at least 50 people let go by a single employer. During the same three months, 28,512 hospitality workers applied for unemployment checks. —For Raising Cane’s, a media blitz to fill 27 jobs when the quick-service chain relocated its headquarters from Baton Rouge, La., to the Dallas area resulted in a deluge of 10,000 applications.
Online job boards have reported receiving higher volumes of résumés and site visits.
In preparing to open the first Pizza Fusion in Seattle, franchisees Kevin York and Casey Seremek ran an ad on
“We heard the response was almost unprecedented,” said Seremek, a certified public accountant. York is a former marketing executive. Their Seattle outpost of the 16-unit Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.-based Pizza Fusion chain is their first foray into foodservice. —For Raising Cane’s, a media blitz to fill 27 jobs when the quick-service chain relocated its headquarters from Baton Rouge, La., to the Dallas area resulted in a deluge of 10,000 applications.
To help them figure out whom to hire, the franchisor suggested they use TraitSet, an online applicant-screening program offered by HRgems Inc., based in Naples, Fla. —For Raising Cane’s, a media blitz to fill 27 jobs when the quick-service chain relocated its headquarters from Baton Rouge, La., to the Dallas area resulted in a deluge of 10,000 applications.
“It just seemed to make sense,” Seremek said. “Having a large volume of applications and having some tool to help us sort through it was beneficial.” —For Raising Cane’s, a media blitz to fill 27 jobs when the quick-service chain relocated its headquarters from Baton Rouge, La., to the Dallas area resulted in a deluge of 10,000 applications.
TraitSet offers a behavioral and attitude test to determine if a candidate is a fit for a position. The program then sorts applicants into two groups: those who should be interviewed and those who shouldn’t. —For Raising Cane’s, a media blitz to fill 27 jobs when the quick-service chain relocated its headquarters from Baton Rouge, La., to the Dallas area resulted in a deluge of 10,000 applications.
“They were able to help us determine what they felt people’s qualities were—being a team player, honesty and certain traits like that,” Seremek said. —For Raising Cane’s, a media blitz to fill 27 jobs when the quick-service chain relocated its headquarters from Baton Rouge, La., to the Dallas area resulted in a deluge of 10,000 applications.
Using a screening program like TraitSet saved time for his Burger King managers, Lee said. —For Raising Cane’s, a media blitz to fill 27 jobs when the quick-service chain relocated its headquarters from Baton Rouge, La., to the Dallas area resulted in a deluge of 10,000 applications.
“Someone comes into the restaurant, the cashier or the manager is going to have to give you an application,” he said. “The manager will spend at least 30 seconds with you, regardless of whether you are a qualified candidate or not. This is fast food. We had at least 3,000 serious applicants. Take 30 seconds per person, and it adds up very quickly. It takes a lot of time out of the managers’ days.” —For Raising Cane’s, a media blitz to fill 27 jobs when the quick-service chain relocated its headquarters from Baton Rouge, La., to the Dallas area resulted in a deluge of 10,000 applications.
The staff at Self Opportunity has been screening the more than 10,000 résumés received for the jobs at Raising Cane’s. Most were was submitted online. —For Raising Cane’s, a media blitz to fill 27 jobs when the quick-service chain relocated its headquarters from Baton Rouge, La., to the Dallas area resulted in a deluge of 10,000 applications.
“We have a team that goes through those résumés first,” Self said. “We know what is important to Raising Cane’s. Those with restaurant experience we go through first.” —For Raising Cane’s, a media blitz to fill 27 jobs when the quick-service chain relocated its headquarters from Baton Rouge, La., to the Dallas area resulted in a deluge of 10,000 applications.
The Self Opportunity staff culled through all the applications for the receptionist’s position at the new support center and determined the top 30 to 40. They then interviewed those candidates and sent the top four to Raising Cane’s executives for interviews. —For Raising Cane’s, a media blitz to fill 27 jobs when the quick-service chain relocated its headquarters from Baton Rouge, La., to the Dallas area resulted in a deluge of 10,000 applications.
Raising Cane’s, founded 12 years ago by chief executive Todd Graves, announced in November it would move to the Dallas area and build a strong support staff in preparation for aggressive expansion. The new headquarters opened this month. Already home to several national restaurant chains, Dallas seemed the best location, president Clay Dover had said when the chain announced the move. —For Raising Cane’s, a media blitz to fill 27 jobs when the quick-service chain relocated its headquarters from Baton Rouge, La., to the Dallas area resulted in a deluge of 10,000 applications.
The industry labor pool in Dallas has also become deeper given the layoffs made by Brinker International in early 2008 and the collapse of Metromedia Restaurant Group, which closed many of its Bennigan’s and Steak and Ale restaurants last summer. —For Raising Cane’s, a media blitz to fill 27 jobs when the quick-service chain relocated its headquarters from Baton Rouge, La., to the Dallas area resulted in a deluge of 10,000 applications.
But the applicants for Raising Cane’s haven’t just come from the Dallas area or been people who are out of work, Self said. Some are employed at other restaurants but are looking to make a change and others are coming from outside the industry. —For Raising Cane’s, a media blitz to fill 27 jobs when the quick-service chain relocated its headquarters from Baton Rouge, La., to the Dallas area resulted in a deluge of 10,000 applications.
“There’s no question that we could have done half the advertising and been as successful,” he said. “People have heard about Raising Cane’s and how it treats its employees. Currently, employed people have said, ‘I would leave my company to work for Cane’s.’ I’ve heard that multiple times from people, and from around the country—‘I would move to Dallas for Cane’s.’” —For Raising Cane’s, a media blitz to fill 27 jobs when the quick-service chain relocated its headquarters from Baton Rouge, La., to the Dallas area resulted in a deluge of 10,000 applications.
