EatDrinkJobs solves a problem that has frustrated nearly every restaurant owner and manager. The problem is that online restaurant job listings is a free-for-all. Putting your restaurant job ad online can end up being an exhausting, time-consuming process that does not ensure you will find a qualified candidate.
Most of the online restaurant job listings end up on Craigslist. But Craigslist leaves restaurant owners with little help in making their hiring decisions. Owners and managers have to fend for themselves and often they make hiring mistakes that would have been avoidable with the right tools. The risks aren’t only on one side as employees often are taken ad vantage of by scammers. All and all, a lot of time and money is unnecessarily wasted because the industry’s Craigslist dependency, so an effective Craigslist alternative like EatDrinkJobs is very needed.
In EatDrinkJobs first market NYC, their service has the potential of bringing some order to the world of restaurant hiring. EatDrinkJobs is comprehensive, although solely for the restaurant industry, letting owners and managers post Administrative jobs, Back-Of-House jobs and Front-Of-House jobs. The jobs listed there cover all positions in a restaurant from managers to sous chefs to line cooks to servers.
With exceptionally high turnover, restaurants must hire the right person to succeed. Everyone familiar with running a restaurant knows that a string of bad hires can endanger the business with dips in food quality and service. This is an ongoing issue as a restaurant owner is fortunate if any staff member stays a year. They are overjoyed if a quality staff member stick around for years. Finding a loyal, highly skilled worker is nearly impossible through Craigslist. It is a crap-shoot.
Everyone has been burned by Craigslist, or at least, inconvenienced. The sad fact is that when you put an ad up on Craigslist, it does not require even the most basic information, it does not filter out improper candidates, and has not be improved in years. These are all the issues addressed by EatDrinkJobs. Meanwhile, Craigslist isn’t designed for any specific industry and therefore, does not take into consideration what restaurant owners and managers need. The shortcomings of Craigslist make a difference as a restaurant manager who uses it will sooner or later hire an employee that should not even qualified for an interview. Let me go through what EatDrinkJobs brings to restaurant hiring that should provide relief for the restaurant industry.
EatDrinkJobs takes a different approach and even though they are a newer service, their future seems bright. In contrast to the free-for-all of their competitors, EatDrinkJobs gives filtering capabilities so that an employer can find the candidates that have the qualifications they are looking for. Originally, EatDrinkJobs worked by a referral service, but they have made the system now more accessible and increased the number of applications. Still EatDrinkJobs has given managers or owners the tools to make their hiring decisions. The owner has basic information and can go about his or her hiring process with more accuracy and in an orderly fashion. After an employer posts an ad, a person who has signed up with EatDrinkJObs applies by sharing their information with the employer. Let me go through how it works.
For each jobseeker at EatDrinkJobs, they must include basic information in their profile. That is their name and contact info, their resume, their availability and job history. Upon applying to a posting, this info is sent to the employer. A jobseeker can also improve their employer with a photograph, a recommendation and a cover letter (for the specific application). Of course, by giving a jobseeker a way to go the extra mile, EatDrinkJobs gives an owner or manager clues to how interested the actual applicant is.
The jobseeker may upload a profile photo but he or she also has the capacity to upload photos showing off their skills or experience. They might upload photos of food they prepared or past restaurants they worked. Additionally, the jobseeker can request a recommendation from someone they have worked or trained with. Lastly, the applicant can write a cover letter for the specific position and demonstrate their interest in the job. It gives them a chance to highlight why the applicant would be a good hire.
No employer has the time to invite every applicant in for an interview. So the ability to filter out the weak candidates from the more qualified ones is crucial for an owner or manager. Luckily, EatDrinkJobs helps the employer with this process, while still giving the employer the chance to see all the applications.
The filter capabilities are tailored for restaurants. With EatDrinkJobs, you can see applicants based on their years of experience. You can see in what sector they have worked, whether a bar or a cafe. There is also filtering options for the completeness of the application. You can find out if they added the optional materials to their application. This means an employer can quickly determine if the jobseeker shared a photo, cover letter or recommendation. Lastly, an employer can sift out the availability of the applicants, whether they can work weekends or weekdays, daytime or nighttime. Each of this filters can be dealbreakers or dealmakers when it comes to hiring decisions, so it is a function I suggest everyone try out.
Of course, EatDrinkJobs puts employers in the drivers seat. Applicants are informed that the restaurant will contact any applicant they are interested in interviewing or hiring. Therefore, the employer more often than not escapes the barrage of phone calls that often .
Employers have a clean dashboard to manage their listings. While the listings are live, owners and managers can edit them, along with tracking applications. Overall, the website is easy to navigate and the presentation is clean and professional without being excessively formal. On the search screen for potential employees, the listing features the position, the location of the establishment and whether it is Full-time, Part-time. The employer can choose the headline. Inside the listing, EatDrinkJobs encourages employers to describe the restaurant, the position and the perfect candidate. Some managers/owners leave it more complete than others, casting a wider or more restricted net. Through this system, EatDrinkJobs helps owners and managers format their listing for best results, combating the problems that come with Craigslist.
Jobseekers can sort through the job listings too. Obviously, a jobseeker may only have a limited skill-set so it does not make sense to clump everything together. So like employers with applications, they can organize the positions. Jobseekers can check to see all the jobs listed by one restaurant. Also, a jobseeker gets to build a profile so they don’t have to start from scratch with every application.
The list of benefits for applicants is pretty long too, but the reason why it is such a step up is that both employers and applicants benefit from complete, organized and targeted information.
For restaurants, EatDrinkJobs is worlds better than Craigslist and Craigslist costs $25 per listing for a mountain of applications from unqualified candidates. EatDrinkJobs is somewhat more expensive on a per listing ($50) basis but it is a time-saver and likely, a money-saver (if you make a bad hire) in the long run. But as expenses go, this kind of money does not cause restaurant owners to sweat. Making a bad hiring decision and going through the expensive hiring / training / paperwork process is the real headache. EatDrinkJobs also has a subscription program which is $40 per month for unlimited job postings. Most restaurants’ turnover involves more than 2 hires per month so if you like it, the subscription program more than pays for itself.
NYC restaurants should definitely see if this is the choice for them. There are expansion plans in the near future and I expect this model will soon be in all major American cities. There have been continual improvements over the last few months and their interface is poised to even get better. As we see the frustration of restaurant owners day in and day out with hiring and turnover, EatDrinkJobs is a welcome resource in online restaurant hiring.