What HR Can Learn from a Fast-Food Employment Experience

A couple of years ago, my son applied for a job at a local fast-food restaurant.  It was his dream job - a place he’d wanted to work at for quite some time.  He was 15 years old at the time.  He needed help with the on-line application so as he applied, I sat nearby and watched, helping to explain what a few of the questions meant, but mostly staying hands off and providing encouragement to him as he completed the application independently.

As he went through the process, I watched with my HR hat on.  At the time, I was the Chief Human Resources Officer for a large health system and I’d been in the Human Resources field for close to 25 years.  So, of course I was comparing this organization’s system and the candidate experience with what we offered our candidates.  And I have to say, I was impressed.  Granted, this fast-food organization is backed by a very large corporation with, I presume, a lot of resources, but he was only applying for a part-time entry level job. 

Still, the on-line application process was user friendly and very thorough.  It even included extensive pre-employment assessment testing that was built into the application process.  I’m sure they used this system to weed out the candidates that didn’t fit their ideal profile for their organization.  And I was envious that I didn’t have this tool for my recruiters to use.  The amount of time it would save is huge. 

HR Tip #1:  Invest in technology and use it to the greatest extent possible to help with candidate selection on the front end so that your people resources can be spent on the high touch areas with candidate interaction where it provides the greatest value.

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