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I haven't applied at any fast food places but most places I have do require you to reply online. I agree the tests are annoying and I suspect why I often do not get a reply to the application. And yes, they do want a lot of info sometimes. I have only applied at one place that actually had a paper application and someone was able to help me with it. Otherwise it was all online and who knows if anyone saw it.
Also please do not judge people who work in lower income jobs such as fast food or retail. Many of them are retired people who need supplemental income, or others who just need a job and can't find anything else. Right now there are not many jobs available, and just because someone works in one of these jobs does not make them a loser or otherwise not capable of getting a better job. We often have no other choice whether we like it or not.
Retail. All of our applications are online. If you show up at the store and we have time, we send you to the back room and let you use the computer there. Otherwise we tell you to go to the library or go home to apply, or to come back later.
The apps are run through a program that flags any inappropriate responses or responses that take too long for you to answer. (If it takes you too long to know whether or not you'd steal a pencil you get flagged) Too many flags and you are not a candidate for hire and your app basically disappears into a dark hole somewhere.
If you manage to answer the questions correctly your app goes into the system so that it can be pulled up for the mgt pool to look at when they need to hire. If there aren't any openings there's no one looking at your app.
If you call or come by to follow up on your application, most of the time you will not speak to the manager unless s/he just happens to be actively looking for help at that time. If you insist on speaking to the manager anyway you aren't increasing your odds of getting hired, you just make yourself look annoying. If you are lucky enough to come by when there is an opening available having a face to put with the name on the application does help. Timing is everything.
Hint: For quite a while it seems like the mantra has been to "hire for the smile". Keywords being 'Friendly, team player, people person, helpful, cheerful, calm,' etc.
So how exactly are people getting fast food jobs? I got to fast food places all the time and they're always full of employees, in NJ usually illegal aliens, but still they have workers, so how are they hiring? Is it who you know?
You got it. All those people I see in Taco Bell did not apply for anything online
I thoroughly agree. I wish TV would stop altogether with the insults and I hope someone spits in his Big Mac next time he pays them a visit. I hope he realizes that he runs a real possibility of that if he's openly rude or disrespectful to these people--it's the only way they have of getting even.
OK, so I have a question for you based on someone else's post who mentioned that there are many misspellings on apps. Would you disqualify someone based on poor spelling skills? The reason I'm wondering is b/c we often help our special ed students fill out online apps and we know that many of them hate to ask for help. Many of them are amazing workers but have really poor spelling skills. How is that usually handled in the FF world?
That depends, if it's for a management position or management/supervisor trainee I would skip the application entirely. I wasn't fast food, I was in retail management, fwiw. For a regular shift worker, as long as they were over 18 (preferably 21, because we sold alcohol) and could work a minimum of 6 hours by themselves without supervision. Our shifts only overlapped by an hour, so you're by yourself the vast majority of the time.
I would have loved to hire a special ed student, but they probably require supervision and I didn't have the hours available to allow that. We did have a younger guy who worked the night shift for a while who was on disability with autism and he worked just fine by himself and was one of the best workers I had. It was too bad he refused to work over a certain amount of hours (he had to keep his SS benefits) because I would have hired him full time.
I would have loved to hire a special ed student, but they probably require supervision and I didn't have the hours available to allow that. We did have a younger guy who worked the night shift for a while who was on disability with autism and he worked just fine by himself and was one of the best workers I had. It was too bad he refused to work over a certain amount of hours (he had to keep his SS benefits) because I would have hired him full time.
Actually that is rarely true--roughly 50% of sped students have LD, which means they have average to genius intelligence but for whatever reason they have trouble with reading, writing, math, or spelling. The kids in the vocational ed programs may need some assistance as many do have intellectual disabilities but we train them from high school so they won't need much supervision when they get a real job. Some of our kids are working at the supermarket next door to the high school and the store is thrilled to have them and they would not be thrilled if they had to watch them all the time--that store is really busy and stemmed as much by the economy as anyone else these days so it's not out of the goodness of their hearts.
Actually that is rarely true--roughly 50% of sped students have LD, which means they have average to genius intelligence but for whatever reason they have trouble with reading, writing, math, or spelling. The kids in the vocational ed programs may need some assistance as many do have intellectual disabilities but we train them from high school so they won't need much supervision when they get a real job. Some of our kids are working at the supermarket next door to the high school and the store is thrilled to have them and they would not be thrilled if they had to watch them all the time--that store is really busy and stemmed as much by the economy as anyone else these days so it's not out of the goodness of their hearts.
But I'm talking 100% by themselves, with nobody else in the store. At a grocery store they have other employees there just in case they have a question, or a problem or even need to take a break. My employees were by themselves for a minimum of 6 hours out of an 8 hour shift. I would come in for a little bit to give them their lunch on some days, but other than that they had zero supervision.
I had a hard time getting a job at McDonald's decades ago, at age 18, when people only applied there in person. I went in asking to see the manager, got an application, then he sat down with me at a table in the back, asked me some interview questions, then gave me a uniform, telling me to call the next day. So the next day, I called, asking for the manager, but was asked "which one?". I was confused, tried to explain what happened, and still nobody ever told me when I was to start, but that if I wasn't given a start date that I'd have to return the uniform. Here I was with this McDonald's uniform, but I guess I wasn't really hired, and had to go through all the inconvenience of going back to return it. When I did, that manager who interviewed me wasn't there. Are there really more than one manager at these fast food joints?
The bottom line is, it's all about who you know and timing. I would not waste my time online filling out a 45min application for a min. wage job at burger king. That's ridiculous and maybe if less people did it, they would change the system. Our country should not have come to this.
If I need the job, I would just go in and ask, you may get lucky or you may not. The people who have the jobs at those joints knew someone who got them in the door.
I would avoid places that clearly look like they're wouldn't hire an outsider. For example, do not go to a small dunkin donuts with all middle eastern employees if you're a white person, odds are they only hire their own or family.
Also, for those who wanna know, I think all Wendys still use the paper apps, I see them all the time right when you walk in the door.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TVandSportsGuy
I do believe there are THOUSANDS of jobs better than fast food, Telemarketing and Customer Service is one. Security Guard is another
Many customer service/telemarketing and security jobs require experience ... Many folks began their careers in fast-food, such as myself and have since moved on to greener pastures once they obtain their college education.
I was in the back room of a grocery store I worked at when the manager got a phone call. From how he was talking, it seemed to be a person calling about an application. Hw said he would check on it and got their name and number, but did not write anything down and his body language suggested he had no intention of checking on their application.
I doubt calling after you've applied accomplishes anything.
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I hope he realizes that he runs a real possibility of that if he's openly rude or disrespectful to these people--it's the only way they have of getting even. 
