Retailers throw ‘hiring parties’ to reach staffing goals

Taco Bell is holding “hiring parties” featuring free food and games to help support its goal of hiring 100,000 new employees by 2022.

Over two days in the last week, for instance, four Taco Bells in the Indianapolis area offered free Nacho Fries and Watermelon Freezes, games and on-the-spot job interviews. The goal, according to a release, was hiring “dozens of great candidates over the course of just a few days.”

The hiring parties builds on Taco Bell’s launch in 2016 of its “Start with Us, Stay with Us” initiative that includes education and career-building programs for employees. The goal to hire 100,000 new employees to support its expansion plans was set in 2017.

As noted by QSR Magazine, Taco Bell’s hiring parties come as the nation's unemployment rate in May reached its lowest rate since December 2000 during the dot-com years.

Most retailers hold humdrum hiring events for new stores that often feature first-come, first-serve, one-on-one interviews. But some companies have gotten more creative.

Dutch Bros, a drive-through coffee chain with over 300 stores in the western states, occasionally hosts hiring parties featuring music and games while applicants wait to be interviewed.

Lush, the cosmetics retailers, hosts a "Hiring Party" for prospective employees that teaches applicants about product ingredients, stories and uses, demonstrates the products on them, and then asks applicants to try demonstrating the products for their interviewees. After that, management conducts brief one-on-one interviews. If they pass the first round, applicants are invited to a “Culture Hour” for higher-level interviews to see if they’re the right fit.

Following the demise of Toys “R” Us, Main Event Entertainment, which operates 41 family entertainment centers across the U.S., hosted a Play & Apply hiring event that provided former Toys “R” Us employees with FUNcards to try games after being interviewed.

“With the recent closures of Toys 'R' Us and Babies 'R' Us, we saw an opportunity to turn a challenging situation into something positive for the retail brand’s talented employees,” said Rhonda Merchant, director of talent acquisition at Main Event Entertainment.

• Taco Bell is Hosting Hiring Parties, Complete with Signing Bonuses – QSR Magazine
• Taco Bell Hiring Parties Begin Soon Around Indianapolis – Patch
• Taco Bell Partners With Guild To Expand Education Support To Its Entire System Of Team Members – Taco Bell
• Taco Bell Plans To Attract 100,000 Employees Over 5 Years – Taco Bell
• How Taco Bell Plans To Attract 100,000 New Employees In The Next Five Years – Taco Bell
• Start With Us, Stay With Us – Taco Bell
• Dutch Bros. Coffee Hiring Party –  Facebook
• How To Get Hired – Lush
• Main Event Is Breathing Fun Back Into Toys “R” Us Gift Cards – Main Event Entertainment