Food Retail Jobs

Monday, June 7th, 2010 - Food Retail Jobs, Job Application

Food Retail Jobs

Food Retail Jobs are one of fastest growing job sectors in the United Kingdom is the service sector. As part of an occasional series on job application, I thought I would look at how the different chains of food retailers approach recruitment and how best job applicants should approach the process.

Jobs in Food Retail

The first thing to say here is that if you are seeking a job in food retail, then you don’t necessarily need a pile of qualifications. That’s not playing to the stereo types of what a typical fast food retail employee does, or being demeaning to the companies that operate in this sector – in fact, quite the contrary. The reason that you don’t need a lot of qualifications to do many of these jobs is because of the excellent training that fits in with their tight operational procedures. Coming away from a 3month+ stint with a fast food retailer would provide your Professional CV with both great training, wonderful experience and brand name that any HR managers would recognise. So lesson1, they look for attitude over qualifications, and you get great training plus a brand name on your CV.

Krispy Kreme Jobs

The first company I looked at was American donut chain Krispy Kreme – don’t as me why, I just did! Krispy Kreme first came to the UK in October 2003, just after major American rival Dunkin Donuts left the UK. While personally, Dunkin Donuts were pointless balls of heavily fried dough, the donut is the focus of Krispy Kreme. Dunkin can fairly argue that they serve better coffee (in the United States), but they are not called Dunkin Coffee are they?

One thing to note about the Krispy Kreme website is the order of the tabs: Donuts, Coffee, Fund Raising, Friends, Experience, Careers, Contact. That should tell you that if you have a need to apply for a Krispy Kreme job, then fund raising/charity and team work will count as much as love of the brand. Krispy Kreme state on their careers page that:

Krispy Kreme’s Mission is that by investing in great products and exceptional people, we create an outstanding company that leads the industry in every way. We aim to fulfil three quarters of our positions from within by developing our people. We look for people who demonstrate enthusiasm * fun * great communication * ambition * team work * passion for great customer service. In return we will train you on all areas of the business and provide you with the tools to develop to your full potential. We’re also a fun place to work and our incentives are pretty cool too! Plus, you get to eat our doughnuts!

I was quite surprised that when taking a look at the application system, that you could simply click on a job and up popped my eMail system with a pre-populated send to address and job title. No forms, no electronic application system, etc, this is a job application “test” from point1! Secondly, for a company that has not expanded as quickly as I or many thought, on checking LinkedIn I found it would be easy to connect with both Krispy Kreme people and senior company managers – that team and community ethic goes thickly through the company!

Burger King Jobs

The second company I looked at was Burger King. This US head quartered chain – once owned by the UK’s Grand Metropolitan – has fought a hard ad long market share battle against bigger rival McDonalds. Personally, if I have to these days, I am more of Burger King fan over a McDonalds lover, only because the Veggie burger is better and the fries slightly crispier: but its wholly marginal.

Burger King have a separate jobs website, which provides much – perhaps too much – information. It took me an hour to read through the whole thing. Perhaps excessive, but I did read through it three times as I recommend job seekers. The opening page sums it all up:

Welcome to a place where great things can happen. Where people can fulfil their potential, career opportunities are truly open to everyone and doors don’t close in the absence of specific qualifications on a CV. Why? Because we believe people are so much better in person than they can ever be on paper. If you’ve got the personality, drive, ambition, a commitment to hard work and a flexible approach, then give yourself a pat on the back. You’ve just found a world of opportunity

I also liked this, which is on their management page:

Whilst we’re all for qualifications, to us there really is nothing more important than personality, drive and ability. The kind of people that thrive at this level are those with enthusiasm by the bucket – no wait – make that barrel-load. Matched with both real willingness to get stuck in and limitless attention to delivering a first rate customer service; when it comes to promoting teamwork, they are naturals.

Also within the depths of the website, you will find that 70% of their vacancies are fulfilled internally on promotion. This looks like and promotes itself as a great place to work. Now that’s good, but part of me with an HR hat on says “are you trying so hard because you find it that hard to attract employees?” I hope not would be my personal conclusion, and certainly the whole employment story hangs together well from front to back.

The application system took me a while to work out. You enter your postcode, and they find the five nearest restaurants to you that are recruiting. Now, it doesn’t say this, it just says the five nearest restaurants. The five nearest to me in Wales recruiting were in Birmingham and along the M6 to Manchester – so at least it doesn’t get your hopes up, and give you false jobs to apply for. It suggest to me that waltzing into a BK and handing in your CV would not be worth it, unless you had an existing employee recommendation or saw that your local restaurant was recruiting.

When you do find a job available and apply, then you get a job application form to fill in, a box to attach your existing CV, and need to place in the hours you are available for. If you really want a job, then just accept any hours. Again, a quick check at LinkedIn gave lots of opportunity.

Starbucks Jobs

Next we are off for a coffee at Starbucks. Now, I really want to stress the point here with these types of employers and job applications, that looking through and reading their websites can really help your job application, and Starbucks illustrates that better than most.

The tabs on the left of the screen tell you what they think you should do to apply for a job with them, hence why the tabs are ordered: About Starbucks; History of Starbucks; Mission Statement; Starbucks in the UK; Careers at Starbucks; Contact Starbucks; Myths and Facts; Press Room; For Business; Frequently Asked Questions. They are telling you to read the website in that order before applying.

Like the others, Starbucks has an opening statement:

Starbucks is a genuinely different place to work – passionate partners (we’re not “employees”) handcrafting delicious beverages in great locations across the country. And we’re still expanding – we always have great opportunities for people who want to be a part of something special.

The actual job application takes place on Starbucks dedicated Support Centre website (provided by Taleo), which is plain compared to their own well developed and customer fronting branded website. I eventually found a job to apply for, and on clicking on the “Apply Online” button was then met by a large legal Privacy Clause, which meant that I had to verify that the information I was about to input was genuine. Once agreed to, if you have not applied for a Starbucks job before, then you need to register – I didn’t go any further from this point.

I checked LinkedIn for Starbucks contacts, and again there were good levels of partners and managers available to ask questions of.

Pizza Express Jobs

The last Food Retail Jobs I check were from Pizza Express – the only UK based chain here, but that is a reflection of the established and large employers in the sector. To find the separate jobs website, you have to go right to the bottom of their customer website: so a nice little test! The dedicated careers website opens with:

When we opened our first restaurant in 1965, we started a tradition of excellent food and delightful service. What better way to make your mark on that tradition than by joining the team at one of our restaurants? Please click below to discover more about a management or team role or one within one of our brand new restaurants.

Nice! You then have to choose between management roles, team roles or new openings. Each section has more information dedicated to that type of role, but note that at the bottom of each page it says that to learn more about Pizza Express, you should go to their main website: again, another nice test!

For team roles, after learning all about the role, they tell you to go to your local restaurant and speak to the manager, taking a copy of your Professional CV with you. So, a lot of effort for not a lot of return, and I think on Pizza Expresses half a lost opportunity – an online application system would capture more people, or perhaps this says that they already have enough job applicants?

The management section is more in depth and informational, and does include an online application system. Right at the bottom there is a “speculative application” job, which they tell you to apply for if you can’t find a suitable vacancy at present. Although a search of LinkedIn failed to turn up much, a Google search gave me good contacts in both the HR, Operational and Board level teams – so a direct approach would be my preferred/advised route over clicking the speculative application button.

Food Retail Job Application

Overall, the exercise to me proved a few things:

• Much as though you may want to work in a sector, in this case Food Retail Jobs, the subtle or obvious differences between companies in the same sector will immediately include/exclude you and your approach from employment with that organisation. Their personalities are stamped all over their websites and type of job applications
• In this sector, as opposed to a Technical CV where qualifications and certification come first, attitude and capability come to the fore here. I bet as part of their process, these people are also asking: “Can you learn under instruction?”
• Each organisations has given potential job applicants both large hints about what they look for in a suitable employee, and what they expect you to have read before applying. Missing these simple hints and guides will cost you employment
• Where some use online systems and some don’t, there was still a direct option if you were willing to just find it: easily at LinkedIn.

Good Luck!

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5 Responses to “Food Retail Jobs”

1. Tweets that mention Food Retail Jobs | Professional CV -- Topsy.com Says:
   June 8th, 2010 at 6:44 pm

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2. Britt Smith Says:
   June 29th, 2010 at 9:04 pm

   Exceedingly great article you have here. As one blogger to my fellow one, I know how tough and how much energy it takes to conjure up something tangible and good. Respect.

3. Carmon Merk Says:
   June 30th, 2010 at 6:53 pm

   Hello, I do not normally put up comments on blogs, as I wish to read only. However I find the article that you’ve got written earlier has very insightful data, and I find it very informational.

4. Hershel Barer Says:
   July 3rd, 2010 at 7:23 pm

   I very much enjoyed your blog. Great posts!

5. Ross Says:
   July 26th, 2010 at 5:07 pm

   A good insight into the companies behind the vacancies. I didn’t think there were any krispy kremes in the UK! I remember watching the movie Zombieland recently and there was a guy who spent the whole film looking for some of their doughnuts.

   I put in my postcode (I live in the South West) and there wasn’t a Krispy Kreme for 100′s of miles

   ==============
   I don’t think we or they recognise how quickly our supermarkets react these days to competition. The only time I see a Krispy Kreme is on the concourse at Paddington railway station! For us their brand is a premium purchase, and it doesn’t look at all like those raspberry jam filled one’s that Granddad bought you for a 20p. When Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons can do you a pack of five round glazed doughnuts for £1 – less than the cost of one at KK’s – who needs Krispy Kreme?

   Nice and informative website by the way you have at Argos Careers – its very informative for job seekers, and certainly one of the better ones.