As it looks to revamp the “McJob,” McDonald’s highlights employees who have successfully climbed the ranks to top company positions as it recruits new hires.
C-store operators better hold on tight to their employees this April, as McDonald’s Corp. hosts a nationwide hiring event, to fill positions ranging from cashier to manager, scheduled for April 19.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the QSR giant has declared April 19 National Hiring Day, and along with its franchisees plans to recruit as many as 50,000 U.S. employees to add to its already 600,000-strong staff. The jobs available include a combination of full- and part-time positions that range from entry-level to managerial roles. McDonald’s hourly employees typically make more than minimum wage—often more than $8 an hour—a sum that varies by franchisee, according to a spokesperson.
While the total number of hires planned is on par with past years, folding the recruitment into a one day nationwide occasion is a new variation and marks the first time the chain has conducted a nationwide hiring event.
To reach prospective new hires, McDonald’s is placing ads in print magazines including People and Us Weekly, and using social-media channels to further spread the word, The Wall Street Journal reported. Ads are focusing on how employees have risen through the ranks after long careers. The company looks to revamp the way people think of the “McJob”—a term used as derogatory slang for low-paying, dead-end jobs usually in the kitchen area or behind the counter.
“We want to show people what a McJob really means to those of us who have them,” Jim Norberg, a senior vice president in McDonald’s restaurant support office told The Wall Street Journal. Norberg began his career at McDonald’s by making fries when he was 16. “About 40% of our company staff started out working in the restaurants, so the opportunities are out there in a big way.”
Beefing up staff with more part-time and seasonal workers would allow McDonald’s to decrease full-time staff, which would reduce costs at a time when health insurance and other full-time benefits are becoming more expensive for companies.
A spokeswoman for McDonald’s, however, told The Wall Street Journal that given the positions span from entry-level to manager, the event isn’t an effort to gain more part-time labor.
