‘Tis the season for Chipotle to make its big hiring push.
The fast-casual chain on Wednesday said it is looking to hire 20,000 workers between March and May for the upcoming “Burrito Season,” its busiest time of year. The 3,700-unit chain is also working toward the goal of reaching 7,000 units across North America, which means roughly doubling the existing workforce of more than 130,000.
“Burrito Season presents candidates with an opportunity to start here, stay here and reach their career goals with us,” said Ilene Eskenazi, Chipotle’s chief human resources officer, in a statement. “As current team members have demonstrated, our restaurants can be the foundation of a fulfilling career, and we’re committed to bringing in the best candidates who share our values and onboarding them as efficiently as possible.”
As it has in past years, Chipotle is launching a “Behind the Foil” TV campaign to showcase what it’s like to work as a crew member. These are apparently real crew members, even though they look like actors.
Here’s Justin Hudson, certified training manager and Restaurateur in Phoenix.
The company is also promoting the career potential available.
Crew members, for example, can advance to the Restaurateur level in as little as three and a half years, at which point they can potentially earn about $100,000 while leading a multi-million-dollar business, the company said.
The chain boasts five (of 11) regional vice presidents who started as crew members and now manage regions with billions in sales.
The campaign also spotlights the employment benefits, like the opportunity to earn a crew bonus, which is essentially an extra month’s pay each year, as well as access to mental health care, English-as-a-second-language classes, tuition reimbursement and debt-free college degrees, free meals and more. And, beginning this year, workers will have free access to the Calm app to help manage stress and learn how to live more mindfully.
The company said retention rates for workers enrolled in the education programs are two times higher, and participating crew members are six times more likely to move into management.
Last year, the company promoted 23,000 team members and 85% of all restaurant management role promotions were internal. At the Field Leader level, at which people are responsible for eight restaurants in a region, 84% have been promoted internally.
And recruits can now get started working at Chipotle faster.
Last year, the chain announced a partnership with Paradox to leverage AI to speed the hiring process. Using a hiring bot named Ava Cado who is the first point of contact, the time it takes for a candidate to complete their application and start on the job has dropped from 12 to four days, and Chipotle has nearly doubled its applicant flow, with application completion rates climbing to 85% (from 50% previously).
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