Sourcing Challenges
While Applebee’s has a strong brand presence and generally has no trouble staffing its restaurants, hiring for assistant manager roles in remote locations presented a unique challenge.
In small-town markets across Minnesota, New Hampshire, Maine, and Ohio, traditional job boards like Indeed and ZipRecruiter were yielding little to no candidate flow.
In these remote areas, most qualified candidates relied on referrals or word-of-mouth for new opportunities rather than job boards. However, they were still highly engaged on social media, making passive candidate sourcing a critical strategy.
Solution
Applebee’s leveraged Hireline’s social media-driven recruitment platform to reach passive candidates who weren’t actively searching but were open to new opportunities.
By launching targeted campaigns in difficult-to-staff locations, Applebee’s increased qualified candidate flow several-fold within just one week.
Instead of relying solely on job boards, Applebee’s was able to engage candidates who were already working in similar roles but had not yet started a formal job search.
With Hireline, Applebee’s strategically focused its efforts on remote markets where passive candidates were the only viable talent pool, ensuring a steady stream of potential hires.
Results
Applebee’s saw a 5x increase in candidate flow, transforming previously stagnant hiring pipelines into steady applicant streams.
In locations that previously saw just one application per week on a good week, hiring managers were now receiving 3-5 weekly applications through Hireline, significantly improving their ability to make strong hires.
By integrating passive candidate sourcing, Applebee’s successfully staffed difficult markets and provided its hiring managers with more qualified candidates, ultimately strengthening restaurant leadership across multiple locations.