Through a special arrangement, what follows is an excerpt of a current article from Grocery Headquarters magazine, presented here for discussion.
If you asked today's teenagers to apply for a job the old-fashioned way, by filling out a paper form, they might not even remember how to work a pen. Text messaging and e-mailing come more naturally to the up-and-coming generation of supermarket workers.
But it isn't just tech-savvy teenagers who are becoming more adept at filling out electronic forms. As the public's comfort level with technology rises, more supermarkets are deploying hiring kiosks to streamline the process of applying for all types of jobs at the store.
In many ways, retailers say hiring kiosks are initial screeners in the employment process. Candidates who are at ease with using them or other hiring systems will likely have a higher comfort level with point-of-sale systems and other technologies proliferating in the store.
Supermarket executives also want to ensure that the right people are in the right jobs, a task that can be made easier by sorting electronic applications by skill level, experience and availability. While paper applications can be organized in a similar fashion, an electronic database makes the task less time-consuming and more accurate.
Some supermarkets are also incorporating some level of personality testing by using answers to specific questions to see where the candidate might best fit in the organization.
"Our software can help with behavioral assessments to match the right people to the right jobs. There's not much point in hiring the wrong people faster," says Steve Earl, director of product marketing for the talent management division of Kronos, Inc.
"The system makes it easy to identify candidates that are likely to succeed, those who may succeed and those who are not likely to succeed based on how they answer in the screening process," adds Greg Buehler, director of training and development for Buehler Food Markets, which uses a web-based version of the software and plans to roll out kiosks in stores next year.
Another benefit of the paperless hiring process is that applications can be kept on file and referenced for a period of time, and shared among managers.
"While this is possible with a paper-based system, realistically, it is much less likely that the manager is going to dig an application out of a stack of paper," says Eric Edwards, principal product manager for Peopleclick, Inc., a hiring software provider. "There is a constant need for good employees. But with antiquated hiring processes, some talented people may be shut out if they don't walk through the door at the right time."
Discussion Question: What do you think of the advantages of in-store hiring kiosks over paper hiring forms? What other ways can retailers improve the initial steps of the store hiring process?