Pasadena, CA -- (SBWire) -- 05/02/2011 -- McDonald's highly published National Hiring Day was successful in attracting thousands of job seekers throughout the country.
The total number of applicants has not been released so far. But from most local media reports it is clear that the number of applicants exceeded the number of available positions. Most of the jobs are entry-level jobs often disparaged by economists and academics as being McJobs; meaning that they are dead-end and low-paying jobs.
But McDonald's is trying to change that image by putting up senior level executives who have been able to work their way to the top after they started at the bottom. Jan Fields, president of McDonald's USA and Jim Norberg both started in entry-level positions. McDonald's has said that around 75 percent of their restaurant managers and around 40 percent of their corporate employees started there as lower-level restaurant workers.
The 50,000 available jobs cover both part-time and full-time jobs and range from entry-level associates to managerial positions.
Local media reports from Utah, New York, and Atlanta all reported hundreds of applicants streaming into the local McDonald's to apply all day long.
CEO of HospitalityCrossing A. Harrison Barnes says that there are several fast food and restaurant jobs available across the country. "For people who are long-term unemployed and do not want a larger gap on their resume, a stint at such a job would be great." HospitalityCrossing, a job aggregator site has been tracking all the jobs in the food and leisure industry. The site has found 56,000 jobs in the sector.
Mcdonald's National Hiring Results in Long Lines, Hospitalitycrossing Finds 56,000 Jobs in Industry