Pub People claims recruitment drive through Facebook is a success

Mark Gallagher sales and marketing director at Pub People, which runs 48 pubs, said that after posting links to the vacancies, he received six applicants, of which three were suitable for the jobs. The company recruited two waiting staff and one sous chef.

He said: “We’ve struggled as a company to recruit new staff, and using Facebook was never part of our strategy or plan, it will be now.

“We use Facebook a lot. It’s something that we had never dreamed of doing for recruiting. I didn’t think people would be interested in applying for a job through Facebook."

Gallagher said he usually advertises for staff in the local paper, and has recently started using website Gumtree. With local paper advertising, he said that often the company does not receive any applicants. Through Gumtree, he has received up to 100 applicants, of which he has recruited just two.

Gallagher puts this down to young people not reading the local paper, but using Facebook every day. He said: “I think the people that use Facebook are quite young and would not necessarily read the local paper.”
He noted that with the next vacancy, the company may experiment with online-only advertising.