FKG revs its search engine
FKG Oil Co. is finding its Wisconsin and Indiana units to be a tough sell for job seekers. “I’m willing to try just about anything to increase our applicant pool and make our managers happy,” says Mitch Abbett, human resources manager for the 79-unit convenience retail chain, based in Belleville, Ill. The chain recently upgraded its applicant tracking system, which digitizes recruitment elements such as job listings. The new system pushes FKG higher up in internet search results and allows the chain to constantly recruit with more evergreen job ads.
“Since we have switched, we have gotten a better, wider pool of applicants and have seen some improvement in the Wisconsin area,” Abbett says.
Its approach may be tech-forward, but the chain is courting more than millennials. “We are trying to market to everybody,” he says. “I definitely don’t want to throw away a boomer or Gen Xer. Nobody is too old to work in a c-store.” Abbett is also personally following up on passive applicants—those who might have started an online application but never finished.