New generations always lament that job-seeking is not what it was in their parents’ day, and now the difference has grown even greater with the introduction of Apply Thru, a voice skill available from Amazon Alexa and Google Home. Apply Thru is a skill that lets users say, “Hey Alexa (or hey Google), help me get a job at McDonald’s.” The skill will then ask job seekers their name, location, and what job they want. After this, the individual will receive a text message with a link to a site where they can complete the rest of the application.
The old adage says that “80% of success is just showing up,” and McDonald’s hopes that, by eliminating the first step of applying for a job, more candidates will be motivated to complete the process. By creating the Apply Thru skill, the company says that the application process will become that much easier. It cuts out the first part of a lengthy (and often tedious) application process, as anyone who has ever filled out an online application can attest.
This isn’t the first time McDonald’s has been at the forefront of adopting new technology. The company recently invested in a voice-based A.I. program that will presumably be used at drive-thru windows. The Apply Thru skill is available not only in the United States, but also in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Spain, the U.K., and Italy, with even more countries expected to join in the future. At the moment, the skill is limited to Amazon Alexa and Google Home. Siri is not yet compatible.
McDonald’s released a statement highlighting the continued success of thousands of their former employees and the value of a job at the company as an effective stepping stone toward future success. Despite the relatively low unemployment rate, jobs can still be hard to come by, especially for first-time job seekers with no experience to make them stand out from other candidates. A service like Apply Thru will make it easier to start the job application process, but it might flood McDonald’s with thousands of new applications in an already saturated market and make it even more difficult for job seekers to land that all-important interview.
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