How to Make Your Next Baker Hire

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Last updated at 09-16-2020 16:16:11

Overview

Methodology

More than 8,791 companies advertise 108,429 Baker jobs on SimplyHired and its partner sites each year. After analyzing job postings and salary information from these companies, as well as direct job seeker feedback, we’ve compiled a list of insights to show you how to attract and hire your next Baker most efficiently.

Hiring Process

In the past quarter, we’ve seen 23,517 job posts from 2,932 employers in the United States. This is a increase of 29.7% compared to the previous quarter. On average, there are 46 Baker job seekers for every active Baker job, which shows that it is a job seeker's market.

Writing a Job Description

In the past quarter, Baker, Customer Service Representative, Warehouse Worker, Retail Sales Associate, Delivery Driver, Receptionist, Cashier, Sales Associate, Administrative Assistant, and Pastry Cook seem to be the most sought after jobs amongst the Baker candidates in the United States. This differs from the last six quarters, where the most popular titles were: Baker, Customer Service Representative, Retail Sales Associate, Warehouse Worker, Receptionist, Delivery Driver, Sales Associate, Cashier, Administrative Assistant, and Front Desk Agent. If you use one of these currently popular titles in the job description, you'll likely be able to attract a lot more candidates to apply.

For the Baker candidates who are actively applying to jobs in this same period, we see that 22.1% of the active Baker candidates have less than 3 years of experience, 22.2% have between 3-5 years of experience, 27.1% have 6-10 years of experience, and 28.7% have over 10 years of experience. The average years of experience has shifted from an estimated 7.6 years to 7.6 years. If you're posting a job in today's market, expect candidates with about the same experience level to apply to your job compared to the last 2 quarters.

In the previous quarter, the most popular skills that employers are looking for include baking, time management, communication skills, customer service, restaurant experience, English, food service, culinary experience, computer skills, and basic math. Demand for baking, food handling, food preparation, Spanish, restaurant experience, computer skills, multilingualism, supervising experience, English, and math has significantly increased. If you are looking for a Baker with a similar skill set, be sure to follow industry best practices in skill requirements.

Job posts with salary information received about 1.9 as many applies as those without it. In the past quarter, less than 20.8% of the job posts displayed salary information. By adding salary information to your job posting, you could potentially increase the number of applicants by approximately 90.0%.

Example Baker responsibilities

  • Combining ingredients according to recipes and taste tests
  • Weighing, measuring, and mixing ingredients
  • Preparing dough and other ingredients according to recipes or guidelines
  • Keeping logs of ingredients and the preparation of food items
  • Performing quality control checks on products or packaging

Recruiting

Active Recruiting

When reaching out to candidates, it’s best to understand where to look. We’ve identified hiring trends in states as well as companies regularly hiring for Baker positions. This should provide a good place to start looking for qualified candidates. According to our data in the last quarter: California, Texas, Florida, Illinois, and New York are the states that have the highest demand for Bakers. California, Texas, Florida, New York, and Illinois are where most job seekers are searching for Baker jobs. If we look at the Baker to job ratio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Ohio, North Dakota, and Maryland have the lowest number of Baker applicants per job. Hawaii, Mississippi, Arkansas, Nevada, and Louisiana have the most active Baker job seekers per job.

Passive Recruiting

While actively recruiting candidates for your role, you should also post your job to SimplyHired. By posting for free and paying only for the qualified applicants you want, your post will automatically go to a network of job boards to reach millions of qualified candidates. With SimplyHired, it doesn’t end with the post. You can track your applicants throughout the hiring process with our simple and easy to use Applicant Tracking System (ATS).

Review Candidates

In the last quarter, we estimate there are 1,072,075 job seekers interested in Baker opportunities in the United States. That’s a 43.3% increase compared to the previous quarter with 750,292 active job seekers. Around 22.1% of the active Baker candidates have less than 3 years of experience, over 22.2% have between 3-5 years of experience, 27.1% have 6-10 years of experience, and 28.7% have over 10 years of experience. The average experience level of the available Baker candidates is 7.6 years. Active candidates in the Baker profession most commonly have high school diplomas, followed by associate's degrees, bachelor's degrees, and master's degrees. When setting education requirements for your position, aligning with the industry standard makes it easier to find potential candidates. Application rates indicate that Baker candidates are likely experiencing a market in which applicants have less negotiating power. From an employer perspective, you'll have a greater selection of candidates to choose from and may want to invest in automated screening tools.

Interviewing Candidates

Interview Process

*Self-reported data collected from 8,496 Bakers from 1/1/2020 to 6/30/2020, via online employer reviews for companies including Panera Bread, Tim Hortons, Dunkin' Donuts, Crumbl Cookies, Whole Foods Market, The Cheesecake Factory, Nothing Bundt Cakes, Walmart, Golden Corral Corporation, and Kroger Stores.

After analyzing post-interview data from Baker candidates in the last 6 months, we see more than 57.9% of the candidates self-reported being hired within 1 to 2 days. Around 92.8% of the candidates for this job reported being hired within 2 weeks. If your process takes longer than 2 weeks in the recent market, you'll likely lose these candidates to other employers. Most of the Baker candidates are expecting a on-site interview, phone call/screening, background check, and group interview. Most employers do not require a written test, problem solving exercises, or drug test. If you are trying to hire your next Baker quickly, consider simplifying and streamlining the hiring process. As for the interview experience, more than 63.2% of the candidates had a good or great interview experience, and more than 55% of the candidates thought that the interview leaned more towards easy.

Example Interview Questions

  • Describe what you like about baking?
  • Do you consider yourself artistic?
  • How do you ensure your work is consistent?
  • How long does it take you to prepare ingredients and bake a batch of cookies and how much does it cost?
  • Where do you see this position in five years?

Final Review and Offer

Reference Check

Checking references is a quick and easy way to check for any red flags that didn’t arise to this point in the hiring process. Great insights can be provided by former colleagues and employers.

Crafting an Offer: Salary and Benefits

The average Baker salary offered by employers increased for 2 out of 6 consecutive quarters in the United States. In the last quarter, we see a decrease of 15% from $43,762.18 to $37,197.29 compared to the quarter before, which is on par with the past 6 quarters. For Baker positions, the most common benefits job seekers reported being offered by employers include: discounts by 69.5%, healthcare insurance by 37.6%, paid time off by 34.9%, dental insurance by 28.4%, a 401k plan by 24.6%, vision insurance by 24.6%, and stock options/grants by 5.0%. While still relatively rare, more and more employers now offer flexibility benefits, including maternity leave, sabbaticals, somewhat remote, paternity leave, flexible working hours, mostly remote, fully remote, and location variety, to attract and retain Baker candidates to their organization.

Background Check and Drug Test

According to self-reported job seeker feedback, 16.5% of the employers conducted a background check, and 7.8% of the employers conducted a drug test prior to the hiring of their Baker candidates.

Onboarding

When you’re ready to hire a Baker, SimplyHired is here to help with your next steps. Our Human Resources Information System (HRIS) provides onboarding tools and other essential HR tools. From document signing to time off tracking, our HRIS will help you seamlessly move a Baker candidate through the hiring and onboarding process.
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