Looking for a cook? Some phrases fill the white hat faster than you can bake a soufflé. Others fall flat.
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Are you hiring for a cook?

As a recruiter or hiring manager, there are almost infinite ways that you could write a job listing. It can be a daunting task — especially when your competitors are all drinking from the same candidate pool.

Textio has found that across the board, language that’s engaging and specific to the position you’re trying to attract works best for filling an empty role. But even with that in mind, it’s hard to know where to start without data to guide you. Consider that the language changes when you’re hiring for different job types and the task becomes even more complicated.

So what if you’re trying to hire a cook?

We polled Twitter yesterday and asked which of the terms “crew,” “excellent training,” or “passion” was the best for hiring a cook quickly. Voters chose “passion” by more than 2-to-1, followed by “crew” and “excellent training” each with 20% of the vote.

Twitter poll that reads: "Quiz for restaurant recruiting: Looking for a cook? One of these phrases works best for hiring fast. Which one do you think?". 60% guessed "passion", 20% guessed "excellent training", and 20% guessed "crew"

Textio’s data reveals that “crew” is actually by far one of the best words to use if you’re trying to fill a cook position on short notice. Job listings that contain the word “crew” have an 11% chance of filling more quickly than the industry average.

It’s interesting to note that “passion,” which won the Textio poll, actually has a negative impact on time-to-fill. Job posts that contain the word “passion” fill more slowly than the industry norm, almost doubling the average time it takes to find the right person.

Graph showing likelihood that a cook job post will fill quickly when it contains specific phrases: "crew" +11.3%, "excellent training" +9.3%, "passion" -6.2%

Allow me to bring in Textio Product Specialist Corey Tolleth—who has worked in the culinary industry from small Italian bistros to international cruise ships—to explain why “crew” matters:

“It’s 100% how everyone works together and gets along, because a kitchen is (ideally) a well-oiled machine with lots of mildly interchangeable parts.”

If you’re looking to fill a chef role, take a word (literally) from the textio database — prioritize your people and the data predicts you’ll see results.

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