Labour market for café workers1

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1This report forms part of the analysis of results of the Department of Employment’s research into entry level labour markets. The main report is at:

Key findings

  • There are large numbers of job seekers competing for café worker vacancies and employers readily fill their vacancies.
  • Most roles in this occupation do not involve the service of alcohol and are therefore open to people aged under 18.
  • Most employers require applicants to have on-the-job experience(71%).
  • The vast majority of employers required applicants to work on weekends or after hours.
  • Due to the large applicant fields, candidates who lacked experience, had poor presentation or were not available to work the hours or days required were generally considered unsuitable.
  • Applicants’ soft skills are very important to employers. They generally seek workers with strong customer service skills and the right personality and fit for theirbusiness.
  • Regional employers attract markedly fewer applicants than those in metropolitan areas but most still have the choice of multiple suitable applicants.

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Opportunities

  • This occupation can be a good entry point to the labour market for young workers.
  • Most employers do not requirecafé attendants to have undertaken formal training or have any certification.
  • Barista training and food safety certifications, though, are likely to enhance candidates’ competitiveness in the selection process.
  • Around half of surveyed employers advertised for positions that did not require experience or had minimal (six months or less)experience needs.
  • One of the common reasons for applicants being considered unsuitable, poor personal presentation, is reasonably easy to address.

Barriers

  • Lack of experience is a significant barrier to entry to this labour market. Relatively few employers are open to hiring candidates without experience.
  • There is very strong competition between job seekers for vacancies. Accordingly, employers are usually able to recruit experienced workers even if they are willing to take on an applicant with no experience.
  • Lack of availability is also a major reason applicants are consideredto be unsuitable, with nearly half of surveyed employers discounting applicants for this reason.
  • Many employers were looking for people with specific personality traits, such as being self-confident and outgoing, making it difficult for people who do not interview confidently to be successful.

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Survey results

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Recruitment outcomes

  • Competition for café worker vacancies is strong, with employers able to choose from multiple suitable candidates.Accordingly, employers generally had little difficulty filling their vacancies.
  • Reflecting the strong applicant numbers, 80% of surveyed employers commented that the applicants they hired either met or exceeded their expectations.

Results at a glance

% of vacancies filled / Average no. of applicants per vacancy / Average no. of suitable applicants per vacancy
Café worker / 89 / 47 / 6
All other occupations / 88 / 42 / 7

By location

  • Employers across most states filled more than 85% of their vacancies. Those located in the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory, however, were more likely to be unable to fill their vacancies.
  • Employers in Queensland attracted markedly larger fields of candidates (97 per vacancy, on average).
  • Regional employers attracted significantly fewer applicants and suitable applicantscompared with metropolitan employers.

oThere is some evidence to suggest that employers in regional areas have some difficulty filling full-time and part-time vacancies compared with casual vacancies with variable hours. Sample sizes in these areas, though, are small.

Results by state*

* Results for Tasmania, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory have been excluded due to the small sample size in these locations.

Results by region

% of vacancies filled / Average no. of applicants per vacancy / Average no. of suitable applicants per vacancy
Metro / 90 / 55 / 6
Non-metro / 87 / 17 / 3

Experience and skill requirements

  • Most employers were seeking applicants with experience. Just 27% of vacancies were open to applicants without any experience, slightly below the average across all other occupations (29%).

Proportion of employers who would take on applicants without experience

  • Around 24%of employers were looking for candidates with up to six months experience and 29% required applicants to have six months to 1 year of experience.
  • Employers were generally looking for workers with customer service experience in the food service industry, although some specifically sought experienced café workers.

Level of experience sought by employers (% of employers)

Personal qualities or attributes sought

  • Relatively few employers recruiting for café workers reported that they expected candidates to have done some research into their business. Only 18% had this requirement while a further 5% mentioned it was advantageous to the candidate (the lowest proportions across the assessed entry level occupations).
  • Employers recruiting for café workers valued a wide range of personal attributes. Required soft skillsincluded

ocustomer service

ointerpersonal or people skills

oteamwork.

Personal qualities or attributes employers consider necessary (%ofemployers, multiple responses allowed)

Training, tickets and licences

  • Aside from on-the-job experience, employers had minimal requirementsfor candidates in terms of formal training, tickets and licences.

oOnly a quarter of employers required successful applicants to have completed specific training or hold tickets or licences.

  • These requirements were varied but commonly mentioned training and tickets were: barista or coffee related training (13%); Responsible Service of Alcohol ticket (13%); food safety or food handling training (11%).
  • While almost all employers provided training for successful café worker candidates, it was largely limited to onthejob training, inductions or in-house training.

School leavers

  • Nearly half of surveyed employers hiring café workers indicated that they would consider hiring a school leaver or school-age applicant without the required experience(47%).
  • In practice, however, employers tend to opt for experienced candidates.

Reasons for unsuitability

  • The most common reason for applicants being considered unsuitable was a lack of on-the-job experience (mentioned by more than half of employers).

oEven in positions where experience was not required, more than 20% of employers found applicants unsuitable due to lack of experience. This reflects the high level of competition from more experienced job seekers.

  • Applicant availability was another key reason for unsuitability. More than 40% of employers indicated that they would not hire an applicant who had very limited availability.
  • While mentioned considerably less frequently, the personality of an applicant was also a consideration for employers (15% of employers mentioned this).

oSome suggested that shy applicants who lacked confidence were often regarded as being unsuitable.

  • Poor personal presentation was a reason for some employers immediately ruling out candidates.

Key reasons applicants were considered to be unsuitable (% of employers, multiple responses allowed)

Methods of recruitment

  • The most popular method of advertising vacancies was online,usinga range of Internet jobs boards and other sites.
  • Only 8% of employers used word-of-mouth to recruit café workers, the lowest proportion of the assessed entry level occupations.
  • Nearly one third of employers either continuously or often receive unsolicited résumés from jobseekers.

oFew surveyed employers, however, indicated theyrely on job seekers directly approaching them as a recruitment method.

Recruitment methods (% of employers, multipleresponses allowed)[1]

Approached directly by applicants over the past year (% of employers)

Employment arrangements

  • More than half of the surveyed employers were seeking to fill permanent café worker roles and almost half the vacancies were for full-timeemployment, with around a quarter for part-time hours.
  • The vast majority of employers (81%) required café workers to work on weekends, or outside usual business hours.

Employment status (% of employers)

Employment status / % share
Permanent employee / 56
Casual employee / 38
Temporary or contract employee / 5
Not stated / 1

Hours of work (% of employers)

Weekly working hours / % share
Full-time hours / 46
Part-time hours / 26
Variable hours / 15
Not stated / 13

Data above are from an audit of vacancies.

Analysis of café worker job advertisements

In addition to the telephone survey, an audit was conducted of café worker job advertisements. Vacancies for café workers were gathered over the period of a month from a single major recruitment site.

Below is a typical café worker advertisement (based on composite data).

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[1]‘Other internet sites’ includes free websites which offer a range of advertising services.