The Unexpected Way McDonald's Is Conducting Interviews During The Pandemic

This year, over 22 million Americans lost their jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic, and only 42 percent of those positions have been recovered as the United States begins to heal from the health crisis (according to Market Watch). One field that is seeing a high amount of jobs reinstated is the restaurant industry. According to the outlet, the sector initially lost over 6 million employees in March and April of 2020, but has now brought back about 3.4 million of those positions.

While this number is encouraging for those looking to rejoin the industry, it can be a little confusing as to how interviews work while adhering to new safety measures put into place by these companies to protect their employees. Recently, McDonald's announced an ingenious answer to their in-person interview problem, using a solution that had been staring them in the face since 1975: the drive-thru.

NBC San Diego reported that 15 McDonald's locations in the San Diego area will be offering drive-thru interviews on Wednesday, July 16. All anyone interested has to do is show up between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. that day at one of the participating locations — no scheduled time slot required. If you're interested in attending the drive-thru hiring event, you can check this list of participating locations to find the nearest one to you; if you are unable to join, you can text "worksforme" to 36453 or go to the McDonald's career site to apply.

It's apt that these Southern California McDonald's locations are choosing to make use of their drive-thru windows for the hiring event, as the McDonald's website states that the feature was originally introduced as a solution to a very specific problem. In 1974, McDonald's franchisee David Rich installed a sliding window in his Sierra Vista, Arizona restaurant so they could better serve the local army base. At the time, soldiers were not permitted to appear while wearing their fatigues in public, but with this new window anyone could now order and receive food without ever leaving their car.

Meanwhile if you don't live in California, well, you may still be in luck, as the chain announced in mid-June that they are looking to hire around 260,000 employees nationwide. The Waxahachie TX Daily Light was told that over 360 McDonald's restaurants in North Texas alone are looking to hire 2,500 new employees this fall. Hopefully the drive-thru hiring event in Southern California will prove to be a success, and inspire other regions to hold them as well.