- Assistant managers are becoming increasingly difficult to hire, per WSJ.
- One co-founder of a pizza chain said he didn't receive any applications for the role in 10 months.
- He even upped the annual salary for the position to $70,000 but still had no success.
Businesses across many industries are finding it extremely hard to retain workers and fill roles amid the labor shortage in the US.
But according to The Wall Street Journal, one particular role has become even more challenging to recruit for: assistant manager.
The co-founder of Square Pie Guys, a San Francisco pizza chain, said he tried to fill an assistant manager role for months and eventually had to give up, per The Journal.
"This job is seen particularly as thankless, overworked and underpaid — full stop," Danny Stoller told the publication.
Stoller said he advertised the position in November 2020 and didn't receive any applications from a qualified candidate. He even raised the annual salary over the 10-month period it was advertised from $55,000 to $70,000.
After two months, Stoller said he changed the role to a general manager position. "Applications shot up, and the company recently extended an offer to one candidate," The Journal's report said.
Square Pie Guys did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
A record number of Americans are quitting their jobs in search of better wages, benefits, and working conditions.
Some employees in the hospitality industry said they feel overworked and underpaid as a result of taking on too many roles during the labor shortage. For example, Dana Gurry, a store manager at Dairy Queen, said she quit her job after nearly 14 years for those reasons, Insider's Judy Brumley reported.
It's not just managers or assistant managers, however, who have stepped into vacant roles amid the labor shortage. Insider's Grace Dean reported that an 81-year-old retiree re-entered the workforce to take a job at her favourite restaurant after it shut its dining room due to staff shortages.
Recently, the vice mayor of a California city took up a third job at a local restaurant to tackle the city's labor shortage. "I decided to lead by example," Sarah Aquino told CBS News. If people can "get out there and help these businesses fill these positions, it helps the businesses while also helping the city of Folsom," she added.