Key points at a glance
- A careers page on your own website is the foundation: every channel, from your Google profile to your Instagram story, links to the same up-to-date vacancy.
- A good job ad states salary, shifts, days off and the team in concrete terms. Replace phrases like “young, dynamic team” with facts.
- In Austria, every job ad must state the minimum pay under the collective agreement and, if you pay more, say so. In Germany, the minimum wage has been 13.90 euros since 2026 and rises to 14.60 euros in 2027.
- With JobPosting structured data, Google can show your vacancy in Google's job search, free of charge and with your website as the destination.
- Applying must take two minutes on a phone: a short form or WhatsApp, no CV required, a reply within 48 hours.
This post is general information and does not replace legal or tax advice. Rules change and some differ between federal states: check the details with your chamber of commerce (WKO) or IHK, the competent authority or your tax adviser.
Why your own website matters when hiring
Staff is the biggest issue in almost every hospitality business, from the restaurant and the café to the hotel. And people no longer search only through newspaper ads and notices on the door. Skilled workers and temps google, scroll through Instagram and TikTok and ask friends on WhatsApp. Before they apply, they almost always look at your website: what does the place look like, who works there, does it feel trustworthy?
Job boards have their place, but they have two drawbacks: they charge per ad or per month, and your vacancy sits among a hundred others. Your own careers page belongs to you. It is always available, shows your business as it really is and serves as the central address all other channels point to. People who can clearly see what to expect are more likely to apply, and the people who apply actually suit you.
- One address for everything: your Google profile, Instagram bio, WhatsApp status and the notice in your venue all link to the same page.
- Always up to date: you change a vacancy in one place, not on five portals.
- Google for Jobs: with the right data, your ad appears in Google's job search at no cost.
- Trust: team photos, real shifts and salary details are more convincing than any cliché.
The careers page: what belongs on it
A careers page does not have to be an elaborate recruiting portal. A single page called “Jobs” or “Join our team” is enough, easy to reach from the menu and the footer. It consists of a general part about working with you and the current vacancies. Each vacancy deserves its own subpage with its own address: Google for Jobs needs this, and you can link to exactly that job. Which other pages a hospitality website needs is covered in the guide on website content for restaurants.
What belongs on the careers page
- Two or three sentences on what your business stands for and how the team works
- Real photos of the team, the kitchen and the dining room, no stock photos
- What you offer: rota published in advance, days off, staff meals, tips, training, accommodation
- All open vacancies with a link to each job ad
- A short route to applying: form, email, phone or WhatsApp
- A contact person with name and photo
- Even with no vacancy: a sentence inviting speculative applications
A short video often works better than any text: 30 seconds with the head chef or the restaurant manager talking about what they enjoy about the job. You can use the same video on Instagram and TikTok. Only show staff members with their consent, ideally recorded in writing.
Writing the job ad
Most hospitality job ads sound the same: “We are looking for motivated staff (m/f/d) for our young, dynamic team.” That will not make you stand out. Applicants mainly want to know: what will I earn, when will I work, when am I off, and who will I work with? Answer these questions right at the top, in plain language, and leave out requirements that are not really necessary.
A clear job title
The title people search for: “Cook”, “Waiter / Waitress”, “Barista”, not “Culinary enthusiast”. Add the town, for example “Cook in Linz”.
Key facts first
Full or part time, hours per week, working days, shift times, salary, start date.
Tasks in three to five points
Concretely, what happens day to day, for example “meat and sides station in à la carte service”.
What you offer
Only what is really true: rota two weeks in advance, two consecutive days off, staff meals, tips, a room in the house.
What you expect
Only what is necessary. One “must” fewer often brings more applications than a long wish list.
How to apply, in one sentence
“Message us on WhatsApp or fill in the short form, no CV needed.”
You can have an AI assistant such as ChatGPT draft the ad text. But give it the facts: hours, salary, shifts, team. Otherwise you get exactly the interchangeable phrases nobody reads any more. Read the text aloud at the end: does it sound like you telling someone in your venue about the job?
How to get it right
- State salary and shifts concretely
- Write job titles the way people search for them
- Real photos and names from the team
- Allow applications without CV and cover letter
- Take the ad offline as soon as the job is filled
Better not
- Clichés like “resilient”, “flexible” or “young team”
- Asking for a particular age, gender or origin
- Promising benefits that do not exist in daily work
- PDF-only ads that are hard to read on a phone
- Leaving old vacancies online for months
Salary and mandatory details in Austria and Germany
Stating the salary is where the two countries differ most. In Austria it is mandatory; in Germany it is voluntary so far, but more and more applicants expect it. Both countries have one thing in common: job ads must be free of discrimination. A preferred gender, age or origin has no place in the ad.
| Austria | Germany | |
|---|---|---|
| Salary in the ad | Mandatory under § 9 (2) of the Equal Treatment Act (Gleichbehandlungsgesetz, GlBG): state the minimum pay under the collective agreement (Kollektivvertrag) and point out any willingness to pay more. A statement like “from … euros gross” is enough. | Voluntary so far. The EU Pay Transparency Directive will require that applicants learn the starting salary or a range before the interview; Germany missed the transposition deadline (7 June 2026), and there is no draft bill yet (as of November 2026). Until then, the Pay Transparency Act of 2017 applies. |
| Lower limit | Collective agreement for gastronomy and hotels: from 1 October 2026 an average of 3 percent more, in the lowest wage group around 2,100 euros gross per month full time, paid 14 times a year. The exact amounts are in the wage table for your federal state. | Statutory minimum wage 13.90 euros gross per hour since 1 January 2026, 14.60 euros from 1 January 2027. Minijob limit 2026: 603 euros a month. A collective agreement (Tarifvertrag), where it applies, may provide for more. |
| Wording | Gender-neutral (§ 9 (1) GlBG), for example “Koch / Köchin” or “Servicemitarbeiter:in”. | Free of discrimination under § 11 of the General Equal Treatment Act (AGG); the addition “(m/w/d)” is customary. |
| Breaches | For a missing minimum pay statement, first a warning, then an administrative fine of up to 360 euros for repeat breaches, in each case only on application by the applicant or the Equal Treatment Ombud (Gleichbehandlungsanwaltschaft). | A discriminatory ad can lead to compensation claims from rejected applicants. |
Even without an obligation, stating the salary pays off in Germany: ads with a salary seem more honest, and you avoid interviews with people whose expectations are far from your offer. Google for Jobs also shows the salary directly in search if you include it in the structured data.
Google for Jobs and structured data
Anyone who searches Google for “waiter jobs Graz” or “cook vacancy Regensburg” gets a dedicated box with job ads at the top. This is Google's job search, often called “Google for Jobs”. It is available in Austria and Germany and costs nothing. Google collects vacancies from job boards and from employer websites. For your own page to appear there, every job ad needs structured data of the type “JobPosting”: invisible information in the source code that tells Google what is being advertised. How structured data works in general is explained in the guide on structured data for hospitality websites.
| Property | Required or recommended | Example |
|---|---|---|
| title | Required | Cook (full time) |
| description | Required | The full ad text with tasks, working hours and offer |
| datePosted | Required | Date of publication |
| hiringOrganization | Required | Name of the business, website, logo |
| jobLocation | Required | Address of the venue |
| baseSalary | Recommended | Actual pay per hour or month, not an estimate |
| employmentType | Recommended | Full time, part time, temporary, casual |
| validThrough | Recommended, required if there is an expiry date | Until when the job is advertised |
| directApply | Recommended | Whether people can apply directly on the page |
- One job, one page: each ad needs its own address; a collective page with five jobs and no subpages will not appear in job search.
- Data and text must match: whatever is in the markup must also be visible on the page, including salary and location.
- Remove filled jobs: Google expects you to mark expired vacancies, through a past “validThrough” date, removing the markup or deleting the page. Otherwise a manual action may follow.
- Test: Google's Rich Results Test shows whether the markup is error-free. Search Console then shows how often your jobs are displayed and clicked.
- Found faster: Google recommends the Indexing API for job postings so that new and removed jobs are picked up quickly. A good website solution handles this in the background.
You can test in advance how your careers page looks in normal search results with the Google preview for title and description. A title like “Jobs at Gasthaus Linde, Linz: cook, service, temps” says immediately what it is about.
Spreading the word: Google profile, social media, AMS and employment agency
The careers page is the destination, but applicants reach it in many ways. The advantage: you write the ad only once and link to the same address everywhere. All applications end up in one place, and you can see which channel works.
| Channel | How to use it | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Google Business Profile | Post with a photo “We are hiring” and a link to the job; seen by guests and neighbours | People from the area, career changers |
| Team reel, story with link sticker, “Jobs” highlight, link in bio | Service, bar, baristas, young professionals | |
| TikTok | Short, honest videos from behind the counter, “A day as a cook with us” | Apprentices, pupils and students |
| Status, message to regulars and the team, applications directly in the chat | Referrals from your circle, temps | |
| AMS (AT) and Federal Employment Agency (DE) | Register the vacancy free of charge and refer to your careers page | Jobseekers, subsidised hires, apprenticeships |
| Notice and table stand | Short text and QR code to the careers page on the door, at the till or on the bill | Guests who already like your venue |
The details of each channel are covered in separate guides: how to publish posts in your Google Business Profile, how to reach people with Instagram for restaurants and TikTok for restaurants, and how to answer messages in an organised way with WhatsApp Business. The same applies to the team reel as to dishes: people beat polish.
Applying in two minutes: the short route
Many applications fail not for lack of interest but because of the route: upload a CV as a PDF, write a cover letter, create an account, and all of that on a phone. In hospitality, many people apply after work on the underground or during a break. Make it as easy as possible.
- Short form: name, phone, desired position, start date, a free text field. CV optional.
- WhatsApp button: one tap opens a chat with prepared text, for example “Hello, I am interested in the waiter position”.
- Phone number with times: “Call Anna between 2 and 5 pm.”
- Reply quickly: get back within 24 to 48 hours, ideally with an appointment for a trial shift or a first meeting.
- Reject kindly: people who receive a short, polite rejection may still recommend you.
Application data is personal data. The form needs a reference to your privacy policy, and you delete rejected applications as soon as you no longer need them. Keeping them for around six months is common, in case someone raises a discrimination claim. If you want to keep applications longer for future vacancies, ask for consent. What belongs in the privacy policy is explained in the guides on legal notice and privacy in Austria and legal notice and privacy in Germany.
Measuring applications and improving the ad
Without numbers, hiring remains a gut feeling. A simple list is enough: for each application note the date, position, channel and result, that is interview, trial shift, hire or rejection. Ask briefly in the form or in the first conversation: “How did you hear about us?” After a few weeks you will see whether Instagram brings temps, the AMS apprentices and Google the skilled staff.
Tag the channel
Different links per channel, for example with a tag for Instagram, WhatsApp and the notice, show in your website statistics where visitors come from.
Check Search Console
The performance reports show how often your jobs are displayed and clicked in Google's job search.
Calculate the rate
Visits to the job ad compared with applications. Many visits, few applications: the ad or the application route puts people off.
Change one thing
Make the salary more visible, change the title, shorten the form. Always one change at a time, then watch for two weeks.
Checklist for hiring through your website
- Careers page linked in the menu and footer
- A separate subpage for every open vacancy
- Salary, hours, shifts and days off in every ad
- In Austria: minimum pay under the collective agreement and willingness to pay more stated
- Gender-neutral wording or “(m/w/d)”
- JobPosting data added and tested
- Link in the Google profile, Instagram bio and WhatsApp status
- Vacancy registered with the AMS or the Federal Employment Agency
- Applying by phone possible in two minutes
- Filled vacancies removed immediately
Website with careers page and Google for Jobs
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