More than 1800 Interview for Racino Positions
AUSTINTOWN, Ohio -- Cindy Tudor is looking for something different. She recently returned to the Mahoning Valley to be with her family after living in San Diego for 20 years, which is why she stood in the very long line Monday in hopes of landing a job at Hollywood Gaming at Mahoning Valley Downs.
“It’s a new opportunity,” remarked Tudor, whose resume includes “a lot of different things” including administrative, legal and customer service positions. “I mainly worked in the administrative side of things for 20 years but I wanted to do something different. I love to work with people so this is a good opportunity.”
Tudor, of Youngstown, was among an estimated 1,800-plus applicants interviewed Monday at a job fair held at the Austintown Plaza. Hollywood Gaming, operated by Penn National Gaming Inc. of Wyomissing, Pa., is hiring to fill 400 full- and part-time positions at the thoroughbred racetrack and video lottery terminal parlor. It’s scheduled to open this fall.
The hiring event was the first of two job fairs scheduled by the company. The second is set for June 25 at Stambaugh Auditorium in Youngstown. The company’s objective, executives said, is to introduce Hollywood Gaming to the community and learn more about the personalities of the job applicants.
The job fair, which was expected to start at noon, got under way at least half an hour early to accommodate job seekers who started to arrive at 7 a.m. “We’re happy to actually finally get them in and to see their smiling faces and let them go about their business for the day,” said Scott Frost, director of marketing for the racino.
As of Monday morning, more than 1,900 job candidates had applied online, a requirement to be considered for a position. Once admitted to the job fair, applicants were directed to specific areas depending on the position sought. They were then interviewed in groups.
“They’re very quick interviews,” Frost said. With the information gathered during the online application, “If we like what we see today, we have an opportunity to call them back” and continue the process.
“We’re seeing a lot of smiling faces,” he continued. “That’s what’s important, or most important, because we end up training a lot of our employees. They won’t necessarily need to know about gaming and VLTs and different things specific to our business. If they have that smile and that personality we’re going to train them in all the technical aspects so they can be successful.”
“It’s a group interview so they really have a small period of time to demonstrate that red-carpet service and attributes we’re looking for,” added Mike Galle, general manager.
The job fair drew a diverse pool of applicants.
Jacqueline Stone of Youngstown, who works part time for a home-care agency, applied for a position in environmental services. She appeared confident that her interview went well. “A lot of people didn’t apply for environmental services because it’s cleaning bathrooms and trash and stuff like that,” she remarked.
Leah Clonch of Newton Falls, who works in housekeeping now, applied for a similar position. “I think it would be exciting to work at a casino,” she said. Just one other individual interviewed with her, “it was pretty quick, kind of personal,” shersaid. “It went good.”
Chris Patrone of New Middletown, who has held a variety of jobs in marketing, sales and education, came mostly out of curiosity about what “seems to be the best economic event, you could say, that’s happened in the area since the steel mills closed in 1977,” he said.
“I’m really impressed by their organization,” Patrone said. He applied for a position as a marketing coordinator. “I like meeting people. I like the way it sounded. Whether a job results from it or not, I hope Hollywood Gaming is very successful. It’s very good that it provides an economic benefit to the community.”
Kyle Clayton of Girard, who applied for a position in security, agreed that the racino would be good for the area. “It’s going to bring a lot of business here and I was interested in being a part of the new booming business,” he said.
Kyle Jones of Girard will graduate in August from Kent State University with a degree in public relations. “I thought what better way to obtain a job in my field than something local with a new company,” he said. “I like dealing with people. Agaming racino of this sort is going to allow me to expand upon the skills I learned in college.”
Curtis Davis of Youngstown, who applied for a position as a count room associate, said he is looking for some income to augment the eBay business he operates. “You can’t look at the same four walls every day,” he said.
Davis was impressed with the attitude of the Hollywood Gaming personnel Monday. “Even the person doing the interview, she was funny, which is rare when it comes to people trying to hire you,” he said.
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Copyright 2014 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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