Racino Seeking Range of Skills for Fall Opening
AUSTINTOWN, Ohio -- Skills specific to the gaming industry aren’t required for a job or career with the Hollywood Gaming at Mahoning Valley Race Course. Just ask Mike Galle whose career path started not at the bottom, but below sea level.
“I got into the gaming industry interestingly. I was an electronic surveillance support technician on a submarine,” Galle, general manager of the Austintown racino and a vice president with its operator, Penn National Gaming Inc., recalled.
After leaving the U.S. Navy, Galle, who has been with Penn National for 19 of his 23 years in the gaming industry, began his career in surveillance to supplement his income while attending college. “I loved the industry. I continued to grow in the industry,” he recalled. “I got my business finance degree and then kept going up through the business,” serving as director of surveillance, director of slot operations, vice president of operations, assistant general manager and now general manager, he said.
Galle and several members of the local Hollywood Gaming team were on hand Thursday to announce the formal kickoff of hiring efforts for the race track and gaming center, which is slated to open this fall. The facility will open with 850 video lottery terminals, a range of dining and beverage options, a sports bar and an entertainment venue. Thoroughbred racing will begin Nov. 24. The gaming floor will have the potential to expand to up to 1500 VLT units.
The first of two job fairs will be held June 9 from noon-8 p.m. in the Austintown Plaza space formerly occupied by Fashion Bug, next to Party On. A second event is set for June 25 at Stambaugh Auditorium in Youngstown. Candidates interested in attending the June 9 event must first complete an online application at www.hollywoodmahoningvalley.com/Careers. The gaming center is hiring to fill some 400 positions initially. About 65% of the jobs will be full-time positions and the remainder part-time jobs.
The intent of the job fair is to introduce the company to the community and to provide job candidates with general information and steer them in the right direction, Galle said. That sets them up for a second round of interviews referred to as “casting calls,” group interviews “where we really look for personality at that time,” he continued. Candidates who pass that audition move onto a third round of interviews.
“A lot of us have been with this company for a long time, and we’re excited about bringing new team members under our fold,” Galle said. Job opportunities include food and beverage personnel, video lottery terminal technicians and attendants, and staff in finance, accounting, player services, racing operations, facilities, environmental services, security and surveillance.
Racing positions include mutuel tellers to accept wagers, positions at the gate and in track maintenance, track announcer and track veterinarian, said Mark Loewe, vice president of Ohio racing operations.
“We want people with great customer service skills that benefit our patrons, and [who] love to serve our patrons,” Galle said. “If a team member has great customer service skills, we can train the rest. So at the end of the day, that’s what we’re looking for.” The hiring process will include background checks, including testing for nicotine. “We are a nicotine-free site,” he said.
“It’s about a health and wellness initiative,” he continued. The company also conducts weight-loss events through the year and only healthy foods are served in the onsite team dining room.
Supervisors probably will begin work in July, with the remaining positions being filled through mid-August, Galle said.
Pay for entry-level hourly workers ranges from $30,000 to $40,000 annually, including tips. Full-time team members are eligible for benefits including health insurance, 401K, employee assistance, short- and long-term disability, tuition reimbursement, bereavement leave and paid time off.
Policies are still being put in place for tuition reimbursement, said Queeta Hewitt, director of human resources. “Obviously we will require a certain grade point average, a grade of B or higher in order to get reimbursement,” she said. Courses would have to be applicable to the gaming industry as well.
Fields such as finance and information technology are among those that would qualify, Galle said. “This is one way for us to get them the training necessary for them to continue to grow,” he said. “We do everything in house so we have a finance department. We have a human resources department, an IT department on top of all the operating positions.”
On hand for the press event as an example of how employees grow in the company in just a few years was Holly Waingrow, a Toledo native who, with no prior gaming experience, started as a dealer and is now human resources business partner.
In 2008, Waingrow was laid off from a manufacturing position and “thought it would be cool to become a blackjack dealer” as she went to school. “I have thoroughly enjoyed the culture, which has definitely kept me more interested in moving with the company,” she said.
In addition to attempting to hire primarily from the Youngstown-Warren metropolitan area -- the objective is 90% local hiring -- another goal is to source as many products from local vendors, which contributes to the estimated 1,000 direct and indirect jobs referenced. “A lot of vendors that are providing those products are going to have to expand their staff just to give us the products in a timely basis, and the supply and amount of product that we need,” Galle said.
Local bands will also be sought to provide entertainment and plans are being put together to determine what entertainment will be offered during the non-racing season. “We have to study the local community and what entertainment works in this area in order to target that,” he said.
Loewe expects many of the horses and trainers racing at the track to come from the Cleveland market, where the Thistledown track is now racing. Per an agreement with the Ohio Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, Mahoning Valley will “share the year’ with Thistledown. There will not be overlap,” he said. “It gives the horsemen the opportunity to race at both venues.”
Copyright 2014 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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