By Briana Vannozzi
Correspondent
In a city known for luck, it’s been troublesome for residents to watch the resort town stay down on it for this long. But you won’t find doom and gloom here. Not with an opportunity that comes few and far between in Atlantic City — new jobs.
What is Taj Mahal employee Carlos Rivera looking for?
“Basically just a job opportunity,” he said. “I’m actually an employee for the Taj Mahal right now, and since they’re closing soon I’m looking for other employment.”
Rivera and hundreds of other hopefuls turned out for the Caesars Entertainment hiring fair at Bally’s. Turns out there are lots of casino jobs to be had, they’re just not all here in New Jersey.
“We are hoping to fill jobs here today for the Atlantic City properties. We’ve got part-time, full-time and even some seasonal positions left to fill. And then for our sister properties in Baltimore and Philadelphia, they’re hoping for the same,” said Caesars Entertainment Corporation Human Resources Director Debra Karver.
Baltimore’s Horseshoe and Philadelphia’s Harrah’s are here to recruit along with the Atlantic City properties, hoping to entice candidates to an area where the industry is booming.
“Gaming is very new in the state of Maryland overall, so we’ve really had a hard time finding experienced folks in the state of Maryland. It’s just new there, so we would love to bring the folks down who have the great experience from AC,” said Horseshoe Baltimore Senior Vice President and General Manager Erin Chamberlin.
“This time of year is not typically the time of year that we’d usually put together a larger hiring event, but we’re really, really interested in employing some of the folks that may be out of work with the Taj closing so we really wanted to, I guess target the employees from the Taj. Not only us, but Baltimore and Philly as well,” Karver said.
The recent announcement of Taj Mahal’s closing makes it the fifth casino to fold since 2014. The unemployment rate in Atlantic City is 9.4 percent, nearly double that of the state’s 4.9 percent with 5,400 jobs lost since the first casino closure in 2014.
“This outfit is very important because I think the casino industry right sided itself so those casinos that went out of business, the other casinos picked up market share. So they’re hiring. This is a great event. In fact I’m working with a group out of upstate New York that’s going to give a job fair next week,” said Atlantic City Employment and Job Training Director Eric Reynolds.
“It’s kind of troubling because it seems like it’s going on and on. You go to the next place, you don’t know how long before the same thing happens,” said Taj Mahal employee Reed Bennett.
“As long as I can work, that’s a good thing. If I lose my job I’ll just start looking all over again,” said Pleasantville resident Rosemary Gudger.
Is Rivera willing to leave the city?
“Yes ma’am I am,” he said.
Recruiters are looking to fill more than 500 positions between the three locations and some will be hired right on the spot, which means laid off workers could be leaving here with a new job.