Imagine the lines of applicants if companies suddenly offered thousands of jobs in a town with 12.8 percent unemployment, instead of Orlando's 2.8 percent jobless rate.
Combined, Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and SeaWorld are looking to hire more than 8,000 summer and permanent workers this month and next. Most of the jobs are entry-level positions paying $6.90 to $7.50 an hour.
Yet at jobs fairs for the tourism trio last week, lines often were short or nonexistent. At times, greeters had to wait for the next job candidate to show up while rooms full of tables and chairs for applicants stood mostly empty.
Theme park recruiters take the challenge in stride. They've seen this before.
"Anytime you drop below 4 percent [unemployment], anybody who wants a job and is employable basically is in a position," said Christine O'Neal, SeaWorld's vice president for human resources. "We've been hovering around 3 for a long time. I think we're certainly feeling it more right now. Unemployment is a bit lower than it was last year, but you know last year wasn't easy either."
The work for summer hiring begins in earnest in February or March and continues well into June. The parks like to be near their peak employment by the unofficial start of summer, Memorial Day weekend, but their business and work force don't peak until just before Independence Day.
The job fairs, while helpful, typically pull in enough people to meet only 10 percent to 20 percent of the theme parks' needs, company officials said.
The parks also send recruiters to high schools, colleges, senior centers, retirement communities, city community centers, and even RV parks. They mail tens of thousands of recruitment letters.
They also see big increases in traffic at the permanent human resources office window.
"We have a lot of different, multipronged strategies," said Jody Sweet, Disney's director of casting.
During job fairs, venues such as tents, conference buildings or nightclubs become the parks' one-stop hiring centers. Applicants can come in, interview, have a background check done, get a job, get assigned an orientation date and a start date -- even get their uniforms, if they're hired by SeaWorld -- and leave in an hour or two.
Lew Wallace, 19, and Brittany Parker, 20, needed less time than that to walk out with their dream summer job. The two college students, Wallace from St. Cloud and Parker from Kissimmee, both got hired last Tuesday to be ride attendants at Universal Studios' Jaws attraction.
"She asked us our preference, and I actually admitted it was my childhood dream to work at Jaws," Wallace said.
Marketing the magic
Disney ran its job fair for six days last week in tents full of Disney props, plus at some locations parked outside the Disney Casting Center, like a bus and a Kilimanjaro Safaris truck.
Inside the first tent Disney was trying to sell itself, with displays on everything from Disney's day-care center to employee recreation and education programs.
There also were booths, staffed by supervisors, for each of Disney's basic job areas, such as housekeeping, food, attractions or entertainment. A chef cooked strips of pepper steak. A video showed maintenance workers having fun at their jobs. An Animal Kingdom safari leader told adventurous tales. And, of course, Mickey and Minnie Mouse pranced around.
"With this year's fair, we marketed the theme of Disney magic, what makes it different to work here. Everything from the music to the ambience," Sweet said. "We're lucky to have such a strong guest brand with the Disney name. With the job fair we try to duplicate that experience. This is a first impression. Come in. Know that our leaders are engaged. Have an opportunity to talk to our leaders. Have an opportunity to see the Disney difference."
Job candidates who moved on were handed applications and ushered into the next tent, with tables, chairs and pens.
From there, applicants were walked into Disney's Casting Center building, where they waited in a lounge area to be interviewed privately in a recruiter's office. Some of the recruiters are specialists -- interviewing just chef or lifeguard applicants, for example. Others are generalists, who might suggest a job to an undecided applicant.
"During the interview, right here, if a candidate has the right skills, and we are able to make a job offer, we have the position, we would make the offer during the interview," said Joanne Palmer, Disney's manager of casting services.
At Universal, job-fair applicants went bar hopping for two days last week. In the first club, the Latin Quarter, they filled out applications at one of 50 or so tables scattered across the dining room. Then they were invited upstairs to meet briefly with recruiters who could help them focus on what they want, or determine if they weren't serious.
"We want to make sure you understand what the wages are, that you have transportation, that you understand our grooming guidelines, etc," said Tim Arnst, Universal's senior vice president of human resources. "So you know what we're looking for, we know what you're looking for, before we send you on to an actual interview."
The interviews took place next door at The Groove dance club. People dropped their applications in one of more than 30 bins, marked for different kinds of jobs, ranging from wardrobe or security to retail sales or ride operation. Hovering line managers retrieved applications from their bins, then called people out for one-on-one interviews in booths.
Those people offered jobs got sent to City Jazz to close the deals.
"They'll walk away with a specific job and orientation and start date," Arnst said. "There will be some that start immediately. There will be some, like high school students, that might not start until school gets out."
'A well-oiled machine'
SeaWorld brings job candidates in through their Port of Call conference building. As soon as people entered the building, they are directed to prescreeners who take basic information and begin weeding out not-serious candidates.
The others move on to the next room where they can watch SeaWorld videos while they fill out their applications. Then screeners sitting at computers run background checks on them.
Those who pass are invited back for interviews. Those offered jobs move on again, to get set up to work.
"It takes well over 100 people to run one of our job fairs. It's very complex," O'Neal said. "Because of the synergy, we've got it down. It runs like a well-oiled machine."
Universal and Disney said they hire about half the reasonably qualified applicants who come in through the job fairs; SeaWorld puts its estimate at one out of three.
SeaWorld drug tests everyone who's offered a job. Disney drug tests people in critical jobs, such as drivers. Universal does not use drug testing. SeaWorld also flags applicants who have bad driving records, particularly drunken driving convictions.
Even in this tight labor market, representatives of the parks said they were not willing to lower hiring standards.
"If we have to reach further or use a wider net, we'll do that," O'Neal said. "Last year, we got staffed. Did we have to be creative? Sure. People didn't just land at our door. But we're on track to meet our employment goals."
When the applicants do show up, the well-oiled machines like the one that O'Neal described work quickly, they said. If there are no lines, that's partly by design, Disney's Sweet said.
"We're in the theme park business," she said, "so we know a little bit about managing crowds."
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/custom/tourism/orl-cover1506may15,0,2265388.story?track=rss
Combined, Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and SeaWorld are looking to hire more than 8,000 summer and permanent workers this month and next. Most of the jobs are entry-level positions paying $6.90 to $7.50 an hour.
Yet at jobs fairs for the tourism trio last week, lines often were short or nonexistent. At times, greeters had to wait for the next job candidate to show up while rooms full of tables and chairs for applicants stood mostly empty.
Theme park recruiters take the challenge in stride. They've seen this before.
"Anytime you drop below 4 percent [unemployment], anybody who wants a job and is employable basically is in a position," said Christine O'Neal, SeaWorld's vice president for human resources. "We've been hovering around 3 for a long time. I think we're certainly feeling it more right now. Unemployment is a bit lower than it was last year, but you know last year wasn't easy either."
The work for summer hiring begins in earnest in February or March and continues well into June. The parks like to be near their peak employment by the unofficial start of summer, Memorial Day weekend, but their business and work force don't peak until just before Independence Day.
The job fairs, while helpful, typically pull in enough people to meet only 10 percent to 20 percent of the theme parks' needs, company officials said.
The parks also send recruiters to high schools, colleges, senior centers, retirement communities, city community centers, and even RV parks. They mail tens of thousands of recruitment letters.
They also see big increases in traffic at the permanent human resources office window.
"We have a lot of different, multipronged strategies," said Jody Sweet, Disney's director of casting.
During job fairs, venues such as tents, conference buildings or nightclubs become the parks' one-stop hiring centers. Applicants can come in, interview, have a background check done, get a job, get assigned an orientation date and a start date -- even get their uniforms, if they're hired by SeaWorld -- and leave in an hour or two.
Lew Wallace, 19, and Brittany Parker, 20, needed less time than that to walk out with their dream summer job. The two college students, Wallace from St. Cloud and Parker from Kissimmee, both got hired last Tuesday to be ride attendants at Universal Studios' Jaws attraction.
"She asked us our preference, and I actually admitted it was my childhood dream to work at Jaws," Wallace said.
Marketing the magic
Disney ran its job fair for six days last week in tents full of Disney props, plus at some locations parked outside the Disney Casting Center, like a bus and a Kilimanjaro Safaris truck.
Inside the first tent Disney was trying to sell itself, with displays on everything from Disney's day-care center to employee recreation and education programs.
There also were booths, staffed by supervisors, for each of Disney's basic job areas, such as housekeeping, food, attractions or entertainment. A chef cooked strips of pepper steak. A video showed maintenance workers having fun at their jobs. An Animal Kingdom safari leader told adventurous tales. And, of course, Mickey and Minnie Mouse pranced around.
"With this year's fair, we marketed the theme of Disney magic, what makes it different to work here. Everything from the music to the ambience," Sweet said. "We're lucky to have such a strong guest brand with the Disney name. With the job fair we try to duplicate that experience. This is a first impression. Come in. Know that our leaders are engaged. Have an opportunity to talk to our leaders. Have an opportunity to see the Disney difference."
Job candidates who moved on were handed applications and ushered into the next tent, with tables, chairs and pens.
From there, applicants were walked into Disney's Casting Center building, where they waited in a lounge area to be interviewed privately in a recruiter's office. Some of the recruiters are specialists -- interviewing just chef or lifeguard applicants, for example. Others are generalists, who might suggest a job to an undecided applicant.
"During the interview, right here, if a candidate has the right skills, and we are able to make a job offer, we have the position, we would make the offer during the interview," said Joanne Palmer, Disney's manager of casting services.
At Universal, job-fair applicants went bar hopping for two days last week. In the first club, the Latin Quarter, they filled out applications at one of 50 or so tables scattered across the dining room. Then they were invited upstairs to meet briefly with recruiters who could help them focus on what they want, or determine if they weren't serious.
"We want to make sure you understand what the wages are, that you have transportation, that you understand our grooming guidelines, etc," said Tim Arnst, Universal's senior vice president of human resources. "So you know what we're looking for, we know what you're looking for, before we send you on to an actual interview."
The interviews took place next door at The Groove dance club. People dropped their applications in one of more than 30 bins, marked for different kinds of jobs, ranging from wardrobe or security to retail sales or ride operation. Hovering line managers retrieved applications from their bins, then called people out for one-on-one interviews in booths.
Those people offered jobs got sent to City Jazz to close the deals.
"They'll walk away with a specific job and orientation and start date," Arnst said. "There will be some that start immediately. There will be some, like high school students, that might not start until school gets out."
'A well-oiled machine'
SeaWorld brings job candidates in through their Port of Call conference building. As soon as people entered the building, they are directed to prescreeners who take basic information and begin weeding out not-serious candidates.
The others move on to the next room where they can watch SeaWorld videos while they fill out their applications. Then screeners sitting at computers run background checks on them.
Those who pass are invited back for interviews. Those offered jobs move on again, to get set up to work.
"It takes well over 100 people to run one of our job fairs. It's very complex," O'Neal said. "Because of the synergy, we've got it down. It runs like a well-oiled machine."
Universal and Disney said they hire about half the reasonably qualified applicants who come in through the job fairs; SeaWorld puts its estimate at one out of three.
SeaWorld drug tests everyone who's offered a job. Disney drug tests people in critical jobs, such as drivers. Universal does not use drug testing. SeaWorld also flags applicants who have bad driving records, particularly drunken driving convictions.
Even in this tight labor market, representatives of the parks said they were not willing to lower hiring standards.
"If we have to reach further or use a wider net, we'll do that," O'Neal said. "Last year, we got staffed. Did we have to be creative? Sure. People didn't just land at our door. But we're on track to meet our employment goals."
When the applicants do show up, the well-oiled machines like the one that O'Neal described work quickly, they said. If there are no lines, that's partly by design, Disney's Sweet said.
"We're in the theme park business," she said, "so we know a little bit about managing crowds."
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/custom/tourism/orl-cover1506may15,0,2265388.story?track=rss