“I anticipate probably interviewing 800 to 1,000 people over the next 3 days. And out of the 800 to 1,000 people we will hopefully come up with 250 excellent candidates for the resort,” Ramesh Sadhwani, general manager said.
People began lining up outside the gymnasium as early as 5 a.m. waiting patiently along with Four Seasons officials who also reported arriving early.
The doors to the gymnasium were locked however and could not be opened until 8 a.m. causing the job fair to get of to a slightly late start. Despite this the atmosphere was quiet and upbeat for both sides.
The resort, which began its hiring process with a job fair in Exuma two weeks ago, reported that it was looking to fill some 400 positions. Mr. Sadhwani said that they signed up 150 people from the Exuma fair with 70 already coming on board as employees.
Mr. Sadhwani said he hoped to find a wealth of experience among Nassau applicants.
“In Nassau I expect to find people with experience. The industry here is pretty mature; it has been around for a long time. So in certain positions, I expect to find people with a good background. Most importantly I would like to have people come in who are looking for a career in the hotel industry.”
Mr. Sadhwani said that the resort also hoped to have everybody report to work the first week of October.
“The month of October will be our training month.” The hotel will be opening Nov. 1 with the month of November being the soft opening. “We are sort of doing it very gradually; we want the hotel to iron out all the kinks and get the staff settled in and get everybody comfortable with their jobs.”
The process was divided into four sub interviews that had to be successfully completed before the applicants were passed on to the human resource department to discuss salary, relocation, and accommodations and complete the necessary paper work.
“The idea is that you fill out the application, go through the interview process and if you are successful we will actually hire you today,” Mr. Sadhwani said.
The initial interview would be a general one; if you successfully go through the first interview you would meet with department heads in a second interview followed by a third interview with a division head and end with a final interview with Mr. Sadhwani. He estimated that the time frame for the entire interview process would be about 20 to 30 minutes.
“If we feel that something is not appropriate for the individual, we will let them know rather than have them go through the process. We will tell them thank you for coming.”
Some people who exited after the first interview came out confident that they would receive a call before the process was over. One applicant, who preferred to remain anonymous said: ” I believe everybody needs the best and I am one of the best. They just need to find out where they can put me because I can offer them so much.”
Mr. Sadhwani predicted an adjustment period, especially for non-Exumian employees.
But he maintained that things would go well given the excellent human resource department the resort has hired.
“I’ve got a great team of Four Seasons managers who have actually joined us from 21 different Four Seasons hotels. We are all in it together and we are all going to adjust and enjoy life on the island,” he said.
By Martella Matthews, The Nassau Guardian
