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gua Caliente Casinos held on Monday a second job fair at the Mary Pickford Theater in Cathedral City as the casinos sought to fill about 250 positions.
“I did get the position for full-time supervisor yes!” Stephanie Gamboa told News Channel 3. She was hired on the spot at the job fair.
“We are just really excited to be able to provide jobs for so many people that are out of work right now,” Employment Manager at Agua Caliente Casinos, Kimberlee Duggan told News Channel 3. She was in charge of running the job fair.
“We’ve currently filled probably about half of the jobs that we’re looking to fill which are around 500,” she said.
In July, a previous job fair was held to fill more than 500 jobs at California’s Coachella Valley’s latest tribal casino, which is set to open in downtown Cathedral City by the end of the year.
Agua Caliente Casino Cathedral City will be the third local gaming operation for the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, Desert Sun reports. Job seekers were invited for a chance to land a job working in a variety of departments, including slot machines, table games, and food and beverage services.
Some positions are already going through training.
“We conducted most of the training for our management positions and then we will continue our training as we get a little bit closer to opening the casinos,” Duggan said.
As for Gamboa, she said she is excited to get started. She already put in her two weeks at her other job.
“This pandemic honestly did hit me really hard,” she added. “I fell behind on pretty much all of my bills and everything possible, medical bills so it did hit hard,” Gamboa shared.
Now, Gamboa is focused on this good news and having something to look forward to.
“I’m super happy,” she said. “I was really nervous specifically because I don’t have any experience in the casino but I’m willing to learn and I’m glad they saw that so I’m really happy,” she added.
For many like Gamboa, this job fair brought hope in the midst of a deadly pandemic.
People attending the job fair said they felt safe.
“I applied for cocktail server and the interview was awesome everyone was so kind and everything how they’ve been doing it here in the theater is so safe and everyone is spaced out and they clean and wipe down everything,” Celeste Rivera said. “It’s been a really fun time here,” she added after walking out of her interviews.
During the job fair, employees wore masks, and temperatures were checked at the door.
“When I walked in they gave me a pen and they said, ‘here keep it.’ They don’t take anything back they interviewed somebody right before me and they wiped down the seats and the table before I even touched it so I think they did an amazing job,” Gamboa shared.
Agua Caliente said they plan to have another job fair within the next month.