Monique Hepburn, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
HUNDREDS OF job seekers descended on the HEART/Trust NTA Culloden Vocational Training Centre in Westmoreland recently for a Sandals Resorts job fair, in a bid to secure one of more than 700 jobs in the soon to be opened Sandals Whitehouse European Village and Spa.
The job fair received a bumper crowd at the Culloden venue and applicants began assembling from as early as 6:00 a.m., having journeyed from as far as Kingston and Clarendon.
"We had to start a little earlier than we had planned," said Jeremy Jones, general manager of Sandals Whitehouse in recent interview with Western Focus. "When we opened the gate, we saw more than 500 people so we decided to begin the process."
QUALIFICATIONS
According to the general manager, he is pleased with the qualifications of the applicants. Sandals Whitehouse is seeking to recruit more than 700 positions for all positions except executive positions such as senior managers and department heads. Applications are being taken for positions in water sports, housekeeping, entertainment, food and beverage, front office reservations, administration. After interviews are com-pleted training is set to begin on January 3.
"The quality of persons we are seeing is excellent," Mr. Jones explained. "We are getting people, from as far as Montego Bay, St. Elizabeth, Clarendon and Kingston.
"The response is overwhelming and we are attributing this to the reputation of the company as well as to the fact that this is a previously untouched area of the country in terms of tourism."
An applicant who is employed to a resort in Negril told Western Focus that he decided he could not miss out on the opportunity to try for a position at Sandals Whitehouse.
"I took time off from my job down in Negril," he said. "From all indications it appears that the grass is going to be a lot greener on this side," he said.
Sandals Whitehouse will open with 360 rooms on February 7 next year and is branded as a 'jewel in the South, a noble escape in a European-style village setting'.
