San Manuel Casino to hold 3-day hiring event; some jobs come with $1,000 bonus

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San Manuel Casino is preparing to hold a three-day hiring event at its Ontario recruitment center as it looks to fill more than 1,000 openings for a new 432-room hotel and other casino operations.

The job fair will be held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 14, Monday, Aug. 16 and Tuesday, Aug. 17. The recruitment center is at 1 Mills Circle at the Ontario Mills mall.

The 17-floor hotel is expected to open in December and is part of San Manuel’s $550 million expansion. Last month, the venue unveiled 1,500 new slot machines, a 24-hour restaurant, a high-end dining venue and several new retail shops. A 2,800-seat theater is slated to open early next year.

“Between the hotel, spa and existing casino space, we’ll need to hire well over 1,000 people,” said Kenji Hall the casino’s chief operating officer. “The more people we can hire this weekend, the better.”

That will take care of San Manuel’s immediate needs, but the hiring push will extend well beyond the three-day job fair.

Recruitment will continue throughout the year for cooks, cashiers, janitors, groundskeepers and a variety of other positions to work in the casino’s expanded gaming space, restaurants, retail operations and theater.

“With 6,000-plus employees we’re always hiring,” Hall said. “I would say by the end of the year we’ll have hired about 3,000 people.”

A variety of openings are available for front-desk workers, reservation agents, retail employees, bellmen, concierge workers, massage and spa-room specialists, housekeeping supervisors, in-room dining supervisors and pool attendants.

Housekeepers, cooks and chefs are eligible for a $1,000 welcome bonus in addition to other perks, casino officials said. Other casinos, including Pechanga Resort Casino in Temecula and Spotlight 29 Casino in Coachella, are also offering hiring incentives.

Jasmine Takeshita, Sam Manuel’s talent acquisition director, said the casino is working with universities and trade schools to recruit students and graduates across multiple fields.

“We are welcoming beauty school graduates to apply for spa and cosmetology positions,” she said, adding that hiring opportunities are also available for culinary school graduates and graduates in fashion design and merchandising.

Candidates can meet with hotel, spa and culinary leaders and have the chance for on-the-spot job offers, casino officials said.

“We’re doing well considering this unique environment, but it’s more challenging to fill our entry-level positions,” Takeshita said. “The market is tight.”

Hall said the hotel will add a new dimension to San Manuel’s operations.

“It will allow our guests to be more relaxed and it will also extend our geography further out,” he said. “If you live two hours away and come here you wouldn’t want to drive two hours to get home. This will be a nice getaway — a kind of staycation. And we’ll have some big-name entertainers coming to our theater.”

Like other casinos, San Manuel managed to weather the COVID-19 pandemic intact. But with the delta variant ramping up, a number of safety protocols remain in place. Vaccinations are available for employees although they’re not required.

“We have a mask mandate for all employees and we’re asking guests to wear them,” Hall said. “We’re working with health and medical advisers across the country to make sure we do things safely.”

Each of the three days will feature a hotel and spa experience for applicants and guests, including a sampling of the beauty salon, fitness, massage and skin-care services the resort will provide.