MASHANTUCKET, Conn. – With a slumping economy and the country sliding into recession, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation has good news for Connecticut: MGM Grand at Foxwoods, the nation’s new luxury resort destination and casino, will add 3,000 new jobs to the state’s economy this year.
The MGM Grand at Foxwoods is expected to open in mid-May. The new facility will feature 825 luxurious guest rooms, 115,000 square feet of meeting space, a 4,000-seat performing arts theater, 21,000-square-foot spa, celebrity chef restaurants, high-end retail and a state-of-the-art casino.
The tribal nation kicked off a recruitment campaign at the end of January with the launch of a new employment Web site at www.yourdream.jobs – a virtual Human Resources Department listing job openings, job descriptions, company background, information on employee benefits and an online application process.
MGM Grand at Foxwoods will employee 2,000 people in the new hotel and casino next to Foxwoods Casino Resort and will and provide an additional 1,000 jobs at the high-end stores and restaurant that will lease space in the 2 million-square-foot complex.
Some of the retailers will include Apple Reseller Store, Bally Men’s and Women’s shoes and leather goods, Dunhill Men’s apparel, leather goods and accessories, Gretta Luxe women’s boutique and an MGM logo store.
Eateries will include Tom Colicchio’s Craftsteak, Michael Schlow’s Alta Strada, and famed New York eatery Junior’s.
MGM Grand at Foxwoods will conduct recruiting sessions at regional job fairs and will place print, broadcast and billboard ads in the Providence, New London, New Haven and Hartford markets. To help create a diverse work force, the company planned to conduct interviews at the annual National Society of Minorities in Hospitality conference, slated for Feb. 22 – 24 in Pittsburgh, and post jobs electronically with more than 90 tribes nationwide.
Employees of Foxwoods Resort Casino will be able to apply for jobs at kiosks located throughout the property to make the hiring process more convenient and paperless.
”Our employees will be the heart and soul of the customer service experience at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods,” said Gillian Murphy, senior vice president and general manager. ”We are thrilled to begin the recruiting process and excited at the opportunity to be able to inject hundreds of new jobs into the local community and Connecticut economy.”
Of the hotel and casino positions, 286 are back of house and 1,719 are front of house, including 350 supervisor/managerial positions and 277 dealer positions.
The employment boost in Connecticut, which has a low unemployment rate, will likely benefit workers in nearby Rhode Island and Massachusetts where job growth is slowing, if not declining.
Foxwoods and the nearby Mohegan Sun Casino already employ many Rhode Islanders.
Of the 10,500 employees at Foxwoods, as much as 30 percent commute from the Rhode Island, MGM Grand casino executive Jason Guyot told Providence Business News.
Ed Mazze, University of Rhode Island business professor and an economic forecast manager for the New England Economic Partnership, said in the same Providence Business News Report that the casinos should have no trouble filling the openings, even if many of the jobs aren’t high paying.
”We’re about to enter a recession,” Mazze said. ”Nine dollars an hour is better than no dollars an hour.”
The timing of the expansions is good, Mazze said. Rhode Island Gov. Donald L. Carcieri’s move to cut 1,000 state jobs to close a gaping state budget deficit will have a ripple effect causing job losses in the private sector – an effect that the casino hiring might partially offset, Mazze said.
Only 50,000 square feet of the new complex will be devoted to the casino. MGM Grand will be geared to conventions and other large gatherings. Management projections show that 35 percent of the room bookings will be convention-related.
Mohegan Sun’s $925 million Project Horizon expansion, which includes the Casino of the Wind, is scheduled to open this fall. A second hotel tower, dining, shopping and entertainment facilities will open in stages through 2010.
