Station Casinos to hire 1,000

Station Casinos Inc., which employs almost 12,000 people at 18 properties in Southern Nevada, will hire 1,000 employees over the next couple of months as it increases its staffing levels to match improving economic conditions.

The new hires come on the heels of the company hiring 164 people in October for customer service positions at its Las Vegas properties. The open positions listed on the company's website include 500 full-time and 500 part-time positions.

Valerie Murzl, corporate vice president for human resources and training, said the newly created positions are an example of the company's "commitment to reinvesting in our community."

Even with the new hires, Station Casinos will still have fewer than the approximately 14,000 workers it employed at the company's peak in 2008 following the opening of Aliante Station in North Las Vegas.

Nevada's gaming industry was hit hard by the recession, shedding more than 30,000 hotel-casino jobs between November 2006 and November 2010 as consumers cut back on travel and spending in Las Vegas.

The Las Vegas casino market alone lost 22,900 industry jobs over the last four years, according to the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation's Research and Analysis Bureau.

Most of the positions Station Casinos is seeking to fill are in guest services including hotel management, dealers, slot service ambassadors, security and food and beverages positions such as cooks and food servers, the company said.

Three hundred of the new positions will be for restaurant staff at five of its properties.

Station Casinos is replacing the Coco's Bakery Restaurants with Grand Cafes, which will be owned by the company.

Each of the Coco's now employs 150 people and the gaming company said the 300 positions it will fill will be additional workers at the Grand Cafes.

The first Grand Cafe opened on Dec. 27 at Palace Station. Other Coco's restaurants will be replaced by Grand Cafe locations at Boulder Station, Santa Fe Station and Texas Station within the next six months.

Station Casinos isn't the only casino and hotel operator hiring people as the gaming industry begins to recover.

Prior to its opening on Dec. 15, officials with the $3.9 billion Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas announced they would hire 5,000 employees. The hotel actually hired 5,600 employees, according to a Cosmopolitan spokesman.

The Palms Casino Resort held a career fair in December to fill 80 part-time and full-time positions, including food and beverage, casino, housekeeping, accounting, front desk, guest services and security jobs. Approximately 2,000 people turned up on Dec. 8 to apply, a Palms spokeswoman said.

Palms spokeswoman Kala Peterson said the hotel will host a job fair from 1 to 7 p.m. Monday to fill another 75 positions, including lifeguards and bartenders, for the Palms Place Pool and the Palms Pool and Bungalows. Those interested can apply at www.palms.com.

MGM Resorts International operates 10 properties in Las Vegas, including CityCenter. Alan Feldman, senior vice president of public affairs, said the company hasn't implemented a hiring freeze.

"Each department is responsible for hiring based on its own needs," Feldman said. "I'm sure there is hiring (happening) at MGM properties."

He estimated that there could be 200 positions open at any given time, as the company loses employees to attrition, schedule changes and other reasons.

Contact reporter Chris Sieroty at csieroty@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893.