Applicants were in high attendance, seeking to fill 260 positions available Wednesday at the Four Seasons Hotel Denver career fair.
About 1,300 job seekers — some living outside Colorado and some fully employed — attended the event. While many applicants said job stability was the major appeal, others said the Four Seasons’ reputation alone was the draw.
The Four Seasons Hotel Denver, at 1111 14th St., between Arapahoe and Lawrence streets, is set to open Oct. 19.
Many of the job seekers were unemployed. Among them was Raymond Davis, 61, of Aurora. He said he has spent five days a week over the past year and a half looking for work, but the only response has been from employment agencies informing him of career fairs.
“It seems like they don’t want to hire you if you’re older,” he said. “I’m applying for anything they allow me to have.”
For the past two years, Christina Rich of Denver has searched for work. The former financial manager was let go without an explanation. Last December, she received her bachelor of arts in hospitality management from Metropolitan State College of Denver. “I thought that would help push me ahead.”
Other applicants were from out of town and ready to move for a job.
Denver became Mehl Cabanilla’s vacation destination after she heard about the career fair. Although she is employed as an assistant casino shift manager in Reno, Nev. the downturn in the gaming industry encouraged her to explore other fields.
A job at the Four Seasons may mean a pay cut or working a position of last choice, but she expects stability and potential job advancement to offset those differences, she said.
“Wherever they want to put me. I don’t care,” she said.
About 65 percent of the applicants who showed up Wednesday had hospitality backgrounds, said Thierry Kennel, Four Seasons’ general manager. But positions to be filled, such as security and engineering, attracted workers from other fields.
Lines of applicants are common for Four Seasons’ hotel openings, Kennel said. All five of the hotels he has opened during his 24 years with the company have had similarly high interest, he said.
Early in 2008, before the economic meltdown, 4,500 applicants attended the Four Seasons opening in St. Louis.
“I think the economy plays something. But at the end of the day, I think a lot of people want to work for the Four Seasons,” he said.
Although the fair was scheduled from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., the line started at 6:30 a.m. and had reached the end of Lawrence Street by 7 a.m., company employees said.
Rita Wold: 303-954-1488 or rwold@denverpost.com
