OXFORD, Maine — As carpenters, landscapers and other workers race toward a June opening, Oxford Casino owners are faced with a problem they didn’t expect: more than 100 unfilled positions.
Casino spokesman Scott Smith said the open positions are mostly for cashiers, housekeeping and food and beverage.
“We’re surprised,” Smith said Monday, “especially given the unemployment level.” The Maine Department of Labor reported a 9.8 percent unemployment rate in Oxford County, down from 10.4 percent a year ago.
The casino held a job fair on April 14 at the Poland Spring Resort for all open positions, but Smith said applicants gravitated toward cage and gaming floor positions.
Smith said cashiers have plenty of responsibility at the casino, handling cash and gaming chips. According to the job description on the casino’s website, cashiers also process bank reports and handle player’s club applications.
In all, there are 37 different positions still open, according to the casino’s website, but most are for food and beverage, cashiers and housekeeping. Among those are openings for bartenders, bar backs, cocktail servers, restaurant servers, housekeeping supervisors and a heavy-duty housekeeping position. All are full time.
Smith said food and beverage wages are typical for restaurant wages. Housekeeping, which includes cleaning the casino floor, restaurant and facilities pays around $9 an hour. Cashiers can make as much as $12.50 an hour, Smith said.
The April 14 job fair was the second, after a March job fair in Oxford for card dealer positions. Potential dealers who made it through the first stage are now training. Hundreds of applicants attended each of the job fairs. Smith said casino operators are considering a third job fair to help fill remaining openings.
The Oxford Casino is slated to open in late June, although the casino hasn’t announced an exact date. The 65,000-square-foot casino will have more than 500 slot machines and 12 table games including roulette, poker and blackjack.
Applicants can get more information at oxfordcasino.com.
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It’s pretty hard to entice someone off the couch to work when money magically shows up in their mail at the first of every month.
If what you are implying is true, are you saying that folks on welfare are the primary employee pool for Casinos? Bangor didn’t seem to have hard time filling their positions with what appear to be excellent staff members. I’m sure their employees come from a wide variety of backgrounds-perhaps even some people who have been without a job for a while. Don’t assume that Oxford’s problem is as simple as everyone in that area not wanting a job.
The results show otherwise, sir.
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GAMBLING AND DRINKING-Working in a casino is a much different job than most. Many people with strong religous beliefs won’t work in one, A lot of spouses would not want their spouses or sig others working in that environment. A lot of parents will discourage their kids from being employed at a gambling place. A lot of good old Maine folks really don’t have the desire or a comfort level for that business. Would most of your freinds or relatives want their daughters working at a Casino?
lol I remember my father in law rest his soul came home from work(truck driver) and next door neighbor’s young daughter came to visit. My mother-inlaw was making her something to eat.She says why do you drive that truck?father inlaw says so I can earn a pay check and pay my bills.The girl looks confused and says our check just comes in the mail.prime example of welfare breeds welfare.
I agree 100%, you took the words right out of my mouth.
There is more to it than that i bet ? like back ground check ect . DangRightMr
Curious that they didn’t do a better job evaluating the employment picture. Think those jobs would go unfilled in the County or DownEast?
The Oxford/Norway/Paris area has traditionally been, until 15 or so years ago, a manufacturing-based community. Service sector jobs generally don’t pay what manufacturing jobs have paid in the recent past(including 401K/retirement benefits). Perhaps it’s more profitable to collect social benefits from multiple government programs rather than work fulltime in a service sector job that might not include health/retirement benefits. The Walmart in Oxford, which opened nearly 10 years ago, seems to be doing OK(by the looks of their parking lot) so I’d assume that people are spending there.
I wonder what the real story is. I read articles about how it’s impossible for companies to find employees, but I know SO MANY people with clean criminal backgrounds and solid work histories who never hear back after applying for jobs for which they are qualified.
Oxford Casinos, could you give us more information about this? Are people over qualified? Under qualified? Not enough people applying? How many applications have you had to reject? What are the top reasons for rejection?
I’d LOVE to have some of this information about the tech sector. Someone near and dear to me worked for years as a senior software developer in the Boston area. Even though he’s willing to work for Maine pay and his skills are in demand, he’s had the hardest time finding work here.
All casino’s across the nation have very stringent background checks including speeding tickets up through bankruptcy and everything inbetween. Many employees considered and accepted by other businesses would be rejected under this scrutiny at a casino. Given the extremely depresses economic conditions in the greater Oxford area it is no wonder thier retention rate is not good.
We want to pay just enough so you won’t quit. We’ll understand you will work just enough not to be fired……..and that folks is what is wrong in America! That, plus most can earn more by just staying home and collecting the big W.
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This reality is all over Maine, 300 jobs in Bangor, 50 healthcare jobs in the County and over 900 manufacturing jobs in York and Cumberland. Could this be why the Maine economy has under performed for over two decades…… Look in the mirror Maine!
Wait. Weren’t people against the casino saying it wouldn’t create new jobs in Maine? In fact they said all of the jobs would be filled by people out of state. For all of those people I offer up a fresh baked crow to eat!
Why work, when the state of Maine is paying you more, is the prevailing attitude. . . . unfortunately.
Maybe it’s because at 12.50/hr, 50 weeks/year, figured at a 20% tax rate, that puts the net yearly wage at $20K– $1400 above the poverty line for a family of three. When you add up just the average annual childcare cost/1 child ($7600), avg. annual rent in Oxford County ($7368), and the avg. annual premiums for EMPLOYER-SPONSORED health insurance (if it’s offered) in ME (app. $13K), that would mean working full-time to end up $8K in the hole! Of course I haven’t even gotten to food, transportation, clothing, etc, but the point is clear– unless wages are raised for average working families, we’ll continue to be serfs in this modern day feudal-oligarchy, and it’s not that hard to imagine how a person could become disillusioned, and resigned to living off the state.
So I say that anyone who is on unemployment, and lives within 20 miles of there, should lose it. Do you agree? … if not, why?
It says most of the applicants applied for cage and gaming jobs, probably their first choice. Why not offer, or offer the chance for some that did not get the desired first choice job an option to try for a cashiering, food and beverage, or housekeeping job rather than throwing them away and asking for more people to apply? The company already has the applications. It could be more to repost positions then to try to hire from the pool that applied.
I know other companies from job fairs said something about placing people with job titles if they got past the HR screening.
Or are they trying to say not enough people are good enough for them? Too many records etc. And it has nothing to do with unemployment levels.
On that note, I do not think they should be able to take foreigners with such high unemployment rates and foreclosures. Thankfully, payment and cost of living is so bad and one has to have so many roommates to survive, not even the mexicans want to come over to work in the United States anymore. So, hopefully tides will turn soon enough and it will no longer be an employers market.
Any Casino in the State of Maine is Illegal! I would not be surprised it the State of Maine Is Sued, or the Corporations are!