There was a considerable amount of activity and excitement at Four Seasons Resort and Residences Anguilla, on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, as scores of persons turned up at a Job Fair seeking employment for the coming busy season.
The corridors of the resort’s Department of Human Resources were completely filled up as the job seekers, of all ages and gender, registered their names and awaited their interviews.
Ms. Desery Ottley, formerly of Four Seasons Nevis, now Assistant Director of Human Resources at Four Seasons Anguilla, spoke to The Anguillian about the event. “As part of our ability to function for the new season, we want to be able to ensure that we are fully staffed. When we reopened on March 23rd, 2018, we did so with more of a skeletal staff. We know that this coming season is going to be quite a bumper one and because of that we need to be very well staffed. We said that instead of having one type of interviews, we decided to let the masses come out and be a part of this. We know that Anguilla has great talent and so we are trying to harness that.”
Asked what some of the employment opportunities were, Ms. Ottley replied: “We have positions in our rooms division like guest services agent (most people know them as front desk or concierge positions); room attendants; public area attendants; floor care technicians; supervisors for housekeeping; food and beverage workers (most people know them as servers/waitresses, server assistants, bartenders and culinary workers). We are looking for a number of different cooks at entry level and otherwise.”
Questioned as to whether the resort was looking for already trained persons, or was going to train them on the job, the Assistant Human Resources Director explained: “Four Seasons has a philosophy of hiring for attitude and willingness. Of course, we will be looking for persons who have a cultural fit in Four Seasons, and so they do not necessarily have had to be on the job before because we will train them in how we want the job done. Once they have a willing attitude and fit within the culture of Four Seasons, we will bring them on board and train them later.”
Ms. Ottley said the intention of the resort was to hire “upwards of fifty” persons as a result of the Job Fair. She went on: “Right now we have over 500 employees so we will likely hit the 550 or 560-mark. We will close on the 27th of August and reopen on the 18th of October – and on that reopening day a big group comes in to buy out so we need all the staff before then.”
Reflecting on the welfare of staff in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, she stated: “I thought about the livelihood of many of our employees here, and that made me very sad. I have grown to love them and they are different characters. I thought to myself that if we don’t get up and running, am I not going to see them again? How are they going to take care of their families? This is now an opportunity for them to work, so I am really excited that this season is going to be the best ever this property has ever had. So whatever capacity this property was in, we are going to surpass that by leaps and bounds.” Not only will Four Seasons Anguilla have the largest number of hotel employees in Anguilla, but it will be the earliest property to reopen for the new season.
Mss Ottley has been working with Four Seasons Anguilla from May 2017. Prior to that, she was at Four Seasons Nevis as the Human Resources Manager.
