Employment Opportunities At Convention Centre

MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
4 June 2004

Employment Opportunities Abound At New
SkyCity Auckland Convention Centre

The new SKYCITY Auckland Convention Centre has added 130 permanent jobs to central Auckland’s employment infrastructure.

SKYCITY GM Group Human Resources, Paul Walsh, said over 130 new staff are now working at the convention centre with this number likely to increase once the facility begins day-time events in August.

“It has been a significant recruitment drive for the hospitality industry and the biggest SKYCITY has had since opening eight years ago,” said Mr Walsh.

“The facility’s size and capacity for events of between 1000 and 2000 people has meant recruiting an exceptional range of staff, with a broad base of skills and experience.”

“From chefs, waiters and cleaners to IT staff, event organisers and back-of-house logistics staff, we needed to recruit for a wide variety of professions to make sure the facility runs to the exceptional standard we require.”

“Training is a key priority,” said Mr Walsh.

“All convention centre staff have an intensive first week of training including communication, teamwork and customer service skills as well as specific on the job skills. As a multi faceted gaming and entertainment venue, SKYCITY offers excellent growth and development opportunities and people are encouraged to move from one of our facilities to another.”

“We are pleased to be contributing to the city through the creation of so many employment opportunities. SKYCITY Entertainment Group already employs some 4,400 people across our facilities throughout Australasia and I hope that this will further add to our reputation as a leading employer,” he said.

Further part time and full time positions will also be available once the five-star SKYCITY Grand Hotel, situated 14 floors above the convention centre, is completed (in May 2005).

The new SKYCITY Auckland Convention Centre, situated on Federal Street opposite SKYCITY Auckland, opened for business on Monday 5 April 2004 and offers the largest multi-functional convention facility in central Auckland city with capacity for up to 1200 (banquet function) or 1500 (theatre-style) delegates.

The new convention centre is currently available for evening banqueting functions and will be open for multi-day or major daytime events in late July 2004 when the construction of the SKYCITY Grand Hotel will not be disruptive to daytime conference guests.

A number of conferences and bookings are already in place including the prestigious Financial Planners and Insurance Advisors conference for 700 delegates while the Microsoft Tech Ed conference for 1500 delegates will make full use of the sophisticated on-site IT and audio visual equipment.

The $75 million five-star SKYCITY Grand Hotel will provide 316 rooms of luxurious accommodation in the heart of the city, featuring a full range of guest services, fine dining, private club lounge and a luxury health and beauty spa.

SKYCITY Auckland Convention Centre and SKYCITY Grand Hotel are linked to SKYCITY’s main site by two air bridges.

The SKYCITY Auckland Convention Centre and SKYCITY Grand Hotel developments are part of a major SKYCITY Auckland expansion project which also included extension to the main gaming floor, the development of a new gaming floor and bar (Bar3 and PLAY casino which opened in December 2003) and improvements to Sky Tower facilities, which included the addition of a new retail store at the base of Sky Tower.

ENDS

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