CHULA VISTA, Calif. (KGTV) — Thousands of job seekers showed up for a hiring event in Chula Vista Friday, all hoping to land a job at the new Gaylord Pacific Resort.
The hotel is expected to open in mid-May.
The job fair was hosted at Southwestern College from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. People started lining up hours before the event event started. The line had to be cut off by 2 p.m.
"7 hours later, here I am still waiting for my interview," said one job hopeful.
By Friday evening, people still waiting told ABC 10News they had waited in line for 5-8 hours, but all remained positive and hopeful their wait would land them a job.
"I was hoping that I would be early, coming 15 minutes early, wasn’t expecting to see the line wrapped around the whole school," said another person hoping to get hired Friday.
Friday's hiring event was the first of five to be hosted for the Gaylord Pacific. In addition to interviews on-site, some candidates walked away with job offers.
To attend, participants were asked to apply online and register for a job fair date before arriving in person.
The hotel's PR and marketing director tells ABC 10News the crowd size on Friday was more than they anticipated.
They did apologize to those who had to wait for hours, and acknowledged that they will be making changes to streamline the process for those who attend.
"We’re going to be making some improvements tomorrow, and I’m sure we’ll have more improvements to make in days three, four, and five, committed to continuously learning and doing better," said Pete Borum, the PR and marketing director.
The next job fair date is on Saturday, March 8th. The hiring events continue on March 14th-16th, all from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
