15,000 apply for 1,500jobs at new casino

www.freep.com...

According to this article, over 15,000 people showed up for interviews for a new casino in Battle Creek, Mi. The casino has only 1,500 slots to fill.
Fifteen thousand people!

The economy in Michigan is so bad, I believe it was yesterday that reported a 10 percent unemployment rate for the state of Michigan. People are losing their jobs left and right. Companies are going out of business. People are losing their homes.

Times are getting really bad.

I wonder how long those 1500 will have a job. With the economy going downhill so fast, many people will quit spending their money at casinos to pay for necessities.

That thought crossed my mind. Who can afford to go to a casino anymore?
Going to a casino would be the last thing on my mind.

Yea, its pretty bad. It was just on the news the other day, here. There was a woman looking for an assistant willing to pay $6.50/hr. She got 150 applications. She said the worst part was that these people were over qualified. Their previous jobs they were paid $25/hr, lots of education under their belts. Fighting for a job paying 6.50. Unreal. So sad.

A local car dealership where I live ran an ad for a part-time position, and 320 people showed up.

It's crazy, I was just talking to a guy who has a college degree, can't find work, and has even applied for a job at the Burger King, where I was getting breakfast.

I am worried about my own job, recent cutbacks have caused my pay to go down, benefits have changes, next step is lay offs, or worse the owners simply shut down the business.

Suicides are on the rise, and getting worse, civil unrest seems more likely, at some point desperate people will gather in significant numbers that looting will be likely, crime and justice will hardly deter hungry desperate people.

Sad times indeed.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

[edit on 29-1-2009 by Walkswithfish]

Working at a casino is not that great. management generally sucks and you can get fired for not being nice enough. My girlfriend worked at one for a year in the bank and will never step foot in the door again. Took a job for less money and never went back. Worse than being a prison guard she said.

Its sad to see such high ratios for minimum wage jobs...

I mean, investment banking jobs, spots for medicine at university etc always had ratios of between 10:1 and 100:1 depending on the slot; so those folks are more or less used to it.

I wonder why people would bother working for someone else for minimum wage. There are far better options (namely running a small business/ cottage industry).

Maybe I'm just being my usual elitist self

I don't remember the last time I applied for a job and I was the only one going for it. Yes, numbers will be higher now, in certain areas and certain sectors and for a certain amount of time.

2) I would expect that those people that say "illegal" immigrants serve an important economic function by doing the jobs nobody else wants, will have to find a different argument.

3) I believe the anectdotal stories of a $25hr employee looking and competing for a $6.50hr job is really geographical and isolated or exagerated.

4) Losing a job is extremely stressful and a huge pain in the ass, the only thing worse about losing a job is looking for a new one.

5) There is however great potential for upside.
a) some people are going to lose jobs that they hated anyways but due to the "Golden Handcuff" syndrome they couldn't leave on their own. These people may or might, now start a new career.
b) those that have jobs, and took them for granted or thought they were "entitled" to their jobs, will now figure out on their own what all the business advice books have been saying...."ask yourself if you provide value or savings to your employer." If not, then FIND ways to.
by doing this, you increase your odds that your number won't be first AND your company or employer will most likely start running better and getting more done and maybe even get stronger, thus needing more people to expand......of course things take time.

6) This would be the best time to create new industry and new job training.
If I were the government I would take advantage of this crappy situation
get all the laid of computer programers working on the alternative energy computer control stuff. Get laid off autoworkers to start building the windmills and solar widgets. Time for this Country to move in a different direction and since we can't make people leave their jobs to take on new jobs in different fields and different areas of the Country.....well the current situation has done it for them. Time for the government to do something useful.