Power & Light District job fair draws crowds

Hordes of prospective employees descended on downtown Wednesday hoping to fill 1,000 to 1,400 jobs at the new Kansas City Power & Light District.

Amid mounting concern about a possible national recession and pending job cuts at such major local companies as Sprint Nextel, Cerner and H&R Block, the entertainment district offers welcome job opportunities — albeit in generally lower-paying service-sector jobs.

“I’m looking for a better job — a career kind of job,” said Latasha Bates, an applicant at the job fair. “It’s a lot of opportunities, and I think I can make the best of something here.”

The district is scrambling for workers, some immediately and others as it ramps up for its grand opening in March in conjunction with the Big 12 basketball tournament.

So the Cordish Co., developer of the district, put on a job fair Wednesday that also will run from 2 to 8 p.m. today.

Prospective employees began lining up at 7:15 a.m. for the 8 a.m. fair on Wednesday. By 9 a.m., the ballroom of the Hilton President Kansas City hotel was packed. Some of the applicants spilled into the lobby to fill out paperwork.

Cordish officials expect about 3,000 people to attend the fair over the two days.

But it's not just workers competing for jobs. Employers also are competing with one another and with other established operations for the best workers. They brandished promises of competitive salaries and perks like trips to Ireland.

"With this many places hiring all at once, (employers) are nervously excited about finding the people they want and the people they need to fit their restaurant and their style," said Jon Stephens, Cordish's director of marketing for the district. "I don't think there have been any other hiring fairs of this sort in quite awhile."

Indeed, the Power & Light District's opening may recall the service-sector hiring binges -- and labor market dislocations -- associated with the casino boom of the mid-1990s and the more recent opening of the Village West district in western Wyandotte County.

Notably, the Power & Light District's jobs offer both a variety of positions and employers and easily accessible public transportation from many areas of the city, a benefit that prospective employees touted Wednesday.

"There are many opportunities for people with tattoos, kind of on the edge, or no tattoos, different shifts, older workers," said Clyde McQueen, president of the Full Employment Council Inc., which helped get out the word about the job fair.

Some employers weren't quite prepared for the onslaught Wednesday. Chipotle had a sick manager, so representatives were about 30 minutes late setting up and then ran out of applications 40 minutes later.

"It's a lot bigger than we expected," said Kimberly Mundy, a kitchen manager at Chipotle, which hopes to fill 20 positions before the operation opens in late February. "We had a big pile of applications. They're all gone and we're making copies. But people have good energy and are friendly, so we have a lot of hope."

Cordish, which has an ownership stake in some of the operations in addition to developing the district, has been gearing up for the openings for months. Cordish officials visited with the Guadalupe Center's Culinary Arts Institute several times in 2007. Two graduates obtained positions at McFadden's through a job fair.

"It's not just Kansas City. It's the same in Las Vegas, in Orlando. You worry that people will want to work for you," said Paul Nolan, co-owner of Raglan Road, which had its own job fair last week and also set up at this week's fair. "That's always the scariest part of the whole process."

But Nolan, who needs about 60 workers before Raglan Road's April opening, said he was impressed with the quality of applicants.

"There's a much higher experience level here compared to Orlando with a strong work ethic, so that's very encouraging," he said.

Raglan Road officials said there was an "emotional" attachment to an Irish pub that may give them an edge.

The district also is hoping its urban setting will give it an edge over more established districts, despite having many unproven concepts and the challenge of drawing suburban visitors back downtown.

"It's not like we are on the Plaza," said Jake Gross, general manager of Howl at the Moon. "This is new construction."

Affordable parking is one big issue for employers who don't have workers using public transportation. Some employers are working to get special rates at area lots for their employees and to get the word out on the garages in the area.

Job seekers cited different motivations for seeking work at the Power & Light District.

Lance McNack, who moved from Wichita at the first of the year, targeted Raglan Road for employment. He wanted to learn a different cuisine to add to his 14 years of experience as a line cook.

But bar supervisor Brent Jones, who is starting a family, was looking for more benefits than offered at his current job.

Both lit up at the mention of the Power & Light District's urban setting.

"I love downtown; it's not spread out like a lot of areas," said Jones, who lives in the Northland.