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If you missed the open interviews for the Rivers Casino’s dealer school last week, not to worry. Rivers will offer dealer school interviews on March 24 explicitly for Northsiders.
The free, eight- to10-week dealer school begins in April and those who finish will be eligible to apply for any of the 350 dealer positions available later this summer. This number is higher than the 260 to 280 dealer positions the casino first reported.
Rivers is coordinating the Northside interview process with the Northside Leadership Conference, which has a worker preference agreement with the casino to hire local Northsiders.
To sign up for the second interview process, Northsiders must contact Randy Lheureau at 412-330-2551 by 4 p.m. on Monday, March 22.
“We give [job seekers] an understanding of what the interviews are for and how to prepare,” Lheureau said.
Dealer hopefuls will likely need the preparation. Out of 1800 applicants that came to the casino’s first round of interviews March 8 and 9, only 380 were invited to attend the dealer school.
In addition, according to Andre Barnabei, vice president for human resources, about 100 experienced dealers have already contacted Rivers about table game positions and first preference for dealer school is being given to current employees.
Barnabei said that the dealer school can accommodate up to 550 positions, but the casino still expects to hire just 350 dealers, some on a part-time basis.
“The reason for this [separate interview process] is to reach deeper into the neighborhoods to get those people that don’t read the paper,” said Mark Fatla, the Conference’s executive director. “This is a way to make sure that if they missed the first round of interviews, they get a second entry point to compete.”
Fatla said even if Northsiders who attend the dealer school don’t get jobs right away, the training is an investment in their future.
“Casinos have 25 percent turnover annually. I think a lot of people lose sight of that — the hiring is continuous. That could be 75 new [dealer] jobs next year,” Fatla said.
The dealer school requires a commitment of 20 hours per week and lasts from April 14 to June 25. Those who pass the interview process can choose to take classes at three different times: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.; or, 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. All class times are Monday through Friday.
