By Tessa Wong

EVEN as the Marina Bay hotel tower blocks and Sentosa roller-coaster tracks take shape, the human resources departments of the two integrated resorts have swung into high gear.

The two attractions need a total of 20,000 employees but the number of applications received is several times that.

Marina Bay Sands (MBS) has received 'tens of thousands', and Resorts World at Sentosa (RWS), 'more than 50,000'.

MBS said yesterday that so far, it has taken in 200 people in corporate, hotel operations, food and beverage and other areas, and will offer casino positions to over 1,000 workers this week.

The latest hires are all Singaporeans, with eight in 10 between 20 and 40 years old. Nearly two-thirds are men. MBS mounted an aggressive recruitment drive, roping in NTUC's skills-based institute e2i to screen the applications.

Those among the 1,000 who accept the job offer will need to be individually licensed by the Casino Regulatory Authority. After that, they will be put through a three-month in-house training course to turn them into dealers, dealer inspectors and pit supervisors.

Among those offered casino positions are Mr Charles Chia, 26, and Ms Joline Ng, 21. Mr Chia had secured a degree in business administration from the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Ms Ng has a diploma in dance from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (Nafa), but the recruitment ads for MBS made them consider careers with it.

Ms Ng said yesterday: 'It's a blooming industry, and I'd like being a dealer as I'd get to interact directly with customers. It's more than just providing service - it's also entertainment.'

About 3,500 casino positions are still available at MBS, including those in areas such as casino finance, player development and surveillance.

Other vacancies in non-gaming departments such as security and hotel operations are also still available.

Suitable candidates will be identified for these positions in the coming weeks and months as the resort builds up its 'pioneer team', said MBS president Nigel Roberts. Construction of the resort is expected to be completed by year's end. Interested parties may apply for the remaining jobs at http://careers.marinabaysands.com.

An MBS spokesman, explaining its 'Singaporeans first' hiring philosophy, said: 'We will turn to an expatriate candidate only if the skill sets cannot be found in local applicants.'

Over at RWS, 600 workers have so far been hired across all divisions. Eight in 10 are Singaporeans. Of the 600, 200 are croupiers, but still more are needed. All in, the casino will need over 3,000 gaming employees.

The human resources team will have its pick from a big pool - a third of the 50,000 job applications so far received have been for gaming jobs.

Its spokesman said those offered such positions will have licenses applied for them. They will also be trained for at least four months, at the end of which they will earn a Workforce Skills Qualification certificate in casino gaming. The first batch will be trained from August.

Recruitment will ramp up in the coming months as the resort is on target to open early next year.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.