April 15--Just as regulators report the casino industry shed nearly 5 percent of its workforce in March compared to the same month last year, a job fair held this week is promising to add 600 new jobs.

The Jimmy Buffett-backed Margaritaville project is holding the fair through Thursday at the Atlantic City Convention Center to hire hourly staff for various positions in retail, restaurant and beverage services in anticipation of its expected opening in May.

Hundreds of prospective employees appeared Monday, forming a line that extended the length of the building. A few left with job offers while some others may be called back for a follow-up as part of plans to eventually hire 600 hourly workers, Margaritaville General Manager Miles Lederer, of Atlantic City, said.

"We'd like to get to that as close as possible," said Lederer, who previously worked at Dover Downs in Delaware as well as various positions in Atlantic City at Caesars Entertainment, Planet Hollywood and Trump casinos.

Buffett and his associates, who have opened similar themed bars, restaurants and casinos in Florida, Connecticut, Las Vegas and other locations, are planning a Margaritaville at Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City. The hiring will be to fill hourly shifts at the Margaritaville restaurant and retail store; the LandShark Bar and Grill Beach Bar and retail store; and so-called "flair bartenders" for the 5 O'clock Somewhere Bar.

Unlike seasonal beach bars in Atlantic City, Landshark is expected to remain open year-round, and if there is enough business, the 600 new jobs may be sustained throughout the year, Lederer said.

Compared to this time last year when Revel was in the process of gearing up for its April opening, casino employment in Atlantic City was down year-over-year by nearly 2,000 jobs in March, according to the Casino Control Commission.

But the figures maintained by the commission don't include employees who work for restaurants and retail outlets that lease space inside casinos -- such as inside Revel and Tropicana. That area is considered one of the market's growth segments. According to the Division of Gaming Enforcement, there were 162 third-party businesses operating in casinos in 2012, an increase of 40 percent from a year earlier.

Tanya Cain, a job coordinator at Atlantic City High School who helps students find work, said the Margaritaville job fair and other recruitment efforts are among some of the signs that employers are starting to hire in anticipation of the upcoming tourist season, but she doesn't want to get too excited, particularly because Hurricane Sandy stalled holiday hiring late last year.

"We are coming off an extremely slow period," Cain said. "It is picking up but there's some reservation."

The promise of jobs had applicants from all over the region and other states attending the Margaritaville job fair. As they waited to ascend the escalators to meet with recruiters, they were entertained by a stilt walker twisting balloons into headgear.

Among the hopefuls was Billy Sturgis, 56, a semiretired Virginia resident who wore a Hawaiian shirt and carried a portfolio of photos of him with Buffett and other singers at various times over the years to the job fair.

"I just thought I would give it a shot," Sturgis said, adding he was hoping to reconnect with Buffett, possibly moving from fan to employee. "This isn't the farthest I've gone for a Buffett experience."

While some were hired on the spot, many left disappointed, saying recruiters told them they lacked the necessary experience.

"I came because I need a job -- a lot of people do," said Latasha Liddell, 34, of Pleasantville, a former nursing home worker who applied for a cashier or hostess job at Margaritaville.

Recruiters told her she needed more work experience, she said.

"I've been working my whole life," Liddell said.

Contact Hoa Nguyen:

609-272-7203

[email protected]

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