By LEDEDRA FERGUSON

Senior FN Reporter

lededra@nasguard.com

Four Seasons Resort in Exuma is offering Grand Bahama residents first pick at employment opportunities.

Resort executives are expected on the island this weekend for the recruitment exercise.

"We have quite a few positions available," Assistant Director of Human Resources Natalie Roberts told The Freeport News in a telephone interview from her Exuma-based office yesterday.

They include managerial positions like director of housekeeping and assistant golf professional to hourly positions in the food and beverage department such as servers, bussers, runners, bartenders and banquet servers.

Roberts says room attendants and a nail technician are also needed and the resort is in dire need of qualified engineers such as shift engineers, kitchen technicians and a pest control technician.

"We're looking for people with experience," she stressed.

With 4,000-plus people left jobless after two hurricanes ravaged the island last month, Four Seasons is giving residents here preference for its 2005 season.

The storms affected several hotels in Grand Bahama, including the two major resorts, one of which will remain closed until February.

"We'd like to give any qualified people that meet our standards in Freeport the opportunity to come to work at the Four Seasons," said Roberts.

Four Seasons is looking to fill permanent positions at the resort; however, Roberts says whether applicants will view the opportunity as a short-term fix the resort will use its discretion on how it will handle the situation.

"The hurricanes have certainly taken its toll on Grand Bahama, but the Four Seasons realizes that since there are people out of work, a lot of them came from very mature hotels down in Freeport, and therefore would have the kind of experience that hopefully we're looking for," she said.

While the resort prefers applicants book by appointment with the Department of Labour in Grand Bahama, walk-ins will be welcomed.

Would-be job seekers are asked to report to that local office with their credentials, and the Department of Labour will in turn fax the résumés to the resort.

This process, Roberts revealed, will afford resort executives to screen applicants before travelling to Grand Bahama.

Representatives will take up office at the Ministry of Tourism in the International Bazaar and be open for business from 12 noon Friday to about 6:00 p.m. and again on Saturday at 8:00 am until 2:00 p.m.

Roberts is reminding applicants that the tourism office is still open for business on Friday and resort representatives will be working along with tourism officials and ensuring that the operation is run as smoothly as possible.

The recruitment move is simply another phase under way at the resort, the executive explained, adding that each year several employees are promoted to different positions.

With November through April being the festive season on the resort calendar, Roberts says the Four Seasons is usually booked solid.

"We need to have these people up and running and trained properly to service the type of guests that we cater to," she said.

Last year around this time, the initial recruitment exercise was taken to New Providence, Long Island, Andros, Eleuthera and Grand Bahama.

There is a possiblility that non-Exumians who relocate from another island looking to take up employment at the resort are eligible for housing accommodations.

"Most of those persons do not have any family here or may not be able to find or afford accommodations here and that is the reason why the hotel built the accommodations in the first place," she said.

In 2003, the resort offered residents in New Providence the first chance at employment and the human resources executive revealed that other islands will be afforded the same opportunity.

After all, Roberts says, Four Season's goal is to hire and eventually promote Bahamians.