A job fair to fill over 30 positions on board the Aquasino was held in Little River Monday.
"There is about 35 positions to be filled and half of them are part-time," Aquasino co-owner Spiro Naos said.
Aquasino sails twice daily in season and has more than 320 slot machines, blackjack, craps and roulette table games. The company is hiring casino dealers, supervisors, sales, food and beverage staff and slot machine attendants.
40 people applied within a few hours of the start of the job fair and some had driven several hours from other cities because they're interested in moving to the area.
"As long as they have any experience in the hospitality business, they can fit in most of those positions. Probably about 25 % of those (jobs) will be in the marine crew and they'll have to have some kind of maritime experience, but other than that if they have any experience in the hospitality business they could qualify," he added.
The Aquasino came to the Grand Strand last April, replacing the Sun Cruz ship that filed for bankruptcy earlier in the year.
Last year the company that owns the boat, Sun Cruz, had about 200 positions available. This year the company is only hiring to support it through the season. "People understand there are less positions. My feeling is that a lot of the folks have found some kind of job or have moved out of the area. We find that most of the applicants are over-qualified and that is a good thing because that had been a problem in the past and it isn't anymore," Naos said.
The job fair is being held at the Sun Cruz headquarters on Mineola Avenue in Little River until 3 p.m.
Applications are also available at workforce centers in Conway, Myrtle beach and Georgetown.
