Mercedes-Benz Stadium officials will host draft days beginning this Friday through next Wednesday, but it has nothing to do with selecting a tight end for the Atlanta Falcons or a goalkeeper for Atlanta United.
Officials with the $1.5 billion downtown facility are looking for several hundred part-time workers to staff the behemoth retractable roof stadium, including housekeeping, guest services and parking staff.
Stadium officials say overall they will employ 4,000 people at the facility, which will open for its inaugural football game Aug. 26. The officials declined to say the exact number of jobs available.
There’s a catch to “draft days” though. Instead of showing up at the Georgia World Congress Center, the site of the “draft,” with resume in hand like a traditional job fair, stadium officials will screen applicants online before making them a “draft pick” for a face-to-face interview.
"A lot of job fairs are open calls, you just come and bring your resume," said Lisa Chang, senior vice president for human resources for AMB Group, owner of the Falcons and Atlanta United. "You have to be pre-qualified to come."
To be considered, applicants must first go to mercedesbenzstadium.com/employment/ and answer the basic interview questions that most expect -- work history, reason for interest in the job, etc., Chang said.
The last hurdle is to answer questions posed by Falcons owner Arthur Blank, Falcons coach Dan Quinn and others in a pre-recorded video. The applicant records his or her answers in a video of their own, which is sent to AMB for evaluation.
“We look for eye contact, enthusiasm and spirit of customer service,” Chang said. “All the things that make great customer services people.”
If “drafted” to attend draft days, chances are high you’ll be hired, Chang said.
“If you make it to draft day, we are seeing about a 75 percent to 80 percent conversion rate that you’ll get a job offer,” Chang said.
Chris Mutua, who will be a communications major at Clayton State University this fall, was offered a job less than an hour after he interviewed for a guest day host position at a late June "draft" job fair." A former guest services worker at Turner Field, Mutua said helping the public left him with good memories that he hopes he can duplicate at Mercedes-Benz.
“I want to relive that fan experience at Turner Field and to make sure it is just as good (at Mercedes-Benz) or improved upon,” he said.
For Marilyn Neal, working in the stadium will be a fantasy come true. Mercedes-Benz, in her opinion, is a game changer in design in Atlanta. The multiple angles, the giant billboards and the acres of glass is a marvel to her. She drove by the stadium regularly and promised herself that she would work there one day.
“Once I knew that they were potentially hiring, I thought “Let me keep an eye on that,” she said. “This is a game changer. You need to be a part of that. Don’t let this opportunity pass you by.”
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