As thousands of Puerto Ricans evacuate to Central Florida after Hurricane Maria, a local company is appealing to new residents while hiring 400 people.
Drive Shack, a golfing attraction with restaurant and meeting space, is seeking a variety of positions, mostly in the customer service category.
Positions include golf-related jobs, such as drivers for the Ballzoni machine that picks up balls or golf ‘rangers’ that enforce course rules, to kitchen supervisors and facility technicians.
Drive Shack, 7675 Lake Nona Blvd., plans a January opening for its 66,000-square-foot, three-story facility in Lake Nona.
The company has a series of Job Fairs lined up on most days in December, at the Guidewell Innovation Center in Lake Nona, 6555 Sanger Road.
Drive Shack is not the first organization in the area to appeal to Puerto Ricans who need jobs;
Osceola County and the Central Florida Hotel & Lodging Association, among others, have appealed to that demographic when advertising job events.
People can obtain tickets for the job fairs on Drive Shack’s Facebook page, @DriveShackOrlando, under the events list.
The job fairs start at 9 a.m., from Dec. 4 through Dec. 22, and Dec. 26 through Dec. 30.
It will be the first location for the New York City-based company, which also plans to build in Raleigh, Richmond, West Palm Beach and Phoenix.
Coincidentally, Drive Shack will also be the second major golf attraction opening in Orlando recently, after Topgolf in the International Drive tourism area.
Both offer a gamified version of a driving range with targets and technology tracking the flight of balls. They also both offer food and drink menus.
Topgolf had a job fair in August as it hired 500 for its facility.
The facility, which cost at least $20 million to build, has 90 golf bays on three stories, with a pro shop and bar.
Here’s some of the duties listed in the Ballzoni driver job description, just in case you were wondering:
· Drive the ball picker around the outfield to retrieve golf balls that are hit into the outfield
· Follow all safe work practices and requirements; immediately inform your supervisor if you see a hazard
· Manage the golf balls for cleaning and distribution to the dispensers in each of the hitting bays
· Work on a schedule that is provided by the Facilities Manager or Supervisor to pick up balls in a timely and efficient manner
· Maintain cleanliness of ball picker and report any problems with the vehicle
· Have a positive attitude and interact (wave) with guests
By Paul Brinkmann: pbrinkmann@orlandosentinel.com; Twitter is @PaulBrinkmann
This article was originally published by orlandosentinel.com
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