Suffolk News-Herald

The Hilton Garden Inn and Suffolk Conference Center is looking for a few good men and women.

With less than three months to go before its targeted March 2005 opening, the new downtown Suffolk hotel is gearing up to hire 45 people early next year.

The hotel will be filling a plethora of part- and full-time hourly positions – front desk clerks, maintenance employees, banquet servers and housekeeping staff, said Tiffany Carr, director of human resources. The hotel will also be hiring an events planner and catering sales manager.

&uot;We definitely expect that figure to rise,&uot; Carr said. &uot;Eventually, we’ll probably have 75 or 80 employees on the payroll.&uot;

The hotel is sponsoring at job fair from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Jan. 11 to 13 at the National Guard Armory, 2761 Godwin Blvd. Officials will be conducting on-site interviews.

&uot;We want to try to get as many people interviewed and hired during the job fair as we can,&uot; Carr said.

Training will begin in February, about a month before the hotel opens, she said.

Despite the volume of positions available, Carr is confident the hotel won’t have trouble finding qualified applicants.

&uot;I think we are going to be OK,&uot; Carr said. &uot;We’ve already got quite a few applications and tons of resumes – at least 200 –

on file.&uot;

Construction on the 150-room hotel and 14,000-square-foot conference center is on schedule, said Keith Alexander, the hotel’s general manager.

Room reservations are being taken for dates after April 1, should the hotel run into unexpected delays with its planned March opening, he said.

At least one professional organization will be having its state convention in Suffolk this spring, he said. People have also begun contacting the hotel about weddings and family reunions.