Irvine Company has hired 1,000 people with plans to add 200 more as it readies itself to open The Resort at Pelican Hill in Newport Coast next month.
The hiring comes after the Newport Beach-based real estate developer and owner laid off more than 100 employees last month amid the downturn in housing developments and the office market.
The mass hiring for the hotel and golf course is a 37% increase in workers for Irvine Co., which stands to be at 4,400 total employees when Pelican Hill opens on Nov. 26.
The hiring puts Irvine Co. on track to be the biggest job gainer this year in the county, which has seen a running slide in employment since late last year.
In August, employers here shed 26,600 workers versus a year earlier, a 1.8% decline, according to the state’s Employment Development Department. The county’s unemployment is 5.8%, the highest in more than a decade.
The majority of Irvine Co.’s hiring has been for restaurant, housekeeping and other hotel operations, according to Arthur Nathan, vice president of human resources for Irvine Company Resort Properties, the division that oversees Pelican Hill and two other company hotels.
The biggest number of hires, 500, is front desk, guest relations, engineering and housekeeping workers.
Another 400 people were hired for food and beverage operations, including cooks, waiters, hostesses and bus people.
About 75 of the hires are managers and directors.
Some 60 people were brought on just to drive vehicles around the 504-acre resort. Those include parking lot shuttles and golf cart operators.
Human resources, accounting and purchasing employees make up the rest of the hires.
For more on this story, see the Oct. 6 edition of the Business Journal.
