ORLANDO, Fla. – Universal Orlando is looking to hire thousands of new team members and Tuesday they announced it will raise its starting pay in the process.
The resort is in the middle of a huge expansion with eight new venues coming to CityWalk, the partial opening of the Cabana Bay Beach Resort and coming this summer, the highly-anticipated Diagon Alley -- a whole new second land in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
With expansion comes jobs and Tuesday Universal officials said they're looking for 3,500 new employees to fill those roles.
But perhaps the biggest news officials announced was a higher starting pay for new hires.
Beginning June 1, the wage will be raised from $8 an hour to $9 an hour which exceeds Disney's starting pay of $8.03.
"You have to pay a certain amount of money in order to get the best talent you can," said a four-year Universal employee who didn't want to be identified. "So I believe that the more that we pay starting out, the better talent you will draw in."
The 3,500 jobs that Universal said it plans to add this year will include full-time, part-time, and seasonal positions.
Universal is having a virtual job fair for hourly park positions Saturday, May 10. They're also having an open house to recruit all positions for the new venues at city walk Tuesday, May 13.