ORLANDO, Fla. – As many families have already made their way to Central Florida for the busy memorial day weekend, area theme parks and many businesses are gearing up for large crowds but facing a staffing shortage ahead of the rush.
“The current trend right now is surpassing the 2019 crowd size,” said John Chidester, of Fun Spot America.
Leaders at Fun Spot America said they’re ready for this holiday weekend, but they’re actively hiring more than 100 part and full-time workers between their two parks in Orlando and Kissimmee. To learn more information about positions available at Fun Spot, click here.
“In the summer months, the business just blossoms, so we’ll need more employees to help provide excellent service,” Chidester said.
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Tourism leaders weighed in Thursday on staffing shortages for many area businesses.
“I think demand has come back so quickly they are now scrambling to ramp up staffing to meet that demand,” Visit Orlando Director of Market Research & Insights Daryl Cronk said.
Along International Drive, Carlos Leite from Cafe Mineiro Brazilian steakhouse knows firsthand about the staffing problems. He said they’re ready for this holiday weekend, but having a hard time finding workers.
“We are short on staff and we are looking for people to hire,” Leite said. “We post it asking people to come to interview, but it’s not many people showing up for those spots.”
Meanwhile, Universal Orlando announced it plans to increase its minimum pay to $15 next month. The current starting rate is $13 but will increase to $15 on June 27.
Universal Orlando said earlier this month that it was looking to fill more than 2,000 full-time and part-time team members for the summer. The theme park said jobs are available in areas including attractions, aquatics, food services, culinary, merchandise, custodial, warehouse, entrance operations, call center sales and more.
Interested candidates can apply here.
For more job listings in the Orlando-area visit ClickOrlando.com/jobs.