Bucks will hold June 20 job fair
Hundreds of part-timers needed for arena work
The Milwaukee Bucks will stage a June 20 job fair to hire hundreds of part-time workers for their new arena.
Candidates will be interviewed at the Wisconsin Center convention hall for positions including ushers, ticket takers, security and guest services.
A huge turnout is expected for the jobs that will pay a minimum of $12.50 an hour, said Kelly Kauffman, the Bucks senior vice president for human resources. The Bucks promise that the minimum wage will rise to $15 an hour in 2023.
“We’ll see a lot of students and a lot of retirees,” she predicted.
There will be a crew of 80 interviewers at the ballroom from 1 to 7 p.m. Applicants are asked to bring a printed copy of their resume.
The Bucks will have about 600 parttime jobs at the new arena. They’ve already filled about 200 with former employees of the BMO Harris Bradley Center who had a separate job fair a few weeks ago.
The Bucks’ food and beverage contractor, Levy, will hire its own workforce for kitchens and concessions.
The Bucks expect to open the $524 million arena in late summer, and some public events are expected to be held in August. Details have not been provided about the grand opening celebrations. The new arena was built with $250 million in public funds.
The Bucks have promised that half of the jobs at the arena and in the surrounding entertainment district will go to people living in ZIP codes that suffer most from low wages and high unemployment.
“We are looking to hire and bring people into the arena from all parts of the community,” said Alex Lasry, Bucks senior vice president. “A strong, diverse workforce is extremely important to us.”
Similar job fairs for new arenas, such as at the Sacramento Kings’ Golden 1 Center, have attracted thousands, Kauffman said.
“We’ve been planning this for months,” Lasry said. “These job fairs can be big and daunting, but these are good problems to have.”
There will also be a considerable emphasis on customer service.
“We want to make sure that every time they walk in there our employees are treating them like they’re gold,” Kauffman said. “We want people who are ‘Wisconsin nice.’ ”
The Bucks urge job fair candidates to pre-register for the job fair online at www.bucks.com/careers by Wednesday. This is in part to give organizers an idea of how large of a turnout to expect.