Hundreds gallop to NYRA job fair in Spa City
Event continues on Saturday
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. » Hundreds of people headed to the New York Racing Association job fair Thursday in an attempt to secure jobs at Saratoga Race Course this summer.
The event, hosted by NYRA, started Thursday afternoon and will run through Saturday at the Saratoga Springs City Center, 522 Broadway.
This job fair is how the bulk of the race course staff is hired each year, and the first day is usually the busiest. In previous years, as many as 900 people have attended on the first day of the annual job fair.
Interviews will continue to be conducted from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.
Those hired as a result of this week’s search for employees will be part of the more than 2,000 people to work at Saratoga Race Course for the 2017 summer meet from Friday, July 21 through Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 4.
A diverse pool of candidates applied for roles such as betting clerks, bartenders, cashiers, chefs, cleaners, parking attendants, program sellers, retail clerks, security guards and ushers.
Local resident Robin Lewis, who recently moved back to the area from South Carolina, said she was hoping to get a summer job at the race course before finding a full time, year-round gig. “I’m going to get my feet wet and work at the track for the summer, and then look elsewhere,” she said, while waiting in line with her résumé in hand. With banking experience, Lewis came to apply for one of the cash-handling jobs available.
A former attendee at the track, Lewis said she thinks Saratoga Race Course will be a good environment in which to work.
“I always have a fun time going to the races,” she said.
“NYRA is proud that Saratoga Race Course is an integral part of the upstate economy and a driver of the Capital Region economy,” said Patrick McKenna, NYRA’s director of communications and public affairs.
“What you’re seeing here today is a reflection of the role that we play in the upstate economy; to drive jobs and economic opportunity for not just this direct area but the nine-county area surrounding Saratoga,” McKenna said during the busy first hour of the threeday job fair, citing a study that stated Saratoga Race Course is responsible for $237 million in annual economic activity and creates about 2,600 summer jobs.
“Annually this is an important and efficient way to hire folks for the upcoming meet,” McKenna continued as more applicants kept ar- riving.
Patty Barbaro, who is re- tired from a career in edu- cation, said her experience and interview Thursday went very smoothly, and she was invited to a training session. A first-time applicant, “I have some free time since I retired, and I’ve been looking for different temp jobs,” she said.
With about a just month to go, Barbaro is looking forward to working during the racing season.
“I think it will be fun to see a lot of different people,” she said. “It’s an exciting part of the environment here, and people from all over the world come.”
Another first-timer, 17-year-old Matthew Darling, went to the job fair Thursday afternoon at his mother’s suggestion.
“My mom said get a job before college,” explained the recent Burnt HillsBallston Lake High School graduate.
Before entering the fair, Darling wasn’t sure yet what type of position he was seeking at Saratoga Race Course.
“This is my first formal employment opportunity,” he said. “This is all very new to me.”
What Darling found as one of the most appealing factors about the job opportunity was the schedule, which would allow him to have a few weeks off in early summer, then work at the track for the midJuly to late August season before heading off to Clarkson University in the fall.