Recruitment drive begins at new Center Parcs in Woburn Forest
9 July 2013
Holiday village operator Center Parcs has begun a drive to recruit 1,500 employees for a variety of roles at its new £250m Woburn Forest village.
Tue, 9 Jul 2013
Holiday village operator Center Parcs has begun a drive to recruit 1,500 employees for a variety of roles at its new £250m Woburn Forest village.
Positions currently available include such diverse roles as cycle mechanic, executive sous chef, housekeeping head of department, nurse, HR adviser, lifeguard, senior ranger and spa therapist.
The drive is launched by recently-hired HR manager Tracey Purser, who arrived at the park with senior management roles already filled and 11,000 expressions of interest in job opportunities already registered.
Purser says: “We’re looking for people who have the right attitude, strong personality, a passion for the leisure industry and perhaps, more importantly, take pride in their work.”
The largest segment of the recruitment drive is the search for 500 housekeepers. All staff will have access to the firm’s rewards and benefits package, which alongside a pension plan and a variety of training and development initiatives includes discounted breaks.
Center Parcs aims to fill all roles by January ahead of the park opening in spring next year. Some training will begin in autumn at the Forest Center country park and leisure venue in the Forest of Marston Vale, three miles from Woburn Forest, a location chosen “due to its proximity to the new village and similar forest environment”, Center Parcs says.
The new village, the company’s fourth in the UK, is expected to be open by spring, although the company is giving itself some leeway with bookings available now for arrivals starting 1 September 2014 to 19 December 2014. More dates will be released later this year.
Holiday village operator Center Parcs has begun a drive to recruit 1,500 employees for a variety of roles at its new £250m Woburn Forest village.
Positions currently available include such diverse roles as cycle mechanic, executive sous chef, housekeeping head of department, nurse, HR adviser, lifeguard, senior ranger and spa therapist.
The drive is launched by recently-hired HR manager Tracey Purser, who arrived at the park with senior management roles already filled and 11,000 expressions of interest in job opportunities already registered.
Purser says: “We’re looking for people who have the right attitude, strong personality, a passion for the leisure industry and perhaps, more importantly, take pride in their work.”
The largest segment of the recruitment drive is the search for 500 housekeepers. All staff will have access to the firm’s rewards and benefits package, which alongside a pension plan and a variety of training and development initiatives includes discounted breaks.
Center Parcs aims to fill all roles by January ahead of the park opening in spring next year. Some training will begin in autumn at the Forest Center country park and leisure venue in the Forest of Marston Vale, three miles from Woburn Forest, a location chosen “due to its proximity to the new village and similar forest environment”, Center Parcs says.
The new village, the company’s fourth in the UK, is expected to be open by spring, although the company is giving itself some leeway with bookings available now for arrivals starting 1 September 2014 to 19 December 2014. More dates will be released later this year.
- See p14 of the new July edition of Recruiter, out next week, for a Sector Focus on the recruitment in the hospitality and leisure industries.
