VALDOSTA —
As one of the largest employers in Valdosta at more than 1,500 employees, Wild Adventures Theme Park provides hundreds of job opportunities to the local community every year.
On Feb. 15 and 16, Wild Adventures continued its hiring tradition by filling approximately 200 park positions to prepare for the 2012 season.
“We had a lot of great candidates,” said Wendi Burke, Wild Adventures director of human resources.
Those 200 hires came from 1,000 applications received. However, those 200 new hires are only a small sub-portion of the 700 employees Wild Adventures hires throughout the year.
“We do hire continuously throughout the season,” said Burke. “We have new-hire orientation once a week.”
A Wild Adventures job can prove beneficial to younger employees’ future careers.
“It’s a great learning atmosphere because you do have the opportunity to learn about business,” said Burke.
Aside from 70 percent of the full-time and management positions at the park being promoted from within, the park offers skill sets that can be applied to a variety of different jobs.
“A theme park is like a small city,” said Burke.
College students and recent college graduates know how depleted the job market is. Students are competing with thousands of other applicants for the few part-time positions that come open in town. Recent college graduates don’t have enough experience for some jobs and too much for others.
“We understand the college plight right now,” said Burke.
This plight has upgraded the quality of applicants. While Burke explains she hasn’t seen an increase in applicants that directly correlates with a drop in the economy, she has recognized a change in the caliber of applicants.
“The caliber of people that we see is different or better. I would say that’s the difference,” said Burke.
Wild Adventures is an equal-opportunity employer in more than just the usual sense. Whether you have a doctorate in bio-chemistry or whether you’re a junior in high school, as long as you are willing to work hard and have fun, Wild Adventures is more than happy to make you apart of the team ... that is, after you pass the extensive Wild Adventures interview.
“We really open it to everyone,” said Burke. “We really say, hey, come work with us.”
Burke suggests people work at the park for a summer to see if they like it.
“There’s a lot of opportunity in this region, in this industry,” said Burke. “For South Georgia and North Florida, this is a great industry to be exposed to.”
Burke has noticed that individuals who have taken advantage of the opportunities at Wild Adventures have had some additional growth opportunities down the road. For instance, at Wild Adventures, employees learn to interact with all walks of life.
“More interestingly is the different types of people they get to meet,” said Burke. “There are all different people from all different walks of life.”
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