Townsville: Chef concocts dream job

A typical day for Jupiters Townsville chef Catherine O'Donnell-Hopgood starts with "a bike ride around the lagoons at Thuringowa, reading, a swim, then starting work at noon, and home again with a glass of red in hand by 10 pm."

O'Donnell-Hopgood came to Townsville when her husband, who is in the Defence Force, was posted to the city. As soon as they knew about the posting, she applied to Jupiters Townsville because she wanted to work in the city's premier hospitality venue.

The city and its lifestyle appeal to her for its work-life balance. The chefs at Jupiters work hard, she says, but don't suffer from the long-hours-culture prevalent in so many other cities.

Townsville has been the first place where she and her husband have been able to buy their own home and the first place they have considered staying long term.

O'Donnell-Hopgood loves the variety she has found working at Jupiters. The only small challenge she has found has been the distance from other centres for training and competition, but there are ways to get around that, she says.

Coming to Townsville is a lifestyle choice, admits Jupiters Townsville Hotel and Casino, Human Resources Manager, Victoria Harris.

"People enjoy their weekends, there's no traffic, you've got the Great Barrier Reef on your doorstep, and Magnetic Island 20 minutes away.

"It offers a chance for people to come and really have a career but at the same time enjoy their family and a good lifestyle choice," she says.

Harris claims people choose to work at Jupiters because it stands apart from all the other venues in Townsville. There are restaurants, cafes, pubs, clubs and hotels galore but Jupiters Townsville offers an experience, not just an entertainment venue, she says.

And staff are positively encouraged to make that experience as much fun as they can for visitors, she adds.

During times of skills shortages an employer needs to offer something that will attract professionals to work there and stay, Harris explains. Jupiters Townsville prefers to recruit the right person for the job rather than the first person they see.

"[Townsville] is a mining town and it's quite transitional, so we don't generally have some of the higher skills at our fingertips because of the skills shortage", she says.

"Once people realise that Townsville can provide opportunities equal to some of the bigger cities and that it offers a lifestyle balance, then we tend to really attract a good number of people," says Harris.

Customer service is the main focus, she says. "There are many people with fantastic customer service experience but there are industries that compete with hospitality such as retail and mining.

"Chefs are the most difficult to recruit, particularly at a time people when can demand what they want because of the skills shortage", says Harris.

The main quality that Jupiters Townsville seeks in its staff can't be taught, she says.
"We really look for the attitude, the enthusiasm and the dedication as opposed to the actual skills because you can always teach and train people the actual job, but you can't teach and train them their personality and their behavioural traits.

"In a frontline food and beverage situation, we will always go for someone with enthusiasm and dedication to people, rather than whether or not they have had the experience."

Jupiters Townville runs a reward-and-recognition program called the "Shine" program to encourage staff to impart its values - enthusiasm, being pleasant and polite, good customer service, and being part of the team with a shared goal, and a desire to be the first in the market.

Recruitment is based upon these values and there is also recognition of staff through instant rewards, and through employee and manager of the month and year programs.

With everything in one place, there is great potential for staff to move around within the organisation, within Townsville and beyond, says Harris.

There are also opportunities to multi-hire, enabling people to work in a couple of different roles. For example, some restaurant staff also work in front of office roles and housekeepers, as concierges or driveway attendants.

Jupiters' staff turnover is not huge, Harris says, and some staff have worked there since it opened 21 years ago.

All kinds of roles come on stream, including senior roles, she says. Currently there is a vacancy for a Customer Experience Manager but Jupiters is always on the lookout for suitable people across the spectrum. It also runs a 5-week Dealer School where
people over 18 have the opportunity to learn how to work in the casino.

For more information about working at Jupiters, contact Recruitment Officer Nicholas Doherty or Victoria Harris. www.jupiterstownsville.com.au/