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Opening Arguments

Hospitality, sweet

Desperate times:

More than 1,500 picked up applications for 80 new hotel and restaurant jobs in Fort Wayne Tuesday and more people are applying today and tomorrow.

People waited up to three hours for a chance at the 60 full time and 20 part time positions at Fort Wayne's newest hotel and restaurant, Courtyard by Marriott and Champions Sports Restaurant.

[. . .]

The hotel and restaurant are looking for every position from bartenders to housekeepers, to front desk staff.

[. . .]

Hotel officials say they were overwhelmed with the number of people who showed up.

I guess so, "overwhelmed" -- that's almost 20 seekers for every job, and applications are still being accepted today and tomorrow. And these aren't exactly high-paying, glamorous jobs.

The automatic assumption is that this a great break for the hotel; with so many applicants, it can pick the absolute cream of the crop. But sometimes too much choice is as troublesome as too little. How, for example, do you winnow such a big group down to something more manageable in a way that is both fair to the job seekers and good business for the hotel? My guess is that anybody without hospitality experience or at least a strong history of retail experience won't get very far in the process.

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