Working for a major casino?

One of the major casinos wants to fly me to Vegas to meet me in person for an interview at the corporate level, I love visiting Vegas and I cant imagine turning down a free trip, but I am not sure if I really want to work for them, has anyone here had any experience working for a large casino at the corporate level?

 

I've been thinking about this too... overall I just worry about the stability.

I know for me, I am constantly thinking about moving there, and I would really only want to work for one of the major casinos, that's what I love about Vegas. But with the economy and the massive debt some of these companies are in I worry about it. But, overall I'm just extra paranoid, because of what I've been through personally with layoffs and everything in the past few years.

You can check out glassdoor.com, employees post anonymously about the jobs good and bad. I found it useful to get an idea of salary, and if people are happy or not.

 

I looked at Glassdoor, The thing about vegas is that the cost of living is really low, if you make 50k in vegas its like making 90k in san fran in order to keep the same quality of life. but the wage that is being offered to me is pretty low, I am def going to check it out but I really dont know if its worth being paid like half of what I think Im worth, even if the cost of living is lower.

I looked at the quarterly financial statements for the casino chain and the annual report, and their debt/assets ratio is over 2:1, I don't think that says a lot of good things for their stability

my standard of living isn't that high, but I worry that I wont be able to maintain it in vegas with the low pay, Also I think the dealers probably make more than the lower level corperate people with all the tips that they get.

I've been laid off as well and I spent the majority of last year not working (also not looking for work) Ive only really been looking for work for the past few weeks and this is the first job I have found in corperate (couple non corperate job possibilities as well)

Stability is important, but I also dont know if I would want to live in vegas for more than a year or two, so maybe a lack of stability would be ok, who knows

 

Honest answer

Skip that job and get a job as a dealer.

It is a ticket to the greatest show on earth!

 

I think I would be happier in corperate doing something less repetetive, I need fulfilment in life as well as money. Else I would just stay in my home town and sell used cars off the toyota lot

 

Who can live on $90,000 in San Fran? Maybe without a family with roommates or something?

 

your almost right, you can get a studio in the mission and not own a car, and scrape by for like 80k, that gives you a solid 10k a year to put into savings

 

Yea. I wish I knew what the salary would be of my dream job, cause if it's too low that would squash my dream right away haha. Ultimately I have a great job in LA, in my field, it would be pretty heard to tear me away, at least right now.

But, like you said if you are unemployed, what do you really have to lose? 50k is better than no money. You can certainly live on that there. I mean a 1 bedroom apartment is around $675 or less.

I know they are in debt and all that, but they are HUGE companies that aren't going out of business anytime soon. It may just be paranoia... I guess it would depend on your field.

 

Working with the casinos is anything, but stable. I've seen layoffs, downsizing, closing of properties, revamping of properties, etc. Flexibility is key. Corporate positions tend to make more money, but they are known to be expendable. Truthfully, in today's market everyone is expendable.

You can live quite comfortably on $50k (my brother has been out here a year on half that); assuming you're disciplined. If you have a weakness Vegas will find it.

 

Casino's are quick to hire and quick to fire. Most employee's find advancement and better pay by constantly moving around. Therefore, you really never get senority at any one of them. So if things go bad, guess who is one of the first employee's to go. It's like a seasonal job. If the economy is fine you will do fine, if not, remember the location of that Toyota dealer back home.

 

Some impressions and thoughts based on a few weeks of working out there last year:

1. The industry as a whole probably isn't going to grow very much/at all in LV the next few years, due to continuing economic issues and competition from other geographic areas (both US and intl).
2. The great recession seems to have really affected the business for the long term, both from a pure debt+P/L standpoint, and a mental outlook standpoint. Combine that with the high debt load of the leading companies you get an operating environment that's going to be difficult for companies to maneuver in without some drastic changes eg) divestitures, restructurings, etc.
3. +1 on the previous comments regarding rapid employment changes.
4. I'd view working in LV as a stepping stone to something else, not as a planned long-term destination.
5. While moving to LV may seem great for a single person, if you've got a SO the equation can change dramatically, especially if you have or are starting to have kids.
6. Despite the continuing increase in "legitimacy" of gambling throughout the country, I think its still viewed as somewhat of a less desirable industry to work in, with the resulting effect of making good senior executive level talent very difficult to recruit.
7. Corollary of #6, if good senior executive level is difficult to recruit, then the talent they do get is probably of lesser quality.

 

Yea, I'm just starting out in my career, been working in LA about 6.5 years since college, I pretty much started right when the market crashed, I'm on my 5th job, every other company I worked for went out of business or I got laid off (until now I work at a stable growing retail company). So while it's partly Vegas, I think you will get that almost anywhere, with almost any job you find.

I think we might be taking this all a little too seriously, I mean they still employ thousands and thousands and thousands of people. I think it's unfair to say every job you take will just last a year and you will be axed.

I guess if you make the jump, just do it with an open mind.

 

That's true. I know plenty in the casino business, my husband included, that have worked for the same company for 10+ years. I just wanted to be clear that there is no such thing as stability. Every day we're thankful to still have jobs.

 

After posting all of my negative thoughts, how about a few positive ones:

1. The LV area is a "big small town", which I happen to like.
2. You're geographically close to CA, UT, and other western destinations.
3. It's a fun place to be if you're young, with plenty of indoor and outdoor things to do.
4. Lower housing costs, and plenty of deals for "locals".
5. I imagine your friends and family will enjoy visiting you.
6. Less state-level political BS than other areas (eastern seaboard, CA) of the country.
7. I think there is a demand for talent, so if you're good at what you do, I'd think that you could go far and fast career-wise.