During the past two decades, Arte Nathan has built a reputation as one of Las Vegas´ most innovative human resources professionals. In 2005, he faced his greatest challenge ever as Chief Human Resources Officer for the new Wynn Casino - at $2.7 billion, the biggest casino launch ever. Nathan´s new high-tech, high-touch approach to volume recruiting may just change the game in Vegas and beyond.
The Wynn Resort & Casino complex on Las Vegas´ fabled "strip" was, "the biggest capital construction project on the planet" according to Chief Human Resources Officer, Arte Nathan. To run it, Nathan´s team hired over 10,000 people. The range of positions they needed to hire ran the gamut from cooks, cleaners and casino staff to senior executives in less than four months, between November 2004 and February 2005.
To get there, over 125,000 people were considered for the jobs. Not just screened, processed, tracked and managed, but actually considered. The goal was for every applicant that left the Wynn Casino recruitment experience "to feel like they were a guest at the hotel."Remarkably, once Wynn put out its "Now Hiring" sign, rivals like MGM Mirage went on record saying they expect up to 23% of their workforce to defect. Says Wynn, "Treat people right and your short, medium and long-term talent issues will resolve themselves."