Lake House on Canandaigua begins hiring with virtual job fair

With restaurants and a hotel scheduled to open later this year, the Lake House on Canandaigua resort has scheduled a virtual job fair April 23 to fill out the ranks at the resort.

Rendering of the Lake House on Canandaigua, Provided.
Rendering of the Lake House on Canandaigua (provided)

At the same time, the resort on Tuesday announced it has a new director of food and beverage, Kevin Kenyon, a native of Geneva who most recently worked at resorts in Houston, Texas, and Westerly, Rhode Island.  

The job fair will conduct interviews on the spot after candidates register for the event and pick scheduled appointment times between and 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. on the day of the fair.  On Tuesday afternoon, nearly every interview slot had at least one RSVP for an interview. Jobs included bartenders, cooks, bussers, valet attendants and others, with some positions offering both full-time and part-time work. 

General Manager Simon Dewar said, “The Lake House team is excited to begin staffing our operation as we approach our highly anticipated opening this year. We welcome all applicants who are interested in a hands-on approach to hospitality and share our goal of providing guests and patrons with the best experience possible.” 

Dewar was hired in 2019 to begin overseeing operations of the resort while it was still under construction. Both he and Kenyon worked at hotels in Westerly, but not at the same time.

“In my new role at The Lake House, I am thrilled to help craft the hotel’s culinary programming by drawing from my experience in previous roles,” Kenyon said. “Working in tandem with our executive chef, we aim to bring new offerings to the area and elevate the region as a gastronomic destination in the state of New York and beyond.”

The Lake House on Canandaigua, owned by the Sands Family of Constellation Brands, is a transformation of the former Inn at Canandaigua Lake, which had started as a motor lodge. 

The nine-acre property of South Main Street in Canandaigua will include:  

  •  The main hotel building with 40 guest rooms, a restaurant and three meeting-and-event spaces;
  • The Sand Bar, a returning favorite lakeside restaurant and bar;
  • An event barn, with a full kitchen, able to seat 300 for dinner or up to 500 for a talk or concert;
  • A spa with additional guest rooms on other floors;
  • Another hotel building with 60 rooms and suites.

Many of the property’s services will be available for day visitors as well as overnight guests. 

[email protected] / (585) 363-7275

Students get boost in job, internship searches at RIT job fairs

If there’s any doubt that Rochester Institute of Technology is still career-oriented, that doubt would evaporate quickly at one of the university’s job fairs.

The second of two career fairs for all majors this year was held last week, drawing some 5,000 students looking for co-op jobs or internships now or full-time employment once they graduate. Approximately 800 recruiters were on hand, representing 240 companies. 

The undertaking is so massive, students have to consult an app to find their way to the booths for company representatives they’re seeking out.  

The flip side of this massive fair, however, took place the day before at the much smaller Affinity Reception. Here, in a reverse image of the larger job fair, students from diverse backgrounds staffed the information tables, and it was the recruiters who milled about and called upon them. The reception was set up on a balcony overlooking the Gordon Field House’s arena that would house the big fair the next day.  

Numbers were much smaller at this reception. Just 43 students formally registered (organizers assumed others just walked in) to participate, and 52 recruiters, representing 30 companies, showed up to talk to them, often singling out students for an impromptu interview. 

“It’s a lot more intimate,” said Isabella Totino, a second-year computer science student from Boston. She was one of the students at the Women in Computing table. 

 At each of a handful of stations was a student group or university program. They included the Women in Engineering group, RIT chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers and the local chapter of the Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers.  

As companies realize diversity is a good thing, a job fair like this one allows them a chance to improve their labor pool.  

“I don’t think you can ever have enough diversity, no matter how good your metrics are,” said Diana Solt, an RIT alumna who was on campus to recruit for her employer, L3Harris.

 “Though Totino had already secured summer employment, she said the fairs and working with the Women in Computing club give her a chance to make connections. Recruiters seemed genuinely interested in hiring diverse candidates. 

“I feel they do feel a need in the computer industry,” Totino said. “They know they’re not reaching their full potential.”

Solt, in strategy development at L3Harris, was hoping to secure perhaps 40 interns and 50 new graduates for permanent jobs.   

“We’re coming for perspectives — different thoughts on how to solve the world’s biggest problems, she said.

 At the big job fair the next day, Solt expected to talk to more than 300 students. But at the decidedly more chill Affinity Reception, she was able to have in-depth conversations with job candidates without the din of thousands of others talking around them.  

 Since the merger of Harris and L3 in 2019, L3Harris has been growing, said Chandler Kozyra, who handles university relations for communication systems at the company. The merger has opened up opportunities for new contracts, causing the company to need to bring on people quickly who can grow with the new demands. The defense contractor employs approximately 55,000 worldwide, he said, and about 3,800 in Rochester.   

RIT students and graduates make excellent hires, Solt said, because of their background in STEM fields, the applied skills they gain through their education there, and their co-op experiences. 

“It’s unbelievable,” she said. RIT students are “so talented, so smart, so ambitious.”

Maria Richart, director of career services and cooperative education at RIT, said the university offers seven job fairs each year, with some tailored to specific disciplines. Fairs are organized specifically for packaging, civil engineering, creative arts and academic and job opportunities abroad. The university also hosts talks, presentations and other special events aimed at connecting students with employers or preparing the student to start looking for a job. 

Earlier this week, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and Proctor & Gamble were scheduled to make presentations. Tesla was looking to interview students in three specific majors for potential work, and a fair aimed at preparing creative arts students to seek employment were all scheduled.

[email protected]/(585) 363-7275

 

RochesterWorks! job fair is Friday

One of the area’s largest events for job seekers will take place Friday at Monroe Community College.

The 10th Annual RochesterWorks! Career Conference and Job Fair will be held Jan. 12 from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. at the college’s East Henrietta Road R. Thomas Flynn Campus Center. The fair is expected to attract more than 70 employers from a variety of industries including health care, manufacturing, food service and education.

“As Monroe County executive, one of my top priorities is to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to obtain a good paying job,” County Executive Cheryl Dinolfo said in a statement. “I am proud to stand with RochesterWorks! to host Monroe County’s largest career conference and job fair. There are many job opportunities available right here in Monroe County and we are helping make the connection for people looking for work in our community.”

The job fair is sponsored by the County of Monroe, MCC, the state Department of Labor and ACCES-VR. RochesterWorks! also will host informative panels for jobseekers and resume and application workshops to aid individuals in their job search.

The event is free, with online registration available.

[email protected] / 585-653-4021
Follow Velvet Spicer on Twitter: @Velvet_Spicer

Job fair to feature area manufacturers

A number of Rochester-area manufacturers will be on hand Thursday for a job fair hosted by RBA Staffing, a division of the Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce.

The free event will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Rochester Chamber offices on State Street. Manufacturing employers scheduled to attend include Arch Global Precision LLC, Arconic Fastening Systems, Baldwin Richardson Foods Co., Hammer Packaging Corp., LiDestri Foods Inc. and Unither US Corp.

“In my recent travels around the nine-county Finger Lakes region serviced by Rochester Chamber, employers have told me that there is not a lack of jobs,” Rochester Chamber President and CEO Robert Duffy said in a statement. “There is a lack of qualified and motivated workers available to take their open positions. This RBA Staffing job fair is an excellent way to make mutually beneficial connections.”

Employers are expected to collect resumes and conduct on-the-spot interviews. Open positions also will be posted at www.RBAStaffing.com.

Follow Velvet Spicer on Twitter: @Velvet_Spicer

(c) 2017 Rochester Business Journal. To obtain permission to reprint this article, call 585-363-7269 or email [email protected]