Auckland's new Queen St hotel holds speed-interviews as it tries to staff entire business in one day

The Four Points by Sheraton which is opening on Queen St later this year is speed-interviewing applicants for a hundred positions today. Photo / 123RF

A new Auckland hotel is trying to staff its entire business in just one day.

The Four Points by Sheraton, opening on Queen St this year, sped-interviewed applicants for 100 positions at an open day yesterday.

"There's 11 people on the [executive] team already, and now we're looking to fill every other position in the hotel," said hotel general manager Paul Gallop.

Altogether 265 people have applied for the jobs, which range from porter and reception roles to chef positions.

Gallop said recruitment open days are unconventional, but not unheard of.

"If you look at airline industry, this is the way they hire, and I've done another pre-opening hotel before and that's the way we did it," he said.

"It's all about getting big volumes of people, so you can get the pick of the crop."

About 50 people were there for the midday start of the open day at Britomart's Adina Apartment Hotel.

Gallop started with a short presentation before moving into rapid-fire interviews. About five interviews were happening simultaneously in the conference room.

Altogether 265 people applied for the jobs ranging from porter to reception roles and chef positions. Photo / Supplied

Reception and housekeeping applicant Kavita said it was her first open day, and she was nervous about the pace.

"It's pretty new for me, taking all the interviews just in one room, interviewing many people."

But Gallop said the open day was more about the attitude of the applicant than their experience.

"You get a lot of people together, and then we can ask them five simple questions."

"We can train them to be a hotelier. So we're really just looking for raw attitude."