The Tech Edition
April 09, 2008
Morey’s Piers use ‘virtual interview’ to fill staff
By CAROLE MATTESSICH
Correspondent
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WILDWOOD – One evening last week, Maggie Warner, of Morey’s Piers, sat
in her office in this beachside community conducting a series of
interviews with students who were eagerly seeking summer boardwalk jobs.
It was a fruitful evening for Warner. During one interview after
another, she met young people who seemed enthusiastic and capable, and
she ended up hiring all of them.
When the last interview ended, the students immediately gathered
together to congratulate one another.
In China.
Ten years ago, this might be considered an unsolvable riddle. Today,
however, Internet technology enables such interviews to be conducted
face to face via desk-top computers in Wildwood and Beijing.
In a process known as “virtual hiring,” Warner and her student
interviewees were able to converse spontaneously, and to size up one
another’s reactions to discussion topics instantaneously, as their
voices and images were projected to one another via computers.
Morey’s is particularly grateful for the technology that enables virtual
hiring this year because, like many seasonal businesses, it’s faced with
a shortage in availability of the so-called H-2B work visas that
typically permit foreign students to work temporarily in the United
States.
For years, H-2B visa enabled foreign students to work at Morey’s for
periods long enough to help cover summer and shoulder seasons.
Denise Beckson, Morey’s director of operations and human resources,
explained in a recent interview that H-2B seasonal work visas are capped
by federal law at 66,000 visas per year, to serve businesses throughout
the United States. Some 33,000 are available for winter workers in
businesses such as ski resorts, and the remainder are used by summer
workers in businesses such as landscaping, amusement parks and resorts,
she said.
In recent years, under an important exemption to the 66,000 visa cap,
workers who previously entered the United States under H-2B visas could
obtain another such visa without counting in the annual cap amount.
Under that exemption, Beckson said, more than 100,000 workers returned
to work at American businesses each year.
But that exemption expired in September 2007. While it eventually may be
renewed, currently the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and its allies are
blocking legislation that would extend the exemption, saying they will
not agree to the visa exemptions until Congress puts together a
comprehensive immigration package.
Beckson expressed Morey’s concern that this political stance unduly
entwines visas with other, essentially unrelated, issues.
“Immigration is an important issue,” Beckson conceded, “but these jobs
do not involve full-time stays. This is an economic issue, not an
immigration issue. We’re disappointed that Sen. (Robert) Menendez is
blocking the visa exemption when this affects his home state so
significantly.”
Unfortunately for seasonal businesses, Beckson said, the 33,000 cap on
H-2B visas available for 2008 was reached on Jan. 3, threatening the
summer work force of the many Jersey Shore employers who, last summer
alone, utilized a total of some 7,500 foreign workers.
Morey’s was fortunate enough to find a solution this year, by using the
so-called J-1 visa in its hiring process.
The J-1 visa, which remains available, allows international university
students to work in the United States for up to four months during their
summer break. As was the case with H-2B visas, the employer – in this
case, Morey’s – must take an active part in applying for the visas, and
must show that the jobs are available to, but can’t be filled by,
American workers.
“These jobs are truly seasonal,” Beckson noted, “and they don’t pay
benefits.”
In addition, she said, “American students typically are not available
for the shoulder seasons. We’re not taking from Americans, we’re filling
jobs that Americans don’t want or can’t do.”
For the foreign student, the J-1 visa operates as a kind of cultural
exchange visa, Beckson explained.
“They see it as an opportunity to make more money than they’d make at
home, where seasonal work is not available, at the same time they are
improving their English skills and seeing the United States,” she said.
But the J-1 visa has a shorter term than the H-2B visa, and that means
Morey’s must hire more students than in past years to cover its entire
season. And that, in turn, means more interviewing. So Morey’s – which
opened for business this year on March 22 – is making ample use of the
Internet to assist in hiring.
Morey’s is assisted in finding students appropriate for work exchange by
the non-profit Counsel on International Educational Exchange,
headquartered in Portland, Ore. In addition, Beckson explained, a
Morey’s partner in Hong Kong pre-screens interested students and “only
chooses the best” for Internet interviews with Area Manager Warner. Last
week’s interviewees were all from Beijing, Beckson noted, and “their
English was outstanding.”
Morey’s also hires students from Europe, South America, Southeast Asia
and other areas of Asia, Beckson said. She expects that approximately
775 foreign students will work for Morey’s under J-1 visas during the
2008 season, out of a total of approximately 1,500 seasonal employees.
Carole Mattessich can be e-mailed at
gazette@catamaranmedia.com
or you can comment on this story by calling 624-8900, ext. 250.