By Liz Benston (contact)

Tue, Sep 2, 2008 (6:58 p.m.)

The M Resort, under construction at the southeast corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and St. Rose Parkway, today kicked off a campaign to hire close to 2,000 employees for the property.

Candidates must begin the application process online, at themresort.com. Later this month, the company will open a career center on the resort site to conduct interviews with applicants.

Executives say they're hopeful for an improved economy by the resort's March debut and are confident they will find qualified applicants.

Without advertising the Web site, the M Resort had received more than 1,600 job applications as of last week, when applications were first posted online.

Many candidates are people familiar with the Marnell family, which built and owned the Rio before selling the property to Harrah's Entertainment, said John Lipkowitz, chief development, design and brand management officer for the M Resort. Lipkowitz has worked for the Marnell family since running the Rio as general manager and president.

The resort, Lipkowitz said, is expected to need as many as 2,000 people to staff the property and won't be overstaffing the property, as some properties have done over the years.

The property is running radio and print ads and is also paying for an M Resort-branded blimp to fly into Las Vegas to coincide with the opening of the career center.

The blimp, known as a "lightship", features a 70 by 30-foot LED screen that will feature streaming videos and other media. It's one of only three in the world, executives say.