Pankaj Jaintly believes that everyone has at least one special talent.  He discovered his early on, as a young boy growing up in India. “I believe we all have a gift and this is mine – I’m good with people. When you find your gift and follow it with your heart you can do just about anything.”

Pankaj migrated to New Zealand in 2003, and shortly afterwards began working as a dealer at SKYCITY casino in Auckland. The job has helped him to hone his communication skills, although he did struggle to begin with.

“Although my English was good prior to arriving, I did still find the Kiwi accent a little difficult to understand at first. But my supervisors, co-workers and my customers always made me feel comfortable when I asked them to speak slower. Now that I’m more confident there's no problems.

“But it's not always about the spoken language – you've also got to be aware of what customers aren’t saying – to be sensitive to their body language, the look on their face. If there’s a person who’s losing, they probably don’t want to see you smiling down on them, so for someone like me – who’s generally always got a big smile on their face – you got to be careful!”  

Pankaj's hard work and commitment have been rewarded. He's now a supervisor and his primary role is to oversee the other dealers. However, from time to time he still loves returning to work the tables, particularly when roulette’s involved.

“It’s always fun to work a busy table, especially when there’s lots of calculations to do. Keeps your mind sharp and alert, interacting with all the people around the table, making sure that everyone’s kept involved, and also keeping an eye on your supervisor, to let them know what’s going on. If you want to work within hospitality it’s important that you’re a people-person, that’s what hospitality is all about, it’s about keeping interesting, keeping friendly, but not crossing lines. You've got to know your limits for sure.”