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Be A Winter Olympic Volunteer at Vancouver 2010
Have you been inspired by the Beijing Games and would like to get involved in Olympic and Paralympic Volunteering sooner than London 2012? Well why not consider the Vancouver 2010 Canadian Winter Games!
§ Canadians make up 95 per cent of all applicants
§ Of the total number of Canadians who have applied to volunteer:
§ 59 percent are from
§ 20 percent are from
§ 8 percent are from
§ International volunteer applications have been received from 96 countries including
§ 38 per cent of the volunteer applicants who can speak French fluently are from
§ 44 per cent of applicants are male and 56 per cent are female
§ 22 per cent of applicants are between the ages of 18 and 24
§ Although the 2010 Winter Games are still 20 months away, VANOC currently has approximately 430 pre-Games volunteers actively engaged in planning the event
VANOC is responsible for the planning, organizing, financing and staging of the XXI Olympic Winter Games and the X Paralympic Winter Games in 2010. The 2010 Olympic Winter Games will be staged in Vancouver and Whistler from February 12 to 28, 2010. Vancouver and Whistler will host the Paralympic Winter Games from March 12 to 21, 2010. Visit
www.vancouver2010.com.
Following its initial Call for Volunteers in February 2008, the Organizing Committee began pre-screening thousands of applicants in May and is moving to the next stage in the recruitment process – in-person interviews with as many as 100 people daily, beginning next month. Screening and interviewing all applicants is a lengthy process that will continue through the fall of 2009 with the goal of building a team of 25,000 volunteers from across
“We’re delighted with the response we’ve had from Canadians and people from around the world to our Call for Volunteers. While it’s still possible to apply, we’re moving to the next step,” said Donna Wilson, VANOC executive vice president, workforce and sustainability. “We’ve received applications from hopeful volunteers in every Canadian province and territory and from 96 different countries; it has been truly inspiring to see so many Games enthusiasts step forward. We continue to welcome applicants, particularly those residing in or with access to accommodation in the Sea to Sky corridor.”
“With an undertaking as enormous as interviewing 100 people per day and 3,600 people per month to build a volunteer team of 25,000 skilled and specialized volunteers, it was critical for us to have the right partners both in terms of resources and technical expertise,” said Dick Vollet, VANOC vice president of workforce. “Atos Origin and Workopolis have been key to our success to date by delivering outstanding solutions and results — I can’t underscore enough the value they have added to this huge exercise.”
Applying to be a Vancouver 2010 volunteer includes a number of steps. Applicants start by registering online at
www.vancouver2010.com or through
www.volunteer.workopolis.com. Candidates then undergo pre-screening by phone followed by a face-to-face interview, at which time VANOC confirms details such as the applicant’s availability, operational requirements, training times, shift lengths and personal values while also conducting orientation and service excellence training and security clearance. Job-specific and venue-specific training and Games-time scheduling and outfitting will occur in the coming months.
While building a highly capable and well-trained team of volunteers during Games time is critical, the 2010 Winter Games have already benefited from the efforts of hundreds of pre-Games volunteers, many of whom played a significant role throughout the bid process, and continue to contribute to the ongoing planning stages of the Games. Many of these active volunteers are involved in the volunteer phone screening process and upcoming interviews.
“When we call people and say ‘it’s regarding your application to volunteer for the 2010 Winter Games,’ you can almost hear people sit up straight on the other end of the line — you can hear the excitement in their voice,” said Frank Parrotta, a pre-Games volunteer and team lead for phone screening. “Sometimes we’ll phone someone regarding a specific role, for example International Client Services, and they don’t understand what it is. But once you describe it to them, they say, ‘oh yeah I want to do that!’”
Facts and figures about Vancouver 2010 volunteer applicants to date:
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