17 replies to this topic

[gotosy]

London 2012 organizers to put Sochi volunteers through their own Olympics

The London 2012 organizing committee is coming to Russia to put Sochi volunteers through their own Olympics and select 100 candidates to take to Britain for next year's Summer Games.

A delegation headed by Andrew Newman, the head of the London 2012 volunteer scheme, will be in Sochi, host city of the 2014 Winter Games, from October 6-8, a Sochi 2014 spokesperson told RIA Novosti on Monday.

Three-hundred of Russia's best volunteers will be tested on basic skills such as English fluency, leadership, and understanding of the so-called Olympic values.

The top 100 volunteers will join the 70,000-strong force helping the athletes and visitors to the London Games next year, gaining expertise they are expected to transfer Sochi two years later.

The 200 volunteers not selected will receive training nonetheless.

A total of 26 volunteer centers across Russia will train 25,000 helpers to support the Sochi 2014 Games. A mass recruitment drive begins in February.

Volunteers will meet delegations at airports, work in hotels and media centers and assist athletes with their travel and possessions as well as helping coordinate anti-doping procedures.

http://en.ria.ru/spo.../167141584.html

[gotosy]

Sochi 2014 launches "VolunTour" advertising campaign


Before the start of the volunteer selection process to recruit 25,000 volunteers for the Games in Sochi, the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee has launched the "VolunTour" advertising and informational campaign. The plan is to attract up to 200,000 people to the vol.sochi2014.com website by the end of 2012. The campaign will be mainly online, with banners, planned viral projects, activity on social networking sites and other promotional tools. Outdoor advertising will also be used in 14 regions of the country; the adverts will be collages of "ideal" candidates for the Olympic and Paralympic volunteer teams with Olympic stadiums in the background. The campaign is aimed at people with a proactive attitude and first of all at young people who will be at least 18 by the time the Games open in Sochi.
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more at:
http://sochi2014.com...ive/news/44438/

[SkiFreak]

Interesting that Canadians are leading the pack:

Sochi 2014 Official Website: Canadians in the lead amongst those eager to become Sochi 2014 volunteers

[jawnbc]

The stoopid Sochi application doesn't specify you need to speak Russian...until you complete it and try to submit. There will be a lot of specialist Games-time volunteers without Russian--they'll be annoyed with the system.

[Gangwon]

The stoopid Sochi application doesn't specify you need to speak Russian...until you complete it and try to submit. There will be a lot of specialist Games-time volunteers without Russian--they'll be annoyed with the system.

Do you really have to know Russian? I know it's in Sochi and all, but how do they expect to attract enthusiastic volunteers from abroad if they have to learn Russian? The burden should be on the volunteer coordinators/organizers to know English instead, and make just ONE of knowledge of English or Russian a requirement.

[gotosy]

The Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee begins volunteer candidates’ interviews



The Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee, along with 26 Volunteer Centers, has begun recruiting candidates to become volunteers at the Sochi 2014 Games. Candidates, who have successfully passed the online tests at vol.sochi2014.com, will be invited to an interview. Candidates will be tested on their efficiency, their ability to cope under pressure and their commitment to the Games. Candidates will also be asked to demonstrate their language skills. Candidates selected during the interview stage will begin training, and eventually become volunteers for the Games in Sochi. In total, 25,000 volunteers are needed during the Games.
Candidates will receive their interview requests via email and where the meetings can’t take place face to face, applicants can conduct the interview remotely using Skype. Applicants still wishing to apply to become a Sochi 2014 volunteer at the Games can still – register on the Sochi 2014 website, vol.sochi2014.com!
Applicants will also be asked to demonstrate the reasons why they have applied to become a Sochi 2014 volunteer by answering questions about volunteering and the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Questions will also be asked in English so candidates can demonstrate their language skills.
Applicants will be assessed by the number of points they receive, those who receive the highest points at the end of the interview, are likely to become volunteer team leaders at the Sochi Olympic Games. Volunteers who are involved in the Test Events between 2012-2013 will gain valuable experience working at a world-class sporting event ahead of the Games in Sochi.
Interviews will be conducted by staff from the Volunteer Centers and specially trained employees of the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee. Interviews will follow a specially designed format developed by recruitment industry professionals.

Notes to the editor
The training program for Olympic volunteers is one of the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee’s most ambitious projects. An estimated 25 thousand volunteers will be involved during the Games in Sochi in more than 20 areas of activity, from meeting delegations at the airport to helping organize the Closing Ceremony. Approximately 3,000 volunteers trained in the city of Sochi will help visitors find their way between the venues and provide a warm and hospitable welcome. In total, volunteers will make up more than 30% of the total number of Games staff.
Volunteer selection will take place at 26 Volunteer Centers, set up within some of Russia's educational institutions, which were selected by tender.
Anyone is eligible to become a Sochi 2014 volunteer provided they are between the ages of 18-80 by January 6, 2014. To date, almost 85,000 people have submitted applications on the Sochi 2014 website, vol.sochi2014.com. In terms of the number of applications, the Krasnodar Region is a head (with over 13,000 applications), this is followed by Moscow and the Moscow Region (over 8,500 applications) and St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region (over 4000). Among the most popular areas of activity are event services for various events, so far there have been almost 8000 applications. Sochi 2014 has received 5,000 applications to work as a translator and 4,500 applications to volunteer for services and services at the ceremonies.

http://www.sochi2014...ive/news/46377/

[baron-pierreIV]

Do you really have to know Russian? I know it's in Sochi and all, but how do they expect to attract enthusiastic volunteers from abroad if they have to learn Russian? The burden should be on the volunteer coordinators/organizers to know English instead, and make just ONE of knowledge of English or Russian a requirement.

Uhmmmm. The host is a non-English speaking country. OK, if English is spoken within the SOCOG circles. But you would have to negotiate for your own housing; find the bus routes. What if you have to go to the pharmacy or the hospital, etc.,etc.? U'ed be incredibly naive to expect people outside the official SOCOG circles to speak English just to make it easy for the foreign volunteer. I believe foreign volunteers in Beijing, unless they had previous local connections, had a helluva a time.

[gotosy]

Sochi 2014 volunteers learn from London 2012 experience


Volunteers from Sochi 2014 have now completed their work at the Olympic Games in London.

They and the thousands of home volunteers – all known as Games Makers because of the importance of their work – were praised for their role in making London 2012 a truly great Games.

Sochi sent 80 volunteers from Russia to London, who collectively completed 1,000 shifts totaling 8,000 hours.

As well as supporting the London 2012 Organising Committee team, the Games provided Sochi volunteers with some excellent work experience in a diverse range of activities – from translating at press conferences to accompanying athletes to the doping control area.

Of the Sochi volunteers' involvement at London 2012, Sochi 2014 President and chief executive Dmitry Chernyshenko said: "Sochi 2014 has every right to be proud of its volunteer team.
...

http://www.insidethe...rom-london-2012

[jawnbc]

Do you really have to know Russian? I know it's in Sochi and all, but how do they expect to attract enthusiastic volunteers from abroad if they have to learn Russian? The burden should be on the volunteer coordinators/organizers to know English instead, and make just ONE of knowledge of English or Russian a requirement.

Aside from the languages used in ceremonies and in sporting venues (English, French and the local language), the "business language" of the Games is almost always the local language. Most of the public will be Russian as will be most of the workforce. If there's an emergency the language will be Russian, followed by English and French.

[hektor]

There are a lot of people around the world who speak Russian, starting from the countries of the former Eastern block (East of Germany, Poland, etc.). I don't think this constraint would create a shortage of international volunteers.