The committee is recruiting 22,400 volunteer workers in 17 service categories that include translation, medical services, accommodations, and broadcasting. (image: KobizMedia/ Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Sept. 29 (Korea Bizwire) – Thousands are applying to be voluntary workers at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics, with fewer than 500 days left before the opening of the winter games, the first of their kind to be hosted in Korea.
With the recruitment deadline imminent (September 30), the committee announced that translation work has been most popular among applicants with a competition rate of 13.8 to 1.
“This is extremely high considering the average rate for all voluntary services is 3 to 1,” said committee President Lee Hee-beom.
The committee is recruiting 22,400 volunteer workers in 17 service categories that include translation, medical services, accommodations, and broadcasting. As of Wednesday afternoon, some 77,000 individuals had submitted applications, 6,783 of whom applied for the 490 translation openings.
“We believe many college students with linguistic expertise and seeking field experience applied to be volunteers,” a committee official said.
Second to translating was ‘Olympic Squad Support’, in which volunteer workers will have the opportunity to encounter athletes face-to-face, with 12,732 individuals applying for 1,030 openings. ‘Olympic Squad Support’ was followed by ‘Award Ceremony Support’, with 6,375 applicants for 640 job openings.
In contrast, ‘Traffic Assistance’ was the least popular category, given that recruits will have to struggle with traffic in the cold. Only 604 have applied so far, with organizers hoping to find 4,030 volunteers.
“We’ve had an average of 1,000 applicants each day (since the process began on July 1), so we expect the competition to heighten with the approaching deadline,” added Lee. “We’ll be educating these recruits so we can offer the best services for PyeongChang 2018.”
By Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
