Organizers for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games are calling for more talents to join their preparation work as the third round of recruitment was launched yesterday.

Chinese people from all over the world are invited to apply for 180 vacancies, including 120 management positions and 60 specialized technical ones, said the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG)

At the same time, the Qingdao Sailing Sub-Committee, which is in charge of holding the Olympic sailing events in 2008, is also offering 13 positions

"The recruitment is open to all Chinese nationals including those Chinese studying abroad," said Zhang Zhiwei, director of BOCOG Human Resources Department. The deadline for applications is March 30.

"All the applicants are required to undergo examinations of written and oral English, as well as of comprehensive and specialized subjects," Zhang said. "BOCOG will entrust an authoritative agency with the examinations and the final results will be announced in the latter half of June."

It is the third time that BOCOG has held such a large-scale recruitment drive, following initiatives in 2002 and 2004. Altogether, 81 BOCOG staff were selected from more than 6,000 applicants.

"For those people who could not find suitable jobs offered those times or missed the chance for other reasons, they may enter their names at the official website as well, since BOCOG will in the future choose qualified people from the reserve list," Zhang said.

Established on December 13, 2001, BOCOG has already gathered 629 staff through open recruitment from the whole society and selective transfers from governmental departments and related institutions.

The number is expected to be doubled this year and the staff number will reach 4,000 when the Games are held.

As for the post-Games' careers for the staff, officials have promised to offer great help.

"According to regulations, all the staff that came from the open recruitment should go for their future careers by themselves after the Games, but BOCOG will try its very best to help them find suitable jobs," Zhang said.

This year's group of university graduates will not be eligible, since a special recruiting programme for them was previously launched.

People that are interested in joining the team can log on to the BOCOG official website beijing2008.com to find specific vacant positions and register their names.

(China Daily 03/17/2006 page2)