The London Olympics takes place next year and recruitment is well underway for the promised 'tens of thousands of jobs' which it is expected to create. Therefore, if you are hoping to use the opportunity to find work - possibly for the first time - now is the moment to act.
The declared objective regarding employment is to use local labour wherever possible. Local here means one of the six London Boroughs which are playing host to the games, these being Barking & Dagenham, Greenwich, Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest.
Don't let being disabled or long-term unemployed put you off applying - the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) has announced that they will actively endeavour to recruit a highly-diverse workforce and provide jobs for the young unemployed.
In a public declaration, LOCOG has stated that it sees the 2012 Olympic Games as being a 'lasting legacy' in its attempt to both create an unmatched level of diversity in its workers (in terms of both ethnicity and disability) and they are looking to achieve this through a process of positive discrimination. According to their figures, so far literally thousands of disabled workers have applied.
Their philosophy is not being restricted to just the voluntary jobs - it is also being extended to the temporary and permanent positions that make up the 200,000-strong workforce required to support the games.
If you are disabled, you are guaranteed at least an interview, making it well worth the effort to use the online CV creation software or to upload a pre-prepared one. The system is that as soon as an appropriate vacancy occurs, suitable candidates are invited to come along to discuss what they can offer and how they might fit in.
The job vacancies originated by the 2012 Olympic Games encompass everything from the construction of the buildings and arenas through to selling tickets and merchandise, distributing refreshments, cleaning up afterwards, security, providing hotel-style services to athletes and so on.
The hope is that the London Olympics' ground-breaking approach will remain alongside the new buildings long after the Olympic Games have moved on from London and that these attitudes will become the norm for UK recruitment procedures.
Assessments and interviews are taking place at the moment.
Will any jobs be available after the games have taken place? Well under normal circumstances you may think that this wasn't possible, however West Ham United have been granted the rights to the stadium after the games have finished and for some this may result in continuity on the jobs front.
