To help ensure an outstanding Winter Olympics in 2022, the Beijing organizing committee announced on March 20 that it will recruit 11 staff members from around the world in 10 job categories as the first step in building an international organizing team.

The 11 staff members will be among 22 to be hired in 21 job categories involving planning and construction, venue management, marketing and finance during the recruitment period, which began on March 20 with the launch of online applications.

Applicants can go to www.beijing2022.cn, the website of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2022 Olympics and Paralympic Winter Games, for job descriptions and to submit resumes.

The Beijing 2022 organizing committee will review applications through March 31, hold a written examination in mid-April for those who pass the review and conduct interviews in May.

The written test will focus on applicants' psychological qualities, basic competence, language efficiency and problem-solving abilities in their respective fields, while the interviews will aim to assess applicants' competence, the organizing committee said.

The list of those chosen will be announced in late May.

The open recruitment for international talent is a response to President Xi Jinping's call to host an extraordinary Winter Olympics in a shared manner and will help make up for any shortfall in know-how, observers says.

"The lack of athletic and management expertise in winter sports in our country should be addressed by pushing the training program of local staffers and borrowing experience from all possible circles, which was highlighted by the president in several of his remarks," says Yang Yang, a member of the International Olympic Committee. Yang, a retired short-track speed skater, became China's first Winter Olympic gold medalist at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City.

The Beijing 2022 organizing committee will also establish a talent pool for those who are not considered a good match for the current positions but remain interested in other jobs for the Beijing 2022 Olympics.

Beijing still faces a talent gap for event managers, winter sports technicians, technical officials and operations volunteers, says Tong Lixin, director of the sports department of the organizing committee.

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(China Daily European Weekly 03/24/2017 page14)