shpap

Son is teaching in China and would love to work a paid or volunteer job at the Olympics. Has experience in sound design and film editing but no real contacts. Any suggestions to help him out? Thanks.

Cicerone

I would suggest he contact outfits like NBC sports (http://www.nbcsports.com/), who has the contract for the US coverage, as well as SKY TV (British TV, at http://www.sky.com) and Star TV (Asian, at http://www.startv.com). He could also try the BBC (at bbc.com). I assume he is in the PRC now, he should contact reps who should be on the ground starting just about now for the games in August. Remember that there are events in Hong Kong (equestrian), Qingdao (sailing) and several soccer matches in cities like Shanghai, so he may try this cites as well. (Star TV has a big presence in Hong Kong for example, it's their news headquarters.)He may try any PRC network assuming he speaks Mandarin or another dialect well enough. I have a friend who did get a job as a runner at several Olympics (LA and Lillehammer) for ABC/NBC sports. She went a month or so before and lots of low level jobs like that were on offer, a technical type job like your son wants I don't know about. He might just go for a low-level job and then try to work up from there.

He can get a good bit of info at the Beijing Olympic Broadcasting website at http://www.bob2008.cn/news_updates.html, in fact there is a volunteer and paid employment link. He might also want to look at the website for the Games themselves at http://en.beijing2008.com/ where he may still be able to volunteer for work at the Games.

shpap

Thanks for your suggestions, Cicerone. He is willing to work a low level job if unable to find something more technical. Problem is that he is in mainland China and has limited Internet access plus he cannot place phone calls except within China (we call him with prepaid phone calling card). His contract is up soon so he will be able to travel to Beijing (or other venues) in the spring to explore job opportunities.

repete

Chances of a technical job are pretty slim, I'd say, although he might get lucky.

Olympic duty is a plum perk with most broadcasters/media companies.

A more likely suggestion might be to contact an Olympic sponsor, such as Samsung, Coke, Lenova who have large PR presences -- and aren't as hamstrung by the Olympic credentialing limits.

Off-topic: Why can't he get a cheap mobile and call internationally?

shpap

Repete, I will pass those suggestions on to him. He's tried to buy an international calling card but with no luck. We think -- based on our experience there as well -- that you need an account with China Mobile in order to place outgoing international calls. He has Chinese friends trying to help him resolve this but so far to no avail.

repete

I bought a SIM card in Beijing last summer and also was able to "re-up" it, although a Chinese friend handled it for me so my knowledge of the details was sketchy.

But the good news, I think, is that after you get one, his incoming calls would be free.

Best of luck to your son. I've been to four Games and they are wonderful experiences.

toobusytoday

My daughter is also teaching in mainland China and so far has bought two cell phones. The first one broke, but the second one is great. We have our phones set up through Skype where she calls us through her computer (she has a mac) to a local PA phone number. Cost is $18 for three months. If we talk computer to computer it's free. The latter didn't work so well, we think because of her internet access but the "in" number is wonderful, sounds like she's right around the corner. Another friend whose son is in China gets inexpensive calling cards at her local Asian grocery store.

Thanks for asking the Olympics employment question. Our daughters contract expires in early August but I think she could really be done sooner if she wanted. We talked briefly about her looking for a job connected with the Olympics but were not sure how to even start inquiries.