Volunteers

• "Friends and experiences for life"

"Friends and experiences for life"

Fun, instructive and at the very least - the opportunity to make good contacts and have references for the future. These are some of the reasons to work with a big event, thinks Johan Pettersson, volunteer for the Volvo Ocean Race in Gothenburg 2006.

"I volunteered for the event mainly because I am very interested in sailing, but I also made new friends and it was an entry ticket into the work I have today.

Working as a volunteer involves long days with a lot of work. You must be prepared to pitch in and you must be able to meet people all day."

At the same time, it creates a special atmosphere, thinks Johan Pettersson. There is an amazing bond that develops when working so closely together in a short time.

"My experience was that the commitment in a volunteer group in this event is greater than in a normal organisation."

"You have so many different experiences and feelings over just a few days and get to know each other really well. The fact is that I met almost all of my best friends during my time with the Volvo Ocean Race. As a volunteer for such a big event as the Volvo Ocean Race, you are able to be part of something that you would never otherwise get to experience."

"For someone who is so into sailing, it's huge to be part of the world's toughest ocean yacht race - to see the advanced ocean racing yachts and meet the worlds' elite sailors and their support crews.

''When the yachts finished and came to dock up, amongst other things we helped control the surrounding area.
It worked out that we were standing only a few meters from the centre of the action - the Crown Prince was there to greet the competing yachts and the crews. It was so cool - a memory for life."

Take on new assignments
During the Volvo Ocean Race Stopover in Gothenburg, Johan was responsible for logistics for all the volunteers on land.

"I was in charge of 70 people - I handed out jobs and saw that everything was working and followed up. Additionally, I helped out when needed. Naturally I grew into the role and I learned a lot."

Experience - and the contacts Johan made during his week as a volunteer - all benefited him in the future. Soon after the Volvo Ocean Race, Johan gained even more event experience and later in the same year he was involved in the Athletic World Championships in Gothenburg. For the last year and half, Johan has been working full-time within an event company.

"Of course, my volunteer experience was very important when I got my job. They want to see commitment, drive and an interest in learning and development."

Importance of commitment
"Commitment and drive are the most important when you want to be a volunteer", says Johan.

"A driving force could be, as in my case, that I was interested in sailing. But you could also just be interested in being part of a big event and meeting a wide range of people. In Gothenburg for example, some volunteers were studying to be journalists, so it was very interesting for them to volunteer in the press centre and see how it operated for such an event.
For me, I was studying event marketing so from my point of view, the opportunity was to see how you work in big events and it resulted in getting a foot into the industry."