Expo gives temporary workers something to smile about
Amid widespread announcements of job losses in all sectors of industry, Expo.02 has bucked the trend by launching its recruitment campaign for next year's national exhibition.
In total, Expo.02 is looking for 3,000 temporary staff to fill positions at all four Expo sites across the country for a total of 159 days.
There are 1,500-2,000 jobs up for grabs, which organisers are hoping to fill with part-time workers and people who want to job share. At the moment some 400 people are working full time to get Expo up and running in time for its opening on May 15, 2002.
The temporary jobs are mainly in hospitality and catering with the exhibition’s organisers deciding to set up a stand at Zurich airport to recruit Swissair employees, who may be facing redundancy.
The main recruitment centre is being jointly run by the employment agencies, Adecco and Manpower, who are anticipating as many as 25,000 job applications. So far 7,200 people have applied for the temporary posts.
Aspiring Expo employees need to be available for a month or more, be over 18, be able to speak a number of languages and have that certain “Expo smile”.
Working conditions and contracts were negotiated with the Unions in 1999 and employees can expect to earn between SFr21.8 and SFr 30.3 per hour.
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