Revamped USOC program launches Olympic athletes into workforce

A retooled U.S. Olympic Committee initiative is giving American athletes a chance to get their feet wet in the workplace, with entry-level positions for companies that sponsor the USOC, while they continue training for their moment in sport’s brightest spotlight.

Through the Team USA career program, announced last month at the Vancouver Games, more than 1,200 athletes preparing for the Olympics have an inside track to full-time jobs with health benefits, and they’re working in their hometowns, for big-name corporations.

Human resources firm Adecco, which has provided 1,600-plus athletes career support the past five years, helps athletes secure employment with one of 20 USOC sponsors. Right now, Hilton is leading the charge, with a slew of openings, from the concierge desk to the kitchen staff to accounting, at 3,150 hotels and 30 corporate offices across the country.

It’s the new form of the Olympic Job Opportunities Program by The Home Depot, which ended last year when the home-improvement chain terminated a 16-year partnership with the USOC. Since 1992, nearly 700 athletes from the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico netted full-time pay for 20-hour workweeks, and 86 Americans were part of the program.

With assistance from the USOC’s career services department, Adecco will keep offering its same amenities, including a personal adviser with expertise in strengthening resumes, developing interviewing skills and finding employers – a boon for Olympic hopefuls, 85 percent of whom make less than $15,000 a year, according to “America for Gold.”

USOC chief marketing officer Lisa Baird said the program will “give our athletes a more diverse set of work experiences, which is going to help them prepare for the long term. … We’re hopeful this will be as big a program going forward” as The Home Depot program.

Ice hockey player Angela Ruggiero vouched for the value in the program.

“A lot of these Olympic sports get a lot of attention in the Olympic year,” Ruggiero said, “and then in the years in between, it’s pretty hard to find ways to support ourselves. … I always know I can pick up the phone and call the USOC and say, ‘This is my situation? What do you think is the right support?’ There are a lot of resources there.”

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