Katharine Carol was the Cultural Olympiad program manager.LAURA LEYSHON
When the end came last week, as she knew it would, Katharine Carol joined other laid-off staffers at the bar and partied.
Then came the cold, grey light of Monday morning.
After three years as a program manager for the wildly successful Cultural Olympiad, hooking up with the likes of Lou Reed and Elvis Costello, Ms. Carol was, all at once, jobless and at a loss.
"I felt very discombobulated. 'Okay, now what do I do?' I found my massive to-do list wasn't very interesting, so I went to a yoga class. I guess I've got to learn to slow down."
Ms. Carol is confident something will turn up. It always has.
And this time, she is part of the Class of 2010, undoubtedly the most skilled team of professionals ever amassed in Vancouver for a single purpose. Together, they put on an event that was not only hailed as one of the best Winter Olympic Games ever, but that galvanized Vancouver and united the country.
"They have excelled, individually and collectively," said Kyle Mitchell, chair and partner with the executive search firm Odgers Berndtson. "They have been tested in very, very difficult waters, and all have shown a terrific capacity to grow."
But what happens when the Class of 2010 disbands and its graduates head out, VANOC parchments in hand, to look for work in a non-Olympic world?
Some gobble up new jobs in a heartbeat.
VANOC vice-president for sport production Christy Nicolay woke up the morning after the closing ceremonies and found an e-mailed offer already waiting for her. "I didn't even try," she said. In a week's time, Ms. Nicolay will be in Croatia for the start of the year's World Cup archery events.
Media relations staffer Jason Macnaughton was quickly hired as the Vancouver Whitecaps' communications manager, and venue management vice-president Tom Cornwall, a veteran of 40 years in the arena business, snared his dream job, a return to his roots in Edmonton as head of facilities and operations at Rexall Place, home of the Oilers.
But there are no givens out there. For every Christy Nicolay, there are those like Ms. Carol and VANOC transportation vice-president Irene Kerr, who have nothing lined up, who wonder what lies ahead.
After the huge adrenalin rush of helping to stage something as all-encompassing as the Olympics, transition to new horizons is not always easy.
"Anything in the normal world can look pretty boring," Mr. Mitchell said. "I've heard about guys, still walking around three years after they worked on the 1988 Calgary Games, wearing their tattered Olympic ties and talking about the past."
Compounding the post-VANOC reality is a recession-lashed job market, which has dried up opportunities in a way no one thought possible when Ms. Carol and so many others gave up secure employment to be part of the 2010 Games.
"I will just have to be careful with my pennies," Ms. Carol said. "Maybe I'll be eating rice and beans. But I took the chance, and I don't regret it. Not a bit."
Ms. Kerr, who left a solid 17-year career with Air Canada to join VANOC, laughs that she may be the organization's only executive without some plan for the future.
"I was really focused on what we were doing," she explained. "I'm going to take some time off, and then figure out what's next in the fall. Time will tell where what I learned at the Olympics takes me. But I'm nervous, of course."
Ex-VANOC employees have been flooding the job market. At its peak, the organization was 1,500-strong. By the end of the month, a mere 145 will remain.
Mr. Mitchell said there's no question the recession is making it tough. "It's high on all the employees' concern metre. Companies just aren't hiring the way they used to."
His company is helping more than two dozen top VANOC executives in their search for work. So far, only half have landed jobs.
Some, like Andrea Shaw, vice-president of sales and marketing for VANOC since 2004, are going into business for themselves, resuming her former career in sports marketing. Ms. Shaw is also helping out by hiring two, possibly more, former VANOC executives to join her.
"I knew exactly what I was going to do, but I have mixed emotions about tying the ribbon and walking out the door," she said. "We accomplished so much."
Mr. Cornwall, the venue vice-president, is confident everyone who worked under him will find a good job.
"Anybody who shows up with Olympic experience is looked at a little differently," he said. "The Olympics are unique. You build them from scratch, then you close them down. Birthing and burying an organization, all in six to 10 years. There's something about that."
In fact, said Mr. Mitchell, the Olympics are so unique, employers may find it difficult to figure out exactly what Games employees can do. "How do you translate very Games-specific responsibilities into an ongoing function?"
But that Games 2010 scroll still trumps so much. "It's superb on anyone's CV," Mr. Mitchell said. "These people stepped forward and took on a major responsibility for the benefit of their country, at a potential detriment to their career. They accomplished something that was both world-class and values-driven. Who wouldn't want to hire them?"
Ms. Carol, meanwhile, is worn out. The last thing she wants right now is a job. "I think it's time to be still and read a book," she said.