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Kindred “spirits”, be alerted: Asia’s biggest and most haunting Halloween bash is back and even better! In preparing for another sensational Ocean Park Halloween Fest, Ocean Park is launching a large-scale citywide recruitment campaign to beckon those who wish to play a part in the major event, whether as performers, backstage crew members or frontline staff. To get started, a recruitment day will be held on 9 June, at Plaza Hollywood in Diamond Hill, where potential candidates may have the opportunity to attend interviews and auditions on the spot. In the rest of June, a number of recruitment activities will be held on weekends, including a recruitment van calling for “wandering souls” in various districts on 19 June.
Celebrating Halloween for the 16th year, Ocean Park is recruiting close to 2,000 talented people, including 1,000 performers, 400 backstage crew members and 600 frontline employees. They will work at Ocean Park from August to November, with an hourly rate of up to HK$145. Some positions in the talent directing team can earn up to HK$40,000 a month. Staff showing outstanding performance may even be hired for the Park’s permanent positions after the event.
Eva Au Yeung, Events & Entertainment Director of Ocean Park, said, “The all-day-and-night Halloween Fest is not only our Park’s signature annual event but also the talk of the town. Every year, we are thrilled to develop new haunted attractions to surprise our guests and create hair-raising experiences. Since the successful execution of the ideas depends heavily on our performers and backstage crew, we attach great importance to our recruitment campaign and welcome talents from all walks of life to join the Halloween dream team.”
The Ocean Park Halloween Fest offers a wide range of positions. Eva added, “Some people who are curious about and want to work at this prime event are not keen on performing. They are most welcome to try out the non-acting positions, such as escorts or other support positions.” While performers play a visible role by dressing up as ghouls to interact with the guests, escorts take up the important responsibility to ensure the safety of the performers. Eva elaborated, “Escorts are like the ‘nannies’ and ‘bodyguards’ of performers. They stay close to the performers at all times and help to handle guest enquiries and crowd control opportunities, while maintaining order and ensuring guests have an enjoyable time. The position definitely offers a great opportunity to enhance one’s interpersonal, communication and guest management skills. Escorts do not have to wear costumes and make-up, and they can still have an invaluable insider’s experience of the exciting, massively popular event.”
Tips to Potential Performers: Passion and Creativity over Skills
The Halloween Fest offers flexible working arrangements, as the action happens mainly on Fridays and weekends and shift work is provided, meaning tertiary students can also take up work after class. According to past experience, performers are one of the most popular positions among young job seekers. Hans Lau, Park Entertainment Manager of Ocean Park, has a few tips to offer to those aspiring to join the performing crew, “During the auditions, candidates will have to attempt several acting tests. For example, they may be asked to read a script, interpret a character or even improvise a performance. We strongly encourage candidates to demonstrate their creativity and personal character to impress the recruiters.” In particular, Hans stressed that the key to success is in fact not acting skills, “We value creativity, enthusiasm and team spirit above performing skills and experience, because performers’ jobs are highly interactive, having to surprise the guests and from time to time work with other performers.” Hired performers will be offered an average of over 30-hour training to acquire the necessary skills to perform their given roles, interact with guests and handle different situations.
Apart from performers and escorts, Ocean Park is also calling for talents for the wardrobe and technical teams. The former will be tasked with taking care of the costumes, from production to maintenance and allocation, whereas the latter looks after the animatronics and mechanical devices in the haunted houses to create the perfect spooky ambience which inject atmosphere to the haunted attractions. Other departments, including Food and Beverages, Retail Operations, and Ride and Attraction Operations, are also looking for more employees to enhance their service quality during the busy Halloween period.
Celebrating Halloween for the 16th year, Ocean Park is recruiting close to 2,000 talented people, including 1,000 performers, 400 backstage crew members and 600 frontline employees. They will work at Ocean Park from August to November, with an hourly rate of up to HK$145. Some positions in the talent directing team can earn up to HK$40,000 a month. Staff showing outstanding performance may even be hired for the Park’s permanent positions after the event.
Eva Au Yeung, Events & Entertainment Director of Ocean Park, said, “The all-day-and-night Halloween Fest is not only our Park’s signature annual event but also the talk of the town. Every year, we are thrilled to develop new haunted attractions to surprise our guests and create hair-raising experiences. Since the successful execution of the ideas depends heavily on our performers and backstage crew, we attach great importance to our recruitment campaign and welcome talents from all walks of life to join the Halloween dream team.”
The Ocean Park Halloween Fest offers a wide range of positions. Eva added, “Some people who are curious about and want to work at this prime event are not keen on performing. They are most welcome to try out the non-acting positions, such as escorts or other support positions.” While performers play a visible role by dressing up as ghouls to interact with the guests, escorts take up the important responsibility to ensure the safety of the performers. Eva elaborated, “Escorts are like the ‘nannies’ and ‘bodyguards’ of performers. They stay close to the performers at all times and help to handle guest enquiries and crowd control opportunities, while maintaining order and ensuring guests have an enjoyable time. The position definitely offers a great opportunity to enhance one’s interpersonal, communication and guest management skills. Escorts do not have to wear costumes and make-up, and they can still have an invaluable insider’s experience of the exciting, massively popular event.”
Tips to Potential Performers: Passion and Creativity over Skills
The Halloween Fest offers flexible working arrangements, as the action happens mainly on Fridays and weekends and shift work is provided, meaning tertiary students can also take up work after class. According to past experience, performers are one of the most popular positions among young job seekers. Hans Lau, Park Entertainment Manager of Ocean Park, has a few tips to offer to those aspiring to join the performing crew, “During the auditions, candidates will have to attempt several acting tests. For example, they may be asked to read a script, interpret a character or even improvise a performance. We strongly encourage candidates to demonstrate their creativity and personal character to impress the recruiters.” In particular, Hans stressed that the key to success is in fact not acting skills, “We value creativity, enthusiasm and team spirit above performing skills and experience, because performers’ jobs are highly interactive, having to surprise the guests and from time to time work with other performers.” Hired performers will be offered an average of over 30-hour training to acquire the necessary skills to perform their given roles, interact with guests and handle different situations.
Apart from performers and escorts, Ocean Park is also calling for talents for the wardrobe and technical teams. The former will be tasked with taking care of the costumes, from production to maintenance and allocation, whereas the latter looks after the animatronics and mechanical devices in the haunted houses to create the perfect spooky ambience which inject atmosphere to the haunted attractions. Other departments, including Food and Beverages, Retail Operations, and Ride and Attraction Operations, are also looking for more employees to enhance their service quality during the busy Halloween period.
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