The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Hawaii Host Committee needs about 1,200 volunteers in place by next month.

There are already about 200 volunteers working in preparation for when thousands of political and business leaders are expected to descend upon Honolulu for Leaders’ Week Nov. 7-13 but the event will require hundreds more, host committee CEO Gregg Yamanaka said.

The committee doesn’t want to turn volunteers away so some will be used as backups or alternates. “We already know we have more volunteers than we’ll be able to utilize,” Yamanaka said.

Volunteer roles range from greeting visitors at the airport to giving directions to working behind the scenes doing administrative tasks such as stuffing bags and collating papers.

Yamanaka estimated the amount of volunteers needed for various tasks: 400 airport greeters; 350 shuttle escorts; 160 hotel desk clerks; 100 to give directions and help with check-in at the convention center; 100 for events and receptions; 100 for back office, administrative and logistical tasks.

“We’re hoping to complete the list of volunteers by early July,” Yamanaka said. 

“Some of the positions require knowledge of Hawaii and geography because they’ll be giving directional information,” Yamanaka said. “We’re not that stringent in our requirements.” 

He said the basic requirement is being available to work a minimum of five days, ranging from four to 10 hours a day. All volunteers are required to attend multiple training sessions starting in August as well as volunteer rehearsals on Nov. 5-Nov. 7. There are 25 volunteers who are going to provide other volunteers with training in hospitality tasks and Hawaiian culture. 

Those who want to volunteer can submit an application at www.apec2011hawaii.com .

The application asks for information including work experience, skills, language proficiency and interest.