Whatever your age and life experience, the first season you spend working abroad should give you great memories that will stay with you forever. However, it is important to fully consider your options before jetting off to work in the Alps or do a summer in Magaluf or your friends and family back home might be seeing you sooner than they thought. Make use of as many message boards, as much first hand advice and as many specialist work abroad websites and magazines as you can find.
Ski resort jobs – November to April
Working for a winter tour operator means (usually) your accommodation and food is all taken care of and you have a much better chance of lasting the whole season abroad. Working a winter season with a tour operator is a great way of meeting like minded people as you will be working with many other season workers; some of which will probably be experienced and have good knowledge of the resort and where to find the best skiing and boarding spots. The work is harder than most think it will be, especially if you are basing your decision to do a season on watching ski instructors and ski reps on holiday. Use this section to read about peoples real experiences and get an insight into the different types of job on offer.
Summer jobs – March to October
Not the reserve of Club reps (although there are plenty of repping jobs like that) this section includes summer work to suit anyones aspirations. There are tour operators, hotels and holiday centres recruiting people to look after their clients in the summer all over the world. You might prefer a job in the outdoors or in a small hotel or restaurant, there are even jobs for art salespeople and estate agents in Spain. Seasonworkers is full of companies that are recruiting reps right now. Use the search options at the top of this page to search for summer resort jobs or try here for gap year ideas.
Where to look for working travel jobs
The language barrier and legal difficulties can make finding work on the spot in some European resorts very difficult. Of course, you should be able to find what you want on Season Workers. However, there are a multitude of alternative options open to you. Go direct to tour operator and organisation websites, use Google to help you find recruitment websites, national and local newspapers can help and specialist papers like the Overseas Jobs Express and the Caterer list jobs abroad and in the UK as they arise.
With most companies you will receive some sort of training (be it a residential course prior to your season or training on-site). Residential courses generally last about a week. Most firms also give you further instruction during the early season on site specific issues and some of the more technical aspects of the job. Any company worth it's salt will then offer continued training and support to help you achieve success.
Stages of the season
Most of the time the early season is tough. Resorts and centres need to be prepared to accept clients and deliver what they expect to get in return for their hard earned cash. This can quite often mean that specialist staff have to get involved in toilet cleaning and menial set up duties. The mid season can be tough if not handled correctly and then the end is upon you before you know it.
After the season
Members of the Season Workers Reunion service have access to more of the Season Workers website. The basic service is completely free. You can search for old friends and see what they are up to now, and see a picture if they have uploaded one to their profile. You can search by first or second name, even by nickname if you can't remember. Geographical searches are better for finding groups of people, or you can just enter the year and / or company your friend worked for.
