Ever wanted to work as a zip line guide in Alaska? Harvesting coffee beans in Costa Rica? Bartending in the Grand Tetons?
What is Seasonal Work?!
Seasonal work is short-term contract employment. TONS of industries offer seasonal/contract work, such as hospitality & tourism, agriculture, and construction. Generally, you won’t get any health insurance benefits or 401k. But you may get housing provided or at a very large discount. Seasonal work can be tough, there are a lot of pros and cons.
Pros
- new skills and experience
- flexibility in the off season
- built in community of like minded people
- work hard – play hard
Cons
- not all seasonal jobs are created equally
- not much stability
- your family will probably not be proud..
- work hard – play hard
Like with most things, seasonal work is what you make it. You can create a loving community and have an incredible time! Or take the off-season to travel the world. Seasonal work gives you the flexibility to create a life that feeds your soul. You get a beautiful opportunity to create your own life.
As good ol’ Uncle Ben said, “with great power comes great responsibility”. You will be able to create a beautiful life for yourself but it will be a little outside of the norm. Seasonal work does not subscribe to the “American Dream”. Your family will likely not be proud of you. Like what mom says “golly, I hope my kid grows up to be a hiking guide or a tour bus driver”…. NONE!!
“golly, I hope my kid grows up to be a hiking guide or a tour bus driver”
Seasonal work will force you to develop a thick skin. When dealing with your family and sometimes while you’re dealing with customers. For example, I was a tour bus driver for 5 years – I can’t count how many times some old man asked “are you old enough to drive?” or asked for a hug only to try and touch my butt. I don’t hug guests anymore for this reason. The heckling can be fun but it can also be awful. Guests can get a false sense of closeness then feel empowered to tell you that your life choices are wrong and how to be better… *raises hands to the sky and yells in exasperation*
Before applying, ask yourself…
- why do you want to try seasonal work?
- what do you hope to get out of it?
- what do you like to do? what are your skills? what would you like to learn?
- where do you want to go? what weather do you prefer?
- which season would you like to work?
- what kind of work do you want to do?
- what are your financial goals?
- what commitments might stop you?
- who else do you need to consider? family? pets?
Tips to land the gig!
The top thing is to have a rock-solid resume and cover letter. Some of these companies are getting floods of applicants, stand out by having a clean formatted, and organized resume. Research the company in advance to find what they are about. What is their mission? Does it resonate with you? If they say quality customer service is their goal – tell them in the cover letter why you have great customer service! If you work well as a team – tell them an example of some great teamwork!
Make it an easy decision for them to hire you! Embrace your kind and charming self and bring that energy to your application.
If you haven’t heard within a week of applying, reach out to them.
Apply months in advance. If you want a summer job, then apply in the winter. They will be hiring and finalizing their season by the spring. Apply early.
You are totally capable of creating a beautiful life that feeds your soul and lights you on fire.
Risks
There is always a risk with seasonal work. Some companies promise the world and when you arrive… you’re locked into a real sh*tty situation. It can be difficult to sniff out the B.S. Ask about their return employees, are many of them coming back? Is there a community page to contact coworkers? How are issues dealt with (especially safety-related issues)? Ask for details about their training program, if it is a zip-line company in rural Alaska and they don’t have much for training or safety protocols… RUN!!
This is the bummer part of working seasonally, this can often mean that your first year is tough. If that is the case, use that first year to get the lay of the land, look at other companies and make friends with everyone. That will help you get the inside scoop and figure out what companies you want to work with or not.
Benefits
Community is the best part of seasonal work! You get placed in this incredible place with other like-minded people just out here trying to create the best life for themselves. Something true to their soul. They are also living a life outside of the norm, this creates an instant bond. Often you have similar dreams like retiring every winter to travel the world. For example, I met my travel sister in Vietnam during one of my winter retirements, we’ve worked seasonally in Alaska and traveled all over Guatemala.
You get to create a life that fully feeds your soul. How many jobs let you have 6 months off and you can come back to it?? You get to work the seasons you want and do something that you truly enjoy. If you’re getting burnt out and starting to barely tolerate it – it’s time to make a change. But that is easy! Switch companies, switch locations, switch roles! You get to create the beautiful life that you want, doing what you want!
Resources
This is a fantastic resource that lets you filter your search to include housing.
This is massive and allows you to search by season.
This is a U.S. government site with mostly agriculture and construction jobs
A membership that connects you with yoga-related jobs all over the world.
These jobs are with Holland America and Princess Cruise Lines – this is a great way to get your foot in the door at a port city. This is a mega-corporation so sometimes the benefits promised aren’t as accurate as they’d like you to believe.
This is the Alaska Travel Industry Association job board so they have tons of Alaska-specific tourism gigs.
In the comments,
Let me know if you’ve worked seasonally – where and what did you do?
OR
Let me know if you would like to work seasonally and have any questions
