Gap Year Ski Resort Jobs

Our guide to finding a job in one of the many resorts around the world.

Working in a ski resort is a great way to improve your skiing or snowboarding skills, get some great work experience and to meet people who share your passion. Whatever work you do, you'll get plenty of opportunity to ski your heart out in your time off.

The kind of jobs available during the ski season include lift operators, janitors, food and beverage staff, guest services, equipment rental and repair, day care, ticket checking, parking attendants, cashiers, retail staff, room attendants and of course ski and snowboard instructors. Canada is understandably very popular - many resorts have recruitment fairs in Canadian cities during October or November, so it’s important to time your arrival to coincide with the start of the recruitment period. European skiing is focused on alpine areas of Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France and Germany. The season runs from October to March, and resorts and tour operators are busy recruiting staff in September.

Most positions require you to have some experience in the relevant field - whether its just customer services or catering. If you want to work as a ski or snowboard instructor, you will need to have the relevant qualifications.

If you're interested in getting a ski instructors qualification in Canada, (a Canadian Ski Instructors Alliance certificate), go to www.snowpro.com. Courses are relatively inexpensive, but you will need to fund accommodation, living expenses and travel while you are there. You can also find out about training to be a snowboard instructor from CASI (Canadian Association of Snowboard Instructors) at...

www.casi-acms.com

Alternatively what you could do is go on a placement when you arrive in Canada that will qualify you as a ski or snowboard instructor, so you can then go on after the scheme to find work. See the organisations we feature in our main section for opprotunities.

The provinces in Canada with the largest number of ski resorts include Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario and Québec. These are the places where you are most likely to find work. As an employee of one of the big ski resorts you can expect to have low pay and shared accommodation. However, you can also expect a discount on ski passes, subsidised accommodation and food, as well as an active social life! So if you are there for the love of the snow, rather than the need to earn lots of money you’ll be fine.

Ski work with a tour operator

Instead of heading off into the great unknown, you could apply for a job with a tour operator before you leave the UK. The benefits of getting work this way is that you get your accommodation, transport, ski pass, uniform and wages all included in the package. Ideally you should speak a second language, German or French is especially useful. A number
of British package holiday operators have employment opportunities in their Canadian resorts during the winter:

TUI own Crystal Holidays, Thomson Ski and Snowboard and Simply Holidays. For their North America resorts they employ staff from reps, to kitchen staff and nannies. Crystal Holidays alone employ over 1000 staff in their resorts overseas. The season runs from November to April, and you will have to commit to working the full season. To work in Canadian resorts you need to have your work permit in place before you apply for the jobs. Get more information from...

www.crystalholidays.co.uk
www.shgjobs.co.uk

Inghams is another big UK based ski package holiday operator. Again you will need to sort out your own work visa before you get the job. The minimum age for resort reps and managers is 23.

www.inghams.co.uk

First Choice ski include training for applicants interested in positions as resort reps. A resort rep is basically a customer service role, involving taking guests to and from the airport, sorting out room bookings and distributing ski passes. Being a rep is a tough job, not for anyone who thinks they’ll be spending the winter bumming around on the slopes!

www.firstchoice.co.uk

Skiworld Ltd offers a wide range of seasonal employment opportunities during the winter, with approximately 26 positions of varying responsibility from chalet host to resort manager. The main recruitment period for winter positions is from June to October and staff must be able to commit for the whole winter period from mid-November to April.
Overseas Personnel Department, Skiworld House, 3 Vencourt Place, London, W6 9NU
0870 420 5914
recruitment@skiworld.ltd.uk

www.skiworld.ltd.uk

Independent Ski Recruitment

Natives - Natives.co.uk is the UK’s leading seasonal recruitment website, with hundreds of jobs available in both winter and summer resorts, as well as permanent positions within the UK travel industry. They are always looking for good quality staff to work in ski and summer resorts worldwide, including Resort Managers, Chefs, Cooks, Nannies and many others. If you are looking for something different, and want the experience of a lifetime, take a look at the jobs available and apply online now.

www.natives.co.uk

Free Radicals - Independent ski recruitment specialists. As well as ski instructors and ski technicians, they also help recruit drivers, chefs, nannies, resort managers and chalet helpers

www.freeradicals.co.uk

Cool Works - A website for finding jobs in great places, features thousands of seasonal jobs at ski resorts in the Sierras, Rockies, Cascades and White Mountains. Also features employers in national parks, summer resorts, cruise lines, ranches and camps.

www.coolworks.com

Learn the ropes before you go! The Ultimate Chalet Host Cookery Course will teach you everything you need to know about runing a successful chalet in the Alps with style!

www.SnowCrazy.co.uk

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