Do you wish for a long winter with a lot of skiing? Imagine being able to spend the winter at a ski resort and ski every day!

But how do you find a job in the mountains, the Alps or Canada? I will tell you!

I did my first season in Sweden, after attending a travel guide program in Bad Gastein with STS Alpresor. After the course, I realized that I did not fit as a tour guide, I do not like to stand in the center and talk in front of a lot of people. But if it wasn’t for that, it would have been the dream job. You will show the tourists your favorite slopes on the mountain and stay live in the village in the Alps. As a tour guide you will also take care of everything from transfers between the resort and the airport,  tours, bar hopping, help with problems and more. You can also be a bus guide and accompany a bus from Sweden to the Alps.

Since I did not want to work as a tour guide, I was very late to look for another job. I came home from the Alps the week before Christmas and I applied for a lot of jobs through the employment service. I was lucky, I got a job as a lift attendant in Storlien, just outside of Åre. A small village, you might think, but I had a really fun season there!

Send your resume early!

It is not recommended to apply for a job the week before Christmas. But that’s obviously not impossible! But of course it’s better to apply early, so you are ahead of your competitors.

Apply all the season

But still, I do not want to discourage you from applying late if you had the misfortune of not finding a job. When I worked in Alpe d’Huez in the French Alps, I got a job through Langley. I was at an interview in Gothenburg and then I got a job in the Alps as a waitress. We were a bunch of Scandinavians gathered and began to start running the entire hotel. Some people soon became homesick and went home. Those positions needed to be filled quickly! I think we brought in 4-5 new people after New Year’s, partly because some went home – both because of homesickness but also because of injuries from the hill – and partly because we needed reinforcement. Apply the entire season, people hurt themselves on hill so replacement is often needed.

Work as a guide or at a hotel in the Alps?

I was very happy to have found Langley. I thought that most jobs in the Alps was about being a tour guide. But there are many ski travel agencies that have their own hotel that needs staff. Langley has all these services available in the hotel;

• waitress
• bartender
• chef
• kidsclub-staff
• dishwasher-staff
• receptionist
• janitor
• ski-intructor

With a job as a waitress, you work hard and you will work on hours when you want to be skiing. Dishwasher was a top job – you could go skiing every day, they started work in the afternoon and they did not have to be very service minded when you were completely exhausted after a day skiing (or hangover). To work in the kids club was also a favorite, also the bartender worked great hours.

In France, it was kind of impossible to get a job on the mountain if you don’t speak french. Except as a ski instructors in the company – for example – Langley. That was what people said. All staff on the mountain were mostly French, older men.

Links for getting a job in the Alps:

Seasonworkers.com – I did not know about this site at the time I was looking for jobs! Seems to be a good site with a lot of seasonal jobs all over Europe, Canada and USA.

Coolskijobs.com  – lists all the current jobs in the Alps

STS Alpresor – work as a guide

Blueberryspråk.nu – if you want to learn a language and work at the same time

Crystal Ski – there were many Englishmen who worked for Crystal Ski when I was in the Alps. You work as a Chalet host – you take care of the cooking, cleaning and service for the chalet and for the guests who rents it. You can read more about working as a Chalet host in the Alps here.

Freeride – sometimes a few jobs are listed here

Langley, Lion Alpin and Northlander – guide and hotel staff

Danski – the danish version of Langley

Nordic Skibums – a Facebook group where people post various job offers. Look for ”Nordic skibums:_____” (the place you want to go to).

UCPA  -work as a representative in the evenings and weekends (a kind of stand-by tour guide), etc.

Xtravel – (scroll down the page to see the ”work with us”) – work as a guide

Rollin Snow – Work as a guide where most of the travelers are young.

Since I went to the Alps by myself, I thought it was very nice to have a job and a place to live before I went there. Therefore, it’s great to send your resume to the above links if you are early. Otherwise you can go there and apply for a job on the spot. When I apply for a job, I usually go to the resort’s website and look for the restaurants, hotels and shops and then send my resume to all everyones that feels interesting, even if they are not actively looking for staff. Then you can be ahead of their advertising plans and you will have a greater chance of getting the job.

Work in Canada

I’ve written a whole guide about working in Canada, you will find it here. There you can read about  getting your visa, accommodation and various ski resorts among etc.

• GoXplore – they have to different programs – Work and holiday basic and Work and Travel Deluxe. GoXplore is a swedish company that guarantees a job.
• Gap Year Canada is another company that offers similar programs.
• Seasonworkers.com – a site with all the seasonal jobs gathered.
• Nordic Skibums – Search for Nordic Skibums:______ (eg Banff) on Facebook and you will find your ski resort and a lot of tips.

The ski resorts in Canada organizes interviews in October. If you are unable to attend on their interviews, some companies allows you to submit a 2-3 minute long video of yourself to upload on youtube. Otherwise, the two companies mentioned above arrange that for you and you can get these jobs through skype interviews from home. If you want to work in the Canadian ski resorts you must be shaved!

Work in Sweden and Norway

When I got my job as a waitress in Hemsedal, I had sent my resume to all the different restaurants that I found on their website. I did not know if they needed staff, but just try anyway, you never know!

• Bengt-Martins – operates in Sälen offering jobs in the reception, guest service and housekeeping.
• Skistar – application deadline is usually on September 1. They organize speed interviews at different places in August. There is high competition because many are looking for jobs at SkiStar. They have a work with us site and a recruitment site, check them out!
• Agencies such as Manpower usually have additional services at Skistar if the regular staff is sick or injured.
• Hemsedal bransje – the Facebook group for seasonal workers in Hemsedal. You can find tips about jobs and accommodation. There are certainly other Facebook groups for other ski resorts.
• Arbetsförmedlingen – Look for jobs in Sweden
• Nav.no – Look for jobs in Norway