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My middle daughter wants to work a ski season before going off to uni. She will be an awesome asset to any employer, she is polite, energetic, motivated and funny. She is a Head Girl, does Gold DofE, has various sport leader type qualifications and heaps of experience working with kids as well as cafe/retail work experience. But, it does look like Brexit is going to make this tough. Whilst I am blessed with an EU passport, my kids are too far down the ancestry line to get one. It looks like there are still a small number of opportunities but these are going to be tough to secure with a crappy British passport.
Has anyone got any recent experience of this? Is it easier to look at Canada or other, non EU locations? Andorra could work well for example? Any hints or tips? She isn't yet 18, will turn 18 in October.
Thanks
Both of mine are currently living the life in Canada and both went about it in slightly different ways.
Daughter went first with the aim to be a ski instructor. She signed up with EA ( https://easkiandsnowboard.com/) and basically paid to have a facilitated path to instructor in Banff. They sorted accommodation, helped with setting up bank accounts, phones etc and provided some structure to the experience. She had a great first season and got level 2 instructor by the end. Did she think that it was the best way to go? With hindsight she didn't think it was great value for money and none of her 'classmates' would do it that way again. However, thats with hindsight and as parents we felt very happy with her doing it under their guidance. She did a second season 'solo' having made loads of contacts, got level 3 instructor and skied nearly 150days in a season! She has just done #3 but is currently doing a collage course in Nelson with a view to getting a proper industry job.
My lad took a different approach as he knew what to do from his sister so applied to a few resorts for jobs in August/September, got one on Vancouver Island as a lifty and has had a riot of a time living in Staff accom on the mountain. Currently touring BC riding venues before he starts a summer trail crew job back at mt Washington. WARNING: he has signed up to do a second season and turned down his Uni place - one year might not be long enough!
Basically, sort a Canadian visa. Sort some insurance for the time you want to be out there for and get $2kCAN in the bank account and you should be good to enter and work in Canada. Pick some resorts and jobs you fancy and fire off some applications/emails - there is normally a lot to choose from apart from instructing. Lift operator is guaranteed 40hr weeks all season but can be a bit boring and out in all weathers. Catering/retail is indoors but is a bit harder to get and they often prefer a bit of experience. Instructing needs qualifications and the hours you work are variable with full weeks all season being a rarity but you are a professional ski instructor and you will get to ski more! All pay about the same.
Drinking ages vary with the state as do driving requirements. Some resorts are harder to get about if you dont have a car but others like Banff are really easy.
Both mine have really thrived with the experience and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend others to do it.
Hope this helps.
Si
I thought all the big ski companies just advertise like they always have 🤷♂️
She could have done a summer season with Neilson too but will have missed the boat now
She could have done a summer season with Neilson too but will have missed the boat now
She's going off to Portugal on one of those terrible middle class charity things where they are meant to be cleaning up the ocean but you are actually just paying loads of money for a long holiday in a nice hostel in Lisbon.
basically paid to have a facilitated path to instructor in Banff.
She looked at this previously, I think the issue there was her age and the need to be 18
I believe that you need to be 18 to get a Canadian work visa. im not sure if you need to be 18 to apply, though.
The answer is NZ or Canada, post Brexit. Easy visas.
One of mine did 8 months in Queenstown fluffing towels for a hot tub company(!).
Another is currently in Queenstown serving at Ferg Burger bakery, about to start the winter for Coronet Peak.
Both worked out that the 'cool' jobs paid less and the working hours meant they could never get an end or start of day ski or bike run in. The one out there at present is going to be on the Coronet road and car park crew - early starts, but most days will have an hour or two to get some board runs in with his (complimentary) lift pass and (free) ski uniform... The towel fluffer did well on tips and again often had mornings for a ride, walk or lie in - and earned $3/HR more than the lifties or cafe crew up on the hill.
Both also worked out that 'packages' or jobs or training were poor value, and finding thier own way was financially better and gave flexibility.
Being under 18 is an issue - but October on NZ is start of summer season, so could work well... Let me know if she does want to head NZ way - I've a brother there, plus son, and a good work mate. We've also two years worth of temp job and accomodation finding under our belt.
Unless you plan to be a career instructor, I can't see that you can earn enough to begin to offset the cost of the programming on a season or two long perspective. Career Ski instructors only manage the big bucks with "request privates" which you obviously need a decent repeat client base to obtain.
It seems like an expensive way to spend a season.
If she's already a reasonable akieer then spending that deficit on a week-long ski course whilst working a more regular job would probably be a better investment.
One of mine did 8 months in Queenstown fluffing towels for a hot tub company(!).
"8 months as a fluffer" would be interesting on a CV.....
Coming back to this to update on progress. My daughter has been offered ski rep job with TUI / Crystal, waiting for her placement but most likely to be French Alps. Really slick application process which moved super quickly once they got started. Very proud of my daughter, she is super excited. Also been offered her first choice (deferred) uni place and is currently learning to dive in Portugal, the very definition of living her best life!
My son's mate went off to Japan and worked the boot room, found it online and they looked after him well.
Frank, well done to her. I did a ski season as a rep with TUI / Crystal in France in the 2000s. Was absolutely brilliant fun. She must have impressed them as most of the reps were slightly older than 18.....probably average age was about 22-23. Tui are quite a good company to work for....and operate in every decent report.
They do a 2 week training course, pre-season, for all the reps, locked up in a big hotel in the Alps somewhere. This was pretty intense, but really good fun too. There is a lot of partying (that was encouraged by the trainers - who were also managers of the reps!) so they knew who could still get out of bed the next day and function!
I remember being set on trying to get allocated to one of the bigger / better resorts....but then being persuaded by someone a bit more experienced to actually pick somewhere a bit more low key. Ended up at a lesser known resort....had loads more autonomy and loved it (I was a bit older mind - late 20s).
She will have a brilliant time.
Late 90s I worked in the hotel at Sunshine Village near Banff. I served breakfast and dinner most days so had basically all day to ski. Plenty of tips too so it really was the perfect job, so my advice is to think wisely about the nature of the job and the skills you have.
so can a couple find still find ski season with work in Europe or further afield, as say Chalet Hosts? My son is an experienced chef and his partner ran front of house, she now works with children
so can a couple find still find ski season with work in Europe or further afield, as say Chalet Hosts? My son is an experienced chef and his partner ran front of house, she now works with children
There's still plenty of opportunities despite the decline in the "traditional" uk chalet offering, but te blocker nowadays is that you as a UK resident can't just go and work in France / Italy / Austria, you will need to have a european passprt or sort out a working visa. Some companies will help you do this if your skillset is good enough
It's not just work permits post Brexit. The big barrier to traditional ski chalets is staffing costs. When Brits were paid £250 a month (technically self-employed on some quite clever contracts playing in the legal grey space) with free food and board it made it easy to run lots of affordable chalets. Now they'll need to be employed on local contracts - so in France that means about 1,500 euros per month plus a similar amount in employer taxes.
So for a chalet to work now, it either needs to be owner-run (so no employees to pay) or ultra expensive to pay the hosts. The old Crystal/Ski Total etc model isn't viable so they've had to adapt and there aren't as many jobs as before.