When you think about working at a ski resort, does the word "liftie" first come to mind? Nothing wrong with being a lift attendant, but you may be looking for more of a full-time year- round professional career. The seasonal hourly jobs which are most visible at a ski resort are perfect for some, but many professional opportunities exist as well that keep local mountain residents happily employed, year after year. Ski resort jobs can be broken down into three categories; seasonal, Full-time seasonal or full-time year-round.
Seasonal Work
Starting with seasonal jobs, the majority of workers in this group that just graduated or are planning to work seasonal until you know what you really want to do the figure. Many are exploring their options, take time before grad school, or control of a new locale. These jobs might appeal to a graduate school, go diehard skiers, who has just spent the last 20 years in schoolevery day and wants to live for skiing for the next year or two. Another candidate for these jobs may be the person who has spent the last 10 to 15 years in a career, has made the move to their favorite ski resort, and wants to enjoy some time getting to know the community before settling back down into a full-time job. Retired workers are another popular segment of the seasonal resort job crew. Seasonal work is a great way to meet a lot of people, get a free ski pass and stay active. Seasonal resort jobs include ticket sales, guest services associates, ski instructors, lift attendants, food and beverage jobs: cooks, cashiers, and servers, child care, and parking and transportation workers.
Full-Time Seasonal Careers
These ski resort jobs are career-oriented and many are full-time, but only during the ski season or summer, depending on what the job entails. Ski patrol, ski school managers and supervisors, heli-ski and mountain guides are winter seasonal jobs. In a Resorts with summer activities, fishing and out of the river, climbing guide and many employees of National Parks fall into this category. With full-time and seasonal work you can work different jobs during the summer and winter, but essentially the same company and the position back every year.
This is a lifestyle that suits many people to remain active in the stations and take their outdoor passions choose their career. Ski Patrol is a good example of thistype of job. Year after year, many ski patrollers stay with the same resort. Benefit: you're the first one on and the last one off the mountain. You get to ski with expert skiers and really get to know the terrain. Ski patrol assists skiers and visitors all around the mountain making this a fulfilling job and career choice. A ski patroller may choose to work at the same resort doing building and grounds work in the summer, for example, and have a month or two off in between seasons each and every year. Not a bad deal to work at the mountain for the majority of the year with the benefit of having the mud-seasons off!
Full-Time, Year-Round Careers
The third category of ski resort jobs includes many full-time careers. At ski areas, the resort management is comprised of full-time staff from the CEO and CFO, to marketing and accounting professionals, human resources, department managers, and office staff. If a full-time staff position at a ski resort is what you are after, the best thing to do if you are just starting out is to just get your foot in the door. How many administrative assistants grow into resort managers? Quite a few! Ski instructors become department heads, and guest service associates become guest services managers. Many ski resorts prefer to hire from within, and you'll find as you gain more experience, opportunities will open up throughout the country. It is not uncommon to see resort workers who become managers get promoted up the ladder and then proceed to work at various resorts throughout their ski career.
Other full-time careers you will commonly see in resort towns include hotel/restaurant management and staff, accounting/banking, architecture/engineering and design, construction, IT, education and health care. A plus for permanent residents of a resort town is that opportunities become more plentiful for those who have shown that they are committed to staying there.
No matter what your preference for work, many challenging and exciting opportunities exist at ski resorts located in resort towns throughout the U.S. If you have been dreaming of a ski life from your city office cubicle for way too long, it may be time to explore some of these job opportunities and think about moving on!
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