Anyone experienced as camp host or workamper?

[clicknathan]

I'm looking for information on finding work as a campground host or workamper. Has anyone worked for Aramark or RRM or any other big companies like that? Any smaller gigs?

Anyone managed to do it year round?

[aluminitus]

My husband and I are looking to do the same thing. You may have seen this, but Workamper News has some very useful links. Their featured employer section has some fun opportunities like these gigs in Alaska. Some parks even give a small cost of living stipend. Hope to see y'all down the road!

[Mike91208]

Check out the Escapees RV Club site. They have a forum on volunteering and paid work:
Volunteering Adventures - Escapees Discussion Forum

[brain]

While I don 't have any experience workamping, I have been looking at this site to see what is out there in the future. It's a free site and has listings from a lot of places.

[pattydoug]

We have been Workamping for all sorts of employers for 13 years now. While the two you first mentioned are not on our list we have worked for such places as Amazon.com, Adventureland Amusement park in IA, Disney World, Dolly World, Sees Candy, Hickory Farms, KOA's, private Campgrounds, and several other companies.

There are a lot of jobs out there, with winter (paying) jobs being the harder to come by (Our northern neighbors come down and work for free sites which screws up the market. But we always tell employers "your get what you pay for" and we have yet to see a site we would "pay" $1200 a month for ie: approx min. wage time 20 hours times 2 times 4!)

Workamper News is OK (more gimmicks than real help anymore, tho') but there are LOTS of other sources on the web. Just like hunting for a REAL job.

[Protagonist]

If you'd like to be a camp host at a Corps of Engineers or other Federal agency campground, try this link… Volunteer.gov/gov-America's Natural & Cultural Resources

Typing in "camp host" in the keyword box at the top of the page netted 60 job oppotunities nationwide, as of this morning.

Being a camp host for the Government only gives you a free campsite in exchange, no salary, but many Corps campgrounds are open year-round in the southern states, so it need not be a summer-only gig.

[clicknathan]

Thanks everyone (long time no reply...been busy with an AS renovation). I was looking into this information originally for an article I was working on for a full-timing magazine I work for.

Ended up getting a ton of information from the wonderful Rene from this website (not the mag I mentioned above, FYI): Live. Work. Dream. Working to find the dream life - RV Snowbird Lifestyle Design Travel Blog

[Grapes]

This will be our first time doing this... so I went on Google, and went to this website:

Work for RVers and Campers: Employment, Campground Jobs, Volunteer, RV Business

I found a job easily! It all depends on where you want to be, and what you want to do! They do sections month by month with a huge list by states!

Hope this helps

[InterBlog]

Reviving an older thread here to ask the question... are there any true coherent websites that consolidate workamper opportunities, especially for camp hosting? Anything shake out as a good single go-to source in the past few years? I've looked at a few cited in the thread above and I'm not impressed. Lots of pollution for commercial sites looking for free labor.

I was at one of my favorite locations in Angelina National Forest in east Texas yesterday and there's no host at that location. It doesn't appear that there has been a host for some time. I don't like to see the absence of a host because this location has been vandalized in the past.

So I figured I'd look online and see if a host was scheduled to arrive. I talked at length with a previous host here and I know that this position pays certain expenses as well as FHU - it's not a bad deal. It's a superb location perched on a ledge overlooking a lake. Unlike many hosting sites, it's not mashed in the middle of the campground where the host must endure screaming children and the drunken antics of campers. This host site is situated away from the camping loops at the gate and much of the host's job is screening those who come through the gate.

I can't find a bit of info. Volunteer.gov contains only the most generic listings for NFS in Texas and only for Sam Houston National Forest, quite some distance away. Even there, they are not specific. The postings read, "Number of opportunities available vary."

Is this not 2017, Information Age version 17.0? What am I missing?

Here's a view of the Angelina host pad:

[Protagonist]

The link I posted in post #6, this thread, is still valid. Here's another:
http://www.usace.army.mil/Missions/C...Opportunities/

Neither link includes state parks, unfortunately.

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by Protagonist

The link I posted in post #6, this thread, is still valid. Here's another:
http://www.usace.army.mil/Missions/C...Opportunities/

Neither link includes state parks, unfortunately.

Uh huh. Same type of message on that website:

"Many more volunteer positions are available than what is shown. Obtain a Point of Contact list from the Volunteer Clearinghouse and call or email the Park Ranger directly for volunteer opportunities."

^^ 20th century inefficiency. How are far-roving workcampers supposed to be able to identify opportunities with any kind of specificity? It would take ten minutes to post "many more" on a website, if one existed.

Furthermore, I'm not sure if the paid positions are included on Volunteer.gov. Sandy Creek Park is a USACOE park on BA Steinhagen Lake in east Texas. It's large, very popular, and takes in enough money so that the hosts are paid (they told me this). But I don't know where those jobs would be posted, as they are not strictly volunteer.

What a mess of a system.

[Protagonist]

Meaning no offense, but why should looking for a camp host job be any easier than looking for any other kind of job in today's market? There's no "one-stop shopping" site for engineers. Or accountants. Or doctors. Or office managers. Or firemen. Or policemen. Or any other job of which I'm aware.

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by Protagonist

Meaning no offense, but why should looking for a camp host job be any easier than looking for any other kind of job in today's market? ....

Because a host job is unpaid!! Because We the People are getting free labor out of this deal, and in order for that to work properly, the United States would be wise to go the extra mile to make it worth peoples' trouble.

The candidates must be incentivized by something else, given that they are not incentivized by wages. And the single most obvious front-end incentive is ease-of-process (i.e., lure them in), especially given the way that people frequently use the hosting process to work their way across the country. Perhaps the single biggest wage-compensating up-side that hosts have related to me is that hosting has allowed them to "see the country" in a particular way. Not by spending three superficial days in each location like a typical tourist, but by spending three months and really getting to see the place and know something of the people who frequent it.

Nobody can be expected to know how to work their way across an entire country in a productive manner without extensive assistance. By not crafting accurate host postings and presenting them as attractive alternatives for people, the United States is basically saying, "We want you to work for free, AND NOT ONLY THAT, we don't really want to have to lift a finger to make it easier for you, or to even inspire you to try it in the first place."

Sorry. That's just not realistic in a transactional situation where supply is clearly outstripping demand. I'm reminded of the old saying that government has no clue how to run even the smallest parts of itself with the efficiency and effectiveness of a business. And the end result of that failure is spectacular camp host vacancies such as the one I showed above, and the social problems that come with such vacancies (in Texas, one of the biggest challenges has been drug cookers and grass growers moving into the National Forests, given that there are so few people minding the store).

[KJRitchie]

Maybe contact that NF local headquarters? Is that campground open year round?

[Lyman]

A lot of your good host job jobs are not going to jump out at you. And you need to look other places besides net. Tons of campgrounds in Midwest open only summer time. Look in each town individually by campground. Pick the area you want to go to. I did this for about 3 years got enough work (small wage) and got unemployment in winter. Many other seasonal jobs available also paid my own rent but still worked enough for the unemployment. At 72 years old I finally quit completely but for 12 years worked this part time work situation.

[StrmyWeather]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

Because a host job is unpaid!! Because We the People are getting free labor out of this deal, and in order for that to work properly, the United States would be wise to go the extra mile to make it worth peoples' trouble.

The candidates must be incentivized by something else, given that they are not incentivized by wages. And the single most obvious front-end incentive is ease-of-process (i.e., lure them in), especially given the way that people frequently use the hosting process to work their way across the country. Perhaps the single biggest wage-compensating up-side that hosts have related to me is that hosting has allowed them to "see the country" in a particular way. Not by spending three superficial days in each location like a typical tourist, but by spending three months and really getting to see the place and know something of the people who frequent it.

Nobody can be expected to know how to work their way across an entire country in a productive manner without extensive assistance. By not crafting accurate host postings and presenting them as attractive alternatives for people, the United States is basically saying, "We want you to work for free, AND NOT ONLY THAT, we don't really want to have to lift a finger to make it easier for you, or to even inspire you to try it in the first place."

Sorry. That's just not realistic in a transactional situation where supply is clearly outstripping demand. I'm reminded of the old saying that government has no clue how to run even the smallest parts of itself with the efficiency and effectiveness of a business. And the end result of that failure is spectacular camp host vacancies such as the one I showed above, and the social problems that come with such vacancies (in Texas, one of the biggest challenges has been drug cookers and grass growers moving into the National Forests, given that there are so few people minding the store).

Sounds as if you've got a handle on the problem. Why not show us how an effective and efficient transactional process can work and volunteer to develop it for us.

[TravlinMan]

https://www.volunteer.gov/

[Bigventure]

Subscribing

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by StrmyWeather

Sounds as if you've got a handle on the problem. Why not show us how an effective and efficient transactional process can work and volunteer to develop it for us.

It sounds like a good retirement gig, doesn't it? Unfortunately, I don't have that luxury. My husband and I are still younger working people with jobs. Our time is not our own.

[StrmyWeather]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

It sounds like a good retirement gig, doesn't it? Unfortunately, I don't have that luxury. My husband and I are still younger working people with jobs. Our time is not our own.

You think you're busy now, wait until you retire!