Are you looking for adventure? Ready to make money while exploring somewhere new? For adventurous travel lovers, seasonal employment opportunities can prove to be a great financial choice.
What could be better than getting paid to live in and experience a beautiful place, surrounded by interesting people? While seasonal jobs aren’t practical for everyone, they are ideal for those seeking a change of pace and something out of the ordinary.
If you’ve ever wanted to experience a new place for more than just a few days, seasonal travel jobs offer the opportunity to truly immerse yourself in a new place and incredible experience while making money.
Here are just some of the awesome opportunities available for adventure seekers:
National Parks
Our national parks here in the U.S. hold some of the most treasured natural beauty in the country.
Imagine living and working in a place that inspires and excites, drawing millions of visitors every year. Not only can you be a part of other people’s once in a lifetime experiences, but you can have your own life-changing experience, too!
There are dozens of national parks to choose from, including:
- Acadia
- Badlands
- Crater Lake
- Death Valley
- Denali
- Everglades
- Grand Teton
- The Great Smoky Mountains
- Mount Rushmore
The types of jobs that you can do at a national park range from retail to tour guide to foodservice. You can be right out there in the elements, or you can play a more behind the scenes role.
Another option is to work for the National Park Service directly as a ranger, museum curator, engineer, and much more.
If you’re interested in a career in hospitality, working at a national park can give you a chance to explore the field while soaking up the beauty of somewhere unique and special.
When you work seasonally in a national park, spend your days off hiking, exploring, and taking in the natural beauty that surrounds you.
Guest Ranch
Ever daydreamed about life on the range? A summer at a guest ranch could be right up your alley.
Located in picturesque places, guest ranches offer a variety of jobs, from wranglers to housekeeping to gardening to guest entertainment. It could truly be a unique, once in a lifetime experience out West. Workers at guest ranches, also called dude ranches, work hard to create an amazing vacation experience for others.
You can get paid to ride horses, take in gorgeous scenery day and night, and build friendships that can last a lifetime with your coworkers. From evenings around the campfire to afternoons wrangling horses, days at a dude ranch are both hard work and relaxing. Jobs on a dude ranch include:
- Wranglers
- Housekeeping & laundry
- Grounds & building maintenance
- Cooks & waitstaff
- Office & management
Ski Resorts
Are you a lover of cold weather and winter sports? A ski resort could be the ideal winter job.
There are all kinds of things that you can do at a winter resort, from hospitality to snowmaking to ski lift operators. Spend your free time learning to ski and snowboard. Not a bad deal!
There are ski resorts located across the country, from New York to California and in between. You can go far from home for this job, or stay in your own region. Either way, you can enjoy the perfect blend of recreation and work.
Are you already skilled in a winter sport? You could be hired as a ski or snowboard instructor. Or you could be the person responsible for keeping the slopes snow covered as a snowmaker.
When you have downtime, you can take advantage of the surroundings and enjoy winter sports like snowboarding, skiing, tubing, and snowshoeing.
Summer Camps
Summer camp isn’t just a great experience for kids; it can be an awesome experience for the staff, too. If you like being around younger people, organizing activities, and having fun in the great outdoors, a job at a summer camp could be perfect.
Camp counselors play an important role in kid’s lives, even if only for a few weeks out of the year. Enjoy all that the outdoors has to offer while giving kids and teens an amazing experience.
At a summer camp, you’ll develop leadership skills that can help you in your future career. Not only will help campers have an incredible experience, but you’ll have a great time, too.
Anything in Alaska
Alaska is really the ultimate destination for adventurers, and luckily, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of jobs to be had in the Last Frontier. You can do anything from hospitality to guiding tours to driving coaches. Seasonal employment opportunities in Alaska include:
- Tour companies
- Resorts & lodges
- National parks
- Camps
- Restaurants & retail
I may be biased because of my own incredible experiences but I think that Alaska is hands down, the coolest place to try out a seasonal lifestyle.
The 3 summers that I spent working in a small town in Alaska were truly life-changing! I met my husband, embraced a more minimalist lifestyle, and learned to appreciate and enjoy simplicity. The money that we were able to earn and save was like an added bonus!
Seasonal employment opportunities can open up a whole world of possibilities, and introduce you to people from all walks of life. If you’ve been seeking a change of pace and think that a seasonal job could be right for you, I recommend checking out CoolWorks.com.
This is not a sponsored post and I’m not affiliated with them in any way, but I wanted to share the link because they are the ultimate resource for seasonal employment opportunities. Happy adventuring!
Have you traveled for a seasonal job? Is it something that you would ever consider?
This is on my bucket list. I plan on work camping as soon as I retire from my current job. I can’t wait. Great post. Thank you for sharing your ideas.
The Broke Dad
HI there , I am actually going to go to Alaska this summer was thinking Denali, or where would you recommend? Thanks a million.
A friend of mine spent a summer working in Alaska and had a blast doing so. Her and a group of friends from college went up there and lived with one of their friend’s families. The best part is how she would randomly run into people she knew, because she was from Vancouver and the cruise ships leave from there.
I also regret ot being able to travel and save more before our son was born and we bought the house. I did try to get a job at a ski resort once, but I was turned down 🙁
I’d love to just sell up and move to Berlin for a while, be an English tour guide, or work in a youth hostel or something like that.
Cheers
I wish I saw this post 10 years ago before I had my son, not traveling more before he was born is one of my regrets. I would LOVE to go to Alaska and taking an Alaskan cruise is a huge bucket list item for me.
When I worked and lived up there, it was in a cruise ship port town, and I met so many people taking their bucket list trip. It was nice to have a little part to play in that! Always made me feel good seeing people finally getting to take that trip of a lifetime.
If you can take the time off to do it I think seasonal employment outside of your regular routine can be awesome. I remember as a kid reading ads in the newspaper for summertime work on Alaskan tuna boats. The ads always seemed alluring as the promise of working on a boat on the open water and being paid some pretty serious money for just a couple months worth of work always sounded appealing to me. Alas, I never did that. Perhaps I romanticized the idea a bit. I’m sure it would have been crazy hard work. Thanks for sharing.
I think if I wasn’t currently tied down to a fur kid I would give it serious consideration. I feel just a tiny bit old to be doing that kind of stuff (I’m sure the 20-year-olds would be calling me Mom), but who knows!
You are definitely not too old! I worked with people of all ages in Alaska, which made the experience that much better. So many adventurous people from all walks of life. I can see my husband and I going back there once our daughter’s all grown up.
Sounds like Alaska would offer great employment opportunities while traveling. I absolutely loved Alaska when I visited.
These all sound awesome and like great opportunities. Alaska is definitely a place I want to visit one day.
I hope you get there- it’s amazing!
What a fun list! I’d be all about the guest ranch! I always loved City Slickers (am I dating myself? I feel like that movie is really old!) I think this would have been fun to do while in college. I always thought about doing a seasonal cruise ship gig, but never went through with it.
It’s definitely ideal for college kids!