Many of you follow us on our blog www.mytripjournal.com/AlbasiniRVAdventure - but there may be others out there who do not know us and are interested in reading about workamping. Maybe you are thinking of doing this yourself but are unsure. As we realize that there are good and bad workamping jobs out there ... we can obviously only comment on our experience.
We are working at the Sunrise Campground, Storm Lake, Iowa. We were looking for a place that gave you free FHU plus pay for all hours worked PLUS we wanted to get away from the dreadful heat/humidity of the Florida summer. We knew we would have to go North somewhere. We would have prefered to go to Oregon ... but because of the distance to travel we settled for this job offered to us.
Speaking about offering jobs - we applied for 5 workamping jobs that fit the criteria that we were looking for, hoping to hear at least from one of them. Shock! Four out of the five offered us the job .... so we were in the "driver's seat" and eventually chose this one because of the fishing on our doorstep - 20 yards from our front door.
So that's a bit about us, obviously the day by day details can be seen on our website.
Sherry said
10:18 AM Jun 2, 2010
Congratulations!! You must be very excited. I'm assuming that you got all 4 of your offers from Workamper News but if not, where? How long from application to offers? You must have put in a great application to have had offers from nearly everyone.
Not on the road until September so I won't be out your way but I know you'll have a great time.
Sherry
Happytrails said
02:54 PM Jun 2, 2010
Hey Jackie and Tony
We are also workamping this summer. We are the camp host at FDR State Park in Georgia. We have hosted here twice before so the Head Ranger knew us but originally we applied on line and then followed up with a visit to the Ranger. Workamper News is another excellent source for posting a resume. We get calls alot. It is good that you had a certain criteria that you wanted to meet for this job and stuck to your guns....good for you all. That makes for a better situation for everybody.
Anyway, its good that there are several of us out there workamping to give others input on how our particular experience is going.
I look forward to following along on your blog and learning more about your experiences. Good luck....I know your site is just beautiful. Have fun and enjoy!!
happy paddler said
03:24 PM Jun 2, 2010
Conratulations! Looking forward to hearing about your experience. Iowa is a great state. We are originally from Cedar Falls.
DorisandDave said
08:14 PM Jun 2, 2010
Jackie and Tony, I look forward to hearing more about your workamping experiences. We too will be looking for jobs that pay for all hours worked and provide FHU. We don't go on the road until April next year, so we should have plenty of time to find something. It will be nice to follow along with someone just ahead of us. Thanks for the opportunity.
Doris and Dave
JackieandTony said
08:43 PM Jun 2, 2010
Sherry - 3 of our offers were through Workamper News where we had applied for certain positions and the 4th one was advertised on RV.Net and that is the one we ultimately chose. We have not posted our resume on Workamper News even though we have the Workamper Plus - we applied for positions advertised and heard back within 24 hours for each one that we emailed our resume to. Hope that helps.
Gerri & Mike - FDR sounds so wonderful too .... hopefully we'll get there one day soon as well. Hope you have a very happy season, we are following your blog too. Can't wait to hear all about your workamping experiences.
heyduke said
05:17 AM Jun 3, 2010
well we have no real plans to workcamp but will likely do so on occasion just for something different so we will follow this thread and appreciate all those who chime in about their experiences...
TXRVr said
08:44 AM Jun 3, 2010
This year we got offers from every app we put out to include one that we did not apply for. Don't know if there are more employers or less applicants.
We've been doing the WK thing for five seasons. We have been picky about what we look for. We haven't had a bad job yet, but some better than the others. We have chosen not to work for the same place twice and to limit camp hosting to shorter periods only in a place we wanted to be in anyway. It's our plan, good or bad, to get a better idea of what the "perfect" WK fit is for us.
Here's something that they don't teach in Work Camper school. How long do you think it takes to find your niche?
Paul and Jo said
01:31 PM Aug 15, 2010
JackieandTony wrote:
Speaking about offering jobs - we applied for 5 workamping jobs that fit the criteria that we were looking for, hoping to hear at least from one of them. Shock! Four out of the five offered us the job .... so we were in the "driver's seat" and eventually chose this one because of the fishing on our doorstep - 20 yards from our front door.
Wow! I'd love to see the resume you wrote! We're struggling with ours due to my professional background. Yup, I've got a lot of "work" and 'home" experience and skills but not much in the way of "practical" work such as plumbing and painting in the work envirinment. Not much call for that when you're managing projects involved with the development of vaccines. I do change all the flappers and valves at home whenever it's needed! LOL
Paul
Jake62 said
11:05 AM Aug 16, 2010
heyduke wrote:
well we have no real plans to workcamp but will likely do so on occasion just for something different so we will follow this thread and appreciate all those who chime in about their experiences...
I'm with you ... I'm "work-amping" now, just in a stix 'n brix. However, we do look forward to occasionally volunteering on Habitat projects around the country.
NorCal Dan said
12:00 PM Aug 16, 2010
I posted most of our workamper resume in my profile here on RV-Dreams if you want to see what we use. It's not a normal resume, but it seems to get us a response when we send it to employers. Sometimes I think we get offers based on our hobbies more than our experience :)
Paul and Jo said
01:11 PM Aug 16, 2010
NorCal Dan wrote:I posted most of our workamper resume in my profile here on RV-Dreams if you want to see what we use. It's not a normal resume, but it seems to get us a response when we send it to employers. Sometimes I think we get offers based on our hobbies more than our experience :)
Thanks for that response, Dan, and I think you are right. Who really cares if you spent all your career at a desk shuffling paper. The life experiences in owning and running a house and home, and raising children, and dealing with everyday catastrophes and problems should be way more important.
Paul
Camper_Boy said
09:54 AM Sep 9, 2010
I agree...we can stack up with the rest as far as career resumes...but the important stuff, like fixing a toilet or water leak are invaluable. I looked at Dan's profile here on RV -Dreams and its who I would hire...Me and Marci are the same way...I don't remember the last time I called someone to repair anything at our home.
I will be looking in the near future for a workamping gig...our resume posted on WorkamperNews site. I hope to keep busy as a fulltimmer as I won't know what to do otherwise. I currently take care of 10 Acres and a large home in my spare time...Work is in the blood I guess...Good luck all...
Not on the road until September so I won't be out your way but I know you'll have a great time.
Sherry
Conratulations! Looking forward to hearing about your experience. Iowa is a great state. We are originally from Cedar Falls.
I look forward to hearing more about your workamping experiences. We too will be looking for jobs that pay for all hours worked and provide FHU.
We don't go on the road until April next year, so we should have plenty of time to find something.
It will be nice to follow along with someone just ahead of us. Thanks for the opportunity.
Doris and Dave
This year we got offers from every app we put out to include one that we did not apply for. Don't know if there are more employers or less applicants.
We've been doing the WK thing for five seasons. We have been picky about what we look for. We haven't had a bad job yet, but some better than the others. We have chosen not to work for the same place twice and to limit camp hosting to shorter periods only in a place we wanted to be in anyway. It's our plan, good or bad, to get a better idea of what the "perfect" WK fit is for us.
Here's something that they don't teach in Work Camper school. How long do you think it takes to find your niche?
Paul
Paul