I know many of you are working or volunteering while on the road. My wife and I are just beginning to give consideration to the whole workamping thing.
We have spoken to many folks that are or who have previously done workamping and everyone seems to really like doing it, some because they have to and others because they want to .
Here is our question; when you are interviewing the employer of a workamp position what are your "must ask" questions? What type of situations are you looking to avoid? What are some of the "red flags" and 'caution" signs that we should be looking for?
You’re a great community of folks and your response will be appreciated.
Win the day!
Mike + Anne
Luvglass said
05:59 PM Jul 15, 2011
We only volunteer, so our questions might be different from someone who expects compensation at a commercial campground. The only things we really care about are how many days a week will we work and what are the total hours expected. We look for relatively short term assignments, our longest has been 2 months. Our other point, and it's a deal breaker, is we don't do bathrooms.
So far we have been very lucky in finding opportunities in the locations we desired, the work has never been too hard and our supervisors have been easy to work with. It's a great way to park yourself without cost for a month or 2 and meet some very nice people. Jo has mainly done office or entry station duties and I have been the campground host.
It's fun, you will enjoy it.
NorCal Dan said
11:47 AM Jul 16, 2011
My biggest concern when looking for a job is to nail down, prefer in writing, exactly what our duties will be, how many hours are expected, and the length of commitment. We mainly do volunteer jobs, our work hours pay for the site and utilities.
I know Jamie at workamper.com has a great list of questions she publishes in the magazine. If you join that organization, and I recommend it, they have a long list of questions and you can pick the ones that are important to you.
RVPAINTER said
08:03 PM Jul 16, 2011
Question - how do you get the map with states visited colored in?
Terry and Jo said
10:18 PM Jul 16, 2011
Richard,
Start here. Click on the "country" you want and start marking the states. I think at the end you have to create the image as a jpg file and then copy that somehow into the signature area of your profile Each time you add a state (or province) you have to go back to the website and redo the image by clicking the states and adding the new ones. Then you "create" another image and replace the older one in you signature with the newer one.
When you are volunteering, the relationship is more mutual. While when you are paid to work, the relationship changes.
Jack Mayer said
09:41 AM Jul 17, 2011
The list of things I ask is too long to publish here. My interviews with a prospective employer - once I do an initial screening - generally last at least an hour of me asking questions, and learning how they run their business.
One thing we determine up front is who are the decision makers, who do we report to, and who do we take direction from. I also determine what they do if a workamper leaves early....do all the hours fall to the remaining workampers to "pick up the load"? Are there other employees? Will they try to fill the position? How many times have workampers left early, and why?
Also, what are the paydays and how often are you paid. I will not work a job where paydays are more than 2 weeks apart. Too much risk of getting stiffed - and it does happen.
To me, it is just like any other job - YOU have to figure out if it is going to work for you, so you have to ask lots of questions. The primary thing that I try to determine is if the operating philosophy of the organization will work for us.
There are LOTS of jobs available. If we don't like what we hear, we simply move to the next available position.
I know many of you are working or volunteering while on the road. My wife and I are just beginning to give consideration to the whole workamping thing.
We have spoken to many folks that are or who have previously done workamping and everyone seems to really like doing it, some because they have to and others because they want to
.
Here is our question; when you are interviewing the employer of a workamp position what are your "must ask" questions? What type of situations are you looking to avoid? What are some of the "red flags" and 'caution" signs that we should be looking for?
You’re a great community of folks and your response will be appreciated.
Win the day!
Mike + Anne
So far we have been very lucky in finding opportunities in the locations we desired, the work has never been too hard and our supervisors have been easy to work with. It's a great way to park yourself without cost for a month or 2 and meet some very nice people. Jo has mainly done office or entry station duties and I have been the campground host.
It's fun, you will enjoy it.
I know Jamie at workamper.com has a great list of questions she publishes in the magazine. If you join that organization, and I recommend it, they have a long list of questions and you can pick the ones that are important to you.
Richard,
Start here. Click on the "country" you want and start marking the states. I think at the end you have to create the image as a jpg file and then copy that somehow into the signature area of your profile Each time you add a state (or province) you have to go back to the website and redo the image by clicking the states and adding the new ones. Then you "create" another image and replace the older one in you signature with the newer one.
http://www.epgsoft.com/VisitedStatesMap/
Terry
Howard/Linda have an excellent article on Workamping at http://www.rv-dreams.com/workamping-job-types.html.
When you are volunteering, the relationship is more mutual. While when you are paid to work, the relationship changes.
One thing we determine up front is who are the decision makers, who do we report to, and who do we take direction from. I also determine what they do if a workamper leaves early....do all the hours fall to the remaining workampers to "pick up the load"? Are there other employees? Will they try to fill the position? How many times have workampers left early, and why?
Also, what are the paydays and how often are you paid. I will not work a job where paydays are more than 2 weeks apart. Too much risk of getting stiffed - and it does happen.
To me, it is just like any other job - YOU have to figure out if it is going to work for you, so you have to ask lots of questions. The primary thing that I try to determine is if the operating philosophy of the organization will work for us.
There are LOTS of jobs available. If we don't like what we hear, we simply move to the next available position.