When the summer sun is blazing, having to put on a suit and tie and sit in commuter traffic feels like one of Dante’s circles in hell. Even worse is then sitting for eight or more hours each day in a cubicle, knowing that the world outside is sunny and bright and beckoning you to soak up its rays. If this sounds familiar, and if the lack of vitamin D is giving you the summer blues, you may want to consider taking a temporary outdoor job while the weather is sweet and sultry.
Pack your picnic basket and head to a national park.
Our country’s national parks offer seasonal positions, as well as full-time careers, for outdoorsy folk who would rather make their living exploring the woods than typing at a computer. National park jobs allow employees to live, work, and play in some of the most beautiful settings in the world. And because there are a wide range of park locations in the United States, applicants for these jobs also have their pick of mountain, desert, seashore, lake, geyser, glacier, and forest as outdoor “office” settings.
According to the National Park Service’s (NPS) personnel Web site, while temporary and seasonal jobs are available in a variety of fields, applicants will field most open positions as visitor use assistants, park guides, biological science technicians, park rangers, and seasonal maintenance workers.
NPS advertises and fills job openings through its Seasonal Recruitment Operations Center (SROC) and lists them on USAJobs.com, the official job site for the United States Federal Government. Check these sites often, as new positions become available regularly. Don’t forget to check with your state’s park service as well, since seasonal work is also available there.
Book a resort vocation.
Who wouldn’t want to spend her summer soaking up the sun at a four-star resort or getting a taste of the Wild West at a dude ranch? Better yet, why not pay your way with a seasonal job at one of these cool spots? Beach resorts, guest ranches, and amusement parks have an influx of visitors in the summer months, and therefore need plenty of extra hands to help keep their businesses running. Their employees benefit, too, since most of them (especially resort workers) can list travel and room and board as job perks.
If you’re interested in seeking employment at ski lodges, don’t assume that they hire only in the winter; many of them remain open to guests who are interested in hiking and other outdoor summer adventures, and provide great work opportunities for seasonal job-seekers. Even the lodges that aren’t open during the months when there’s no powder on the ground still need maintenance workers and other support to keep their businesses running smoothly.
