 Poster: A snowHead
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A friend has suggested being a Chalet host. Says that because of my age (27) i might be at an advantage to do a more 'senior' role. Also experience in Property management and being a PA so organised... and sales... GET ME.
Do you think (any of you in the know) that this would be a better job? To be honest chalet staffing sounds ok to me, i don't mind knuckling down in the kitchen.
THoughts?
Ta 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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The thing that you need to watch is....often, the more senior roles carry more responsibility and can be more time demanding. This could result in you getting less snowtime.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Laura, chaket host = cooking, cleaning, talking to people. It's just a different job title. If you want a 'senior' role, try hotel manager/assistant manger.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| Quote: |
Laura, chaket host = cooking, cleaning, talking to people. It's just a different job title. If you want a 'senior' role, try hotel manager/assistant manger
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Sorry - i meant Rep.... he suggested the 'finest' companies for instance...
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Laura, Get in touch if you are seriously interested in working in a chalet next season. We will start recruiting from the end of this season. It is definitely as work hard/play hard enviroment though - trying to do a little as possible probably won't get you very far. Those who work hard and get the job done well and in good time have plenty of time to ski and go out and will have a great season! 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Cheers everyone.
Next step i shall work on the CV and letter and will contact any of you who're potential employers. Thanks all for your help!!
L 
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the kids from Crystal who I see pushing gigantic trolley loads of stuff round Géant in Albertville always seem to be working hard for a living. Early in January you can see the ones that are going to be a success (communicating with team mates, joking, thinking) and the ones that aren't (sulking, looking like they can't quite be arsed). My son has done two seasons in Val D'Isere but he is an experienced and creative chef. For posh companies (one very posh one, with whom he originally went out there, was such rubbish to work for that he resigned before the first guests arrived and freelanced for the rest of the season!). He had to work very hard, planning, buying stuff, cooking top class food for very demanding guests, often whilst ill and/or slightly injured and/or hungover. He enjoyed it, not just because of the skiing/boarding but because he loves cooking and liked being able to "do his own thing". He had some great times out on the snow but his top favourite memory is the great feedback (and fat tip) he got from a charming and very wealthy Portuguese family he had cooked for, and who told the agency who had given him the job that they had never had such great chalet food.
He never moaned. Someone earlier in this thread said her friend enjoyed the job "and never moaned". That's the secret; it's something for people prepared to work really hard and aim to do a great job for the guests, not just booger off and ski at the first possible opportunity. When we used to stay in catered chalets (cheap ones!) early in January we generally found inexperienced staff still had little time to ski, because they had not got themselves organised. But they were working on it, and doing well.
Christopher, I'm sure your mother could organise a highly relevant training programme for you!
My son is doing an M Sc at the moment - very excited at the thought of doing a Ph. D on a flexible basis. 7 months a year building robots, 5 months a year cooking in the Alps! It seems to be something that can become addictive.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Laura, What do you want to get out of the trip? Is it mainly driven by the skiing? If so you may get more quality time on the slopes by going for say 3-6 weeks with no job and paying your own way. I guess the go it alone approach means you want get a built in social life from day one, but pick the right resort and you'll make contacts pretty quick. Quite a few snowheads dotted around u can meet with.
Not sure I can say it on here but you could become a ski club of great britain rep, lots of skiing time, they do have long term reps that do whole season though they maybe experienced reps.
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Laura - there are a couple of chalet owners on the board who will be recruiting for next season. I suggest checking back early autumn.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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waynos, 17 week season x 5 days a week = 85 days skiing. 6 weeks x 7 days a week = 42 days skiing.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Laura, sod repping unless sorting out little johnie's missing lift pass/ inhaler/ sister is your idea of fun. If you do Chalet and are good at it, you'll get more skiing than anyone else.
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Lizzard, Your sums depends on the job & how many days a week and hours a day you get out each day. If you're gonna work you're going to have to put some hours in at some point. Also if you're out for 17 weeks as opposed to 6 weeks that 11 weeks of extra income from the normal day job.
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You know it makes sense.
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waynos, figures are based on chalet hosting which = six days skiing per week @ about max six hours per day.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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As an employer (and ex seasonal worker) my top tips would be:
- If the time on the slopes is the main motivator stay as low down the resort hierarchy as you can. Less reponsibility does equal more time on the slopes. (Make it to MD and you'll manage about 2 days a season but I've had that whinge already on other posts!). If your blood pressure can take it there are some genuinely interesting management roles to be had though.
- Go for a small firm to increase your chances of knowing where you will work and being managed by experienced people who care. Not to say you can't get this with a big firm, but the odds decrease in my view.
- Be choosy! If you are good you WILL have a choice of who you work for. Recruiting good people isn't easy for ski firms and they should wait while you have other interviews and assess your options. If they won't wait do you really want to work for them?
- Check out the package carefully. Make sure you know exactly what you are getting. Will your employer insure you? Will you get a ski pass & kit? Are any wages held back until the end of the season? Who covers the cost of return travel if you get sick, sacked or resign?
- Don't forget to ask about the resort and staff accommodation as well as the job and the pay. If you are going to live somehwere for 5-6 months you need to enjoy it and be comfortable.
Ideally you'll get a personal recommendation from friends / family re who to work for. If this isn't possible there are forums (including this one) where people will give you pretty honest feedback re individual firms. My final comment would be to get an understanding of how much an interviwer really knows about a job you are being interviewed for - if they don't know the role and/or the resort it'll be difficult to get a true picture of what you could be letting yourself in for.
Good luck!
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Poster: A snowHead
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I am looking into the same thing of being a chalet host/staff. I have just come out of college and going into my "gap year". I am prepared to work and do my bit and really want to go away for next season so doing some serious reseach. Anybody know the best companies or maybe best way to go about getting a job any help would be much appreciated 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| Wear The Fox Hat wrote: |
If you're wanting to work the season, you might want to check out www.natives.co.uk
They also have a forum, but are focussed on season staff. |
But, be warned. I spoke to someone I know at a company associated with Natives the other day about the forum. Within 10mins they got back to me with the email address, name, etc of someone who thought that they could stay hidden behind a web/forum/name. I wasn't even about us, but a mate of mine who refuses to spend any money with natives (due to the content of their forum) was getting.... shall we just say.... slight ticked off by the accusations against his company (he runs a small ski co in France).
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Wayne, how do you know it was someone who 'thought they could stay hidden'? Personally I've never said anything on there that I wouldn't say directly to the people concerned.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Lizzard,
Yeah, you're right, maybe they didn't.
The only comments about us on the that forum are about our main (summer) company website being made in FrontPage - nothing wrong with that. Took me ages, and it's fine, am quite proud of it. I used FrontPage as I am not a web designer – the codes baffle me. The ski site I made in Expression Web.
But,
Have a good scan around that forum and tell if you can find anything that would be considered libellous and do you think this would be the type of thing said to someone’s face. Maybe you’re not that type of person.... but the web is full of them.
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Wayne, there are plenty of things which one could quite happily say to a person's face which might nonetheless be considered libellous if published to a third party.
You have to admit that a lot of the employment practices used by TOs on young staff who don't know any better are a tad John Wayne, to say the least, as is a lot of organisation in resort. I think it's healthy that there's a forum where staff can slate/praise employers. You're obviously going to get a certain number of cr@p ex-staff with a grudge, but if you make a habit of reading the forum you'll see that obvious malicious malcontents tend to get told where to get off. Generally in no uncertain terms.
If your mate is getting a consistent slating, maybe he should ask himself why.
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I am pretty new and still don't know how to simply ask a question on here haha, I have come back to this forum, my question is still related to a ski job. In an application it asks for my previous wage and my sought wage, obviously I do not expect what I use to get in my previous job and have no real idea of the common pay for an 18 year old working as hotel staff, I know it sometimes says on some job overviews what you get for per week but no specifics. Any ideas?, guessing I'm best to sound realistic and like i've done my research than stupidly optimistic so any info would be much appreciated. Thankyouuuu:)x
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| jesskilover wrote: |
| I am pretty new and still don't know how to simply ask a question on here haha, I have come back to this forum, my question is still related to a ski job. In an application it asks for my previous wage and my sought wage, obviously I do not expect what I use to get in my previous job and have no real idea of the common pay for an 18 year old working as hotel staff, I know it sometimes says on some job overviews what you get for per week but no specifics. Any ideas?, guessing I'm best to sound realistic and like i've done my research than stupidly optimistic so any info would be much appreciated. Thankyouuuu:)x |
For a chalet bunny, or working in resort, a sought wage would probably be the minimum wage in whatever country you are planning to work in. That's about all you can ask for really. If you put £50K p.a. you're unlikely to get the job, unless it's a director level position of a big company - for seasonal staff working in resort it's not going to be a lot.
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Ok well I think the min wage for 18-21 year olds is £4.77, do you advise I put that in my sought wage?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Jess - have you ever had a job either full or part time or even a paper round?
If so put that and try and remember how much you got for it.
I'd counsel against ever trying to "make it up" on an application....... if you've never had a job before say so.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| Quote: |
For a chalet bunny, or working in resort, a sought wage would probably be the minimum wage in whatever country you are planning to work in.
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It's also over three times as much as chalet staff can realistically expect to be paid, I'm afraid. 
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Marcellus- Most of the applications I have filled out including this one asks for info on past and present employment, so I have written about them. In the application asking for the sought wage it also asks what I got in my previous job which was £6 per hour, hence why I said I wouldn't expect that haha..
Lizzard- To be honest well I don't mind what I get to be honest I'm not going for the money aspect of it really just the experience so if what you say is true.
What do you think is appropriote to put as my sought wage..just wouldn't have thought you'd ever say you sought for less than min wage..even if you expect it?? Any ideas  tempted not to put a sought after wage but guessing they want to know or why would they ask. Thanks again:)
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You know it makes sense.
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| Quote: |
'slighly older people who can cook' etc category
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27 and you class yourself as "slightly older"? Jeeezzz!
Where does that leave the rest of us 
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Poster: A snowHead
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Have a look at www.snowseasoncentral.com. It's got information on a bunch of resorts from people who have worked snow seasons, on; how to get a job; how to get a place to live; which mountains have the best terrain for a season and which mountains have the best party scenes. You might want to go directly to www.snowseasoncentral.com/france to get to the French resorts, which are generally the most popular for Brits in Europe to work at (mostly because of the number of companies hiring English speakers to cater for the Brits on holidays).
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Quote: |
27 and you class yourself as "slightly older"? Jeeezzz!
Where does that leave the rest of us
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Camping for a living, probably. I appear to be the youngest one out here at the moment, which is a new experience.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Well the OP is a few years older and wiser now...
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Griggo67, well, you know, I've checked out your site and frankly, it's a bit pants. Or, rather, it's a lot pants.
Your information on France and Chamonix (areas that I know best right now) is patchy, sketchy and flat wrong in many parts.
And it doesn't play nice with an iPad. FFS.
If you are going to talk crap, please don't do it privately and don't invite others to watch.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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under a new name, +1.
I'm assuming it was written by a 14 year old boy - only explanation for the poor info, the shocking writing, and the obsession with girls and drinking. And far too many ads in the middle of the text.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Griggo67, do you have to keep plugging your, frankly pretty useless, website in the majority of your posts? Might be better spending time on the website before promoting it, had a quick look through the St Anton section, really needs an update, a lot of the info is years out of date (and most of it stuff easily found out) and as for the job options working for a tour operator, you may want to check out the rep description. There is more as well.
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fixx, Sitter, +1. Terrible site....who would believe that there is a chance of avalanches in the Alps!
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Swissie, Plus that Mürren has been annexed by Austria!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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That's a bit harsh. Site seems OK generally, just needs to update info.
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Cheers guys. The resort articles were all written by people who worked at these mountains so I appreciate they need updating from time to time. The site was created so people could share their insider knowledge about working at different resorts, so it would be great if people like you could add or change anything that needs updating, through the form boxes at the end of each article.
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FAQ
Oh, and sell apres-ski events if your company is into that kind of thing.
