 Poster: A snowHead
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Christopher, if you think about it, it's odd to feel that a decision which has major financial and other consequences for much of your life (where to study, what to study) requires "less maturity" than a decision to go and have a few months blast washing up, drinking too much, skiing too much and sleeping too little. In my experience (and I have a lot) it can be very demoralising and difficult to decide you've embarked on the wrong degree, and have to start again. It's even more demoralising to get to the end of 3 years of assiduous essay writing, and wonder why you bothered.
If you lose the will to study if you do a season you're not cut out for studying anyway. Two of my offspring took a year out in the middle of their degrees (as well as beforehand and, in one case, between degrees) and they found it rejuvenated their enthusiasm and energy for study. They both got top degrees.
However, you're some way off having to make a decision. Plenty of time to get some relevant weekend/holiday job experience, to give you a better chance of a good job if you decide to do a season. I suppose you're too young for bar work, but some other "customer facing" role, especially if it requires team working and helps to demonstrate your resilience and adaptability, would be relevant.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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pam w, cheers for the advice
I definatly will get a job in a pub or restaurant this summer.
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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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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Basically 18 is the youngest any Tour Operator or bar will employ you. Asking a TO to send you to North America would probably be counter productive. Those resorts tend to be saved for returning staff.
I would advise getting work with a TO. Just turning up in resort & asking around rarely works, unless you can afford to stick around for a few weeks. When vacancies arise, they tend to be offered to someone whose face is known. You loose count of the number of people who turn up in resort 'looking for work - do you know of any vacancies' & two weeks later they are back in the UK.
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Fergus, this is a good reason to go for a TO job rather than anything else - ready-made social group of equally nervous people all in the same boat. Everyone is a bit cautious to start with, but the atmosphere is generally friendly and accepting - people find their feet and settle in very quickly.
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pam w, actually, yeah - being 39 shouldn't be an excuse at all... But it's the sort of age where you start to wonder why you're doing what you're doing, and for me that's an IT job which, whilst it pays well, is boring the hell out of me, probably because I've been doing it for too long. Every year I go skiing I think that a week simply isn't enough and wonder how I could live in the Alps, this year I have it worse than ever - must be the approaching big birthday...
On our Nielson holiday last year one of the questions in the quiz was "what's the combined age of your rep team?" and no-one got anywhere near the right answer because some of them were surprisingly old, so I reckon 39 is nothing to worry about - unless the industry is ageist?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Fergus, those are sensible questions, and you're obviously self-aware and are thinking this through. If the first job you've done alongside other people is heading off for an entire winter to a ski resort, then you might find things difficult. But we're talking about next winter, and it's only February. There's plenty of time for you to look for ways of "dipping your toe in the water", maybe by getting a summer job. Many of the other people contemplating doing a season are probably worrying about exactly the same thing; it's a perfectly natural worry. It's probably the people who are already convinced they'll be the life and soul of the party, and pull every guy/girl in sight, who ought to be thinking twice. You might be asked at an interview to give some examples of times when you have worked as part of a team; what the problems were, and how you overcame them. Think about something which you could do which would enable you to provide some good evidence in response.
"Meeting and getting friendly with people" would, probably, come most naturally as a by-product of working together, often for long and hard hours, and getting the job done. Then collapsing into the pub for a few beers afterwards. If that wasn't happening an astute resort or chalet manager will probably put in some effort to make it happen!
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Things everyone worries about (whether they admit it or not):
- I won't fit in
- what if I don't make any friends
- I've never skied before, what if I hate it
- I'm a rubbish skier, everyone else will be sh*t hot and will laugh at me
- what happens at Christmas, I'll be homesick
- I've never done waiting/chambermaiding/kitchen work etc etc, I'll be rubbish
At least half of my staff are always kids just out of school and away from home for the first time - they are all cacking themselves. However, the difference between those nervous children and the outgoing adults who pile back on the coach at the end of April is amazing. Get yourself some customer service type work for weekends and over the summer, and bung in some applications to TOs. You will not regret it.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Fergus - To add my tuppenth worth - I'm 27 and looked at doing a Winter season skiing somewhere, followed by a Summer season scuba diving (why are my hobbies so bloody expensive?), both with Neilson. I backed out at the last minute due to family issues and financial reasons (Income not matching outgoings etc!). I am really starting to regret it now - although have myself one of them 'career' things, so not in a position to do it. I think that if you feel its something you want to do, to the point of skipping Uni for a year or two (as opposed to doing it on a whim), then go for it! You'll only regret it!
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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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Fergus, Lizzard is 100% spot on, all the TO staff I know were in the same boat as you when they got here, they came on their own and knew no one, but quickly made friends with their colleagues and other seasonnaires, as the season gets on a bit everyone just gets to know each other, seasonnaires all know each others face and you all have at least one thing in common, so making friends isnt hard!
Getting a job out here is technically quite easy, if you can get yourself a place to stay and have enough money to see you through at least a month and a half, I could be working now if I had the right work experience before I came here!!! (get yourself to a ski shop for a couple of weeks for work experience, learn to service skis, fit hire boots and ski and you are laughing!)
If you want to work for a TO you will probably work 6 days a week with 1 day off, though you will probably work morning and night, so will have a few hours each day (except transfer days, which are notoriously painful!)
As for me, well I don't work, I have enough money to last me through till the end of the season, then I will sell some stuff and use the money to fly home! Oh and I'm 19, all of my housemates are too, all of them fresh out of 6th form, and all of them raring to get another season under their belts! Get it done! Best decision you will ever make!
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ChristopherIf you are worrying about your level of maturity, then you have the maturity as you have some insight into you strengths weaknesses, something that truly immature people don't have. See Annie, and her then excuses - so go for it!
Most saisonnaires I've run into seem to be having a ball, and wouldn't have missed the opportunity for the world. Though keeping reasonably well nourished is an issue, our resort manager in his late 20s was recovering from tonsillitis and had a cold sore. He put it down to too much drink and not enough sleep and nutritious food. He had however revised his diet and drinking levels by the time we got there.
Gap years before Uni are definitely a good thing, especially for making you grow up by more than a year's worth in that year - as long as you get away from parents and home, and take note of the other advice on this thread.
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You know it makes sense.
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Im not saying Im immature at all.
It is just that even in effectively 2 years time, Im not sure whether I'll ready for the stresses of strains of being a rep or possibly chalet hosting? Im a pretty independant person, but once again trying to live and work at the same time. Its not as if I've just got to look after myself and write essays as will be the case at Uni, I will most probably have to look after other people depending on what job I undertook.
I'm just thinking I might be much better equiped for doing a season after university, having a lot more experience of life under my belt.
I am tempted to do one before and one after.
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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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Fergus, Christopher, don't fret. I've stayed in a many chalets and maturity beyond your years is definitely not a requirement, especially among the blokes. A mature approach to a job such as chalet maiding definitely makes it easier, and you'll do more skiing and have fewer hangovers, but most seem to manage without. Most of the blokes, senior or junior, seemed to spend their time avoiding work and trying to take advantage of the younger female chalet maids and guests.
Go for it.
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Poster: A snowHead
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I am tempted to do one before and one after.
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not a bad idea at all. But have faith in the people who do the recruiting, and who have to live with the consequences of poor selection. As a school leaver, you are not going to be given one of the more senior jobs - you are more likely to find yourself cleaning toilets, bedrooms and bathrooms, chopping vegetables under the supervision of the chef, digging paths in the snow, counting sheets and pillowcases, and trogging round supermarkets with a list and a gigantic trolley full of stuff, then loading it into a van and taking it all back to stow in cupboards without enough space for it all.
Just tell yourself you're no dafter than the next school leaver, and get some relevant experience in the meantime.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| pam w wrote: |
| As a school leaver, you are not going to be given one of the more senior jobs - you are more likely to find yourself cleaning toilets, bedrooms and bathrooms, chopping vegetables under the supervision of the chef, digging paths in the snow, counting sheets and pillowcases, and trogging round supermarkets with a list and a gigantic trolley full of stuff, then loading it into a van and taking it all back to stow in cupboards without enough space for it all. |
To be honest what you have just described sounds ideal. As long as there is enough time to ski a week.
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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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As long as there is enough time to ski a week.
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When I used to stay in chalets, always early in January (cheapest time...) the staff had sometimes not got themselves well enough organised to get much skiing in. It partly depends just how fast you get at things like cleaning bathrooms to the satisfaction of whoever is in charge, getting the cake sorted out for tea, etc.
The better you get, the more time you have to ski! If you start shortly before Christmas, with probably a very full house at Christmas/New Year, it might be early January before you got much breathing space. Over the season though, you should get plenty of time. My son said that when he walked from his digs to his chalet to do breakfast, early in the morning, never his best time of day, he sometimes had to avert his eyes from new snow on La Face....
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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One thing to remember is that if you are planning on doing a season afer uni is that if you are like myself you will spend 4 years getting drunk lying in bed til midday playing footy in the afternoon and going out on the lash\pull at night
Basically unless your parents are going to help you will be FLAT broke after uni with eye watering debts (totally worth it though)
Go before is my shout whilst you can (I went travelling round asia\oz for a year before I went to uni)
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
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If you fancy getting the most out of a season then there is always the option of bumming it (not working). That's what I'm doing and I'm in the same situation as you just a year ahead. After I finished my exams in July I went into fulltime work until I left, this gave me enough money to live a season here in Tignes comfortably.
There are of course advantages and disadvantages, it of course costs alot more and you are alot more independant. I'd advise bringing a car or having access to one because food is so much cheaper down the mountain. With a job you'll find that it's a very work hard-play hard environment, which isn't nessecerally a bad thing. But you will have to rise early and although you will get plenty of ski time, you'll always miss those powder days on saturday. It's always a consideration.
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Spikyhedgehog, I missed the chance when I was young, but it remains a dream once we've got rid of kids (problem re OH but I'll cross that bridge if and when . . . maybe it could coincide with a dream of his like watching a test series or something)
Anyway I'd be interested in what you reckon the pw or pm cost is of "bumming it" is?
Also, isn't it more isolating than working - as you don't have a ready-made band of work mates? 
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SuburbanSkier, hahaha yeah when Im old man I hopefull will have amassed enough money to retire to:
summers - drinking cider watching test match cricket all summer.
winters - skiing if my body will hold out and the snow will be still be there.
Ive heard estimates of £5k for a season of bumming it.
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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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Also, isn't it more isolating than working - as you don't have a ready-made band of work mates?
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That's a consideration and also, with my "mother/graduate selection" hat on, a successful working season will be a lot better on a CV than a bumming one. You will learn a lot more than just how to ski better. Like how to get up in the morning....
Something done under your own steam is always more impressive, and ultimately more satisfying, than something achieved by throwing money at it. It would be very, very, hard for the average school leaver to earn enough after A levels to spend the following season bumming in the Alps unless indulgent parents came into the picture somewhere.
Bumming is for people like me; old ones. I've done my years of getting up early in the morning.... 
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Fergus,
Just to add to what everyone else has said.
I'm a University teacher, and I've been an admissions tutor. I've always encouraged students thinking about taking a year out before Uni to do it.
A gap year in a ski resort in North America is definitely a good way to spend your time.
You get the work experience.
You get to live in a foreign culture.
You get to rub shoulders with people from all over the world.
You get to ski.
You get paid.
If you can, try and get a job in the ski area administration - it'll give you better transferable skills than being a liftie, a waiter or a shop assistant.
Finally, education is wasted on the young!
Go for it.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Lucky lucky boys...it didn't even occur to me to do something like that pre-uni, I just went straight from school into another 4 years of essay-writing...which I enjoyed and wouldn't change for the world. Eventually saw the light and learned to ski at 31...and no longer work full-time because it didn't allow me to ski as much!
Fergus, don't do a course you're not sure about - talk to your staff and also the Admissions Tutor for the department which has accepted you. The uni would rather talk to you now, even if that means you decide not to go, than have you drop out or do badly (both of which can affect future funding). If you're still thinking about the DIY option, there are a couple of companies which provide season-long accom which doesn't require you to sell body parts to afford it (I'm thinking mostly of Alpine Elements - last time I looked, for example, March in Meribel was £450), and somewhere like that you shouldbe able to get casual work. You'll probably have more fun with a TO, though. And like everyone says, learn the language - it will open up the future for you. Am turning increasingly green with envy here!
Christopher, definitely one before and one after. Say 1 in Europe & 1 in North America - you do like geography, after all! Perhaps even South America? Given that appx 25% of the world's population speaks Spanish, it would be a great language to learn.
Lucky lucky boys....
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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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| pam w wrote: |
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Also, isn't it more isolating than working - as you don't have a ready-made band of work mates?
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That's a consideration and also, with my "mother/graduate selection" hat on, a successful working season will be a lot better on a CV than a bumming one. You will learn a lot more than just how to ski better. Like how to get up in the morning....
Something done under your own steam is always more impressive, and ultimately more satisfying, than something achieved by throwing money at it. It would be very, very, hard for the average school leaver to earn enough after A levels to spend the following season bumming in the Alps unless indulgent parents came into the picture somewhere. |
That's not true at all. I have had no money from my parents (apart from a couple of bob at christmas) and I'm doing just fine here in Tignes.
While you might not have a ready made social life, as soon as you get here everyone meets everyone else and it's pretty easy to fit right in. Everyone is jealous of us as well
So far I've spent about £3000 and I'm just over halfway through the season. The second half won't cost anywhere near as much as I have my lift pass and accom paid for. It's feasible by anyones standards, especially for someone young like me that is willing to live en masse with my mates. 
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That's not true at all. I have had no money from my parents
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I only said it was very hard, not impossible. You must have found an excellent job to be able to keep a roof over your head, feed yourself, pay your Council Tax AND save enough for a season in Tignes. Congratulations. But not many people could do it.
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You know it makes sense.
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Ok, ok fair enough. But I'm sure that the majority of people considering a season after just finishing their A-levels will have access to that kind of support from their parents.
A 40 hour a week job at £5 an hour for 4 1/2 months will bring around £4000 before tax.
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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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Spikyhedgehog, how often do you go skiing?
you havent got bored skiing have you? Im sure you havent, just checking!
Last edited by Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name: on Sat 1-03-08 0:21; edited 1 time in total
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Poster: A snowHead
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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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Spikyhedgehog,
"that kind of support" means, I suppose, providing board and lodging free, probably including doing the washing and maintaining the stocks of beer. When you're working for A levels, that's fair enough, but unless I was loaded I would not expect my kids to expect me to continue to do that so they could pocket all their pay, make no contribution and then spend the entire season enjoying themselves (whilst I continued to slave away), coming back fairly skint and then looking for loadsmoredosh (from my net income) to support them through university.
Even if I was loaded, I might nonetheless decide that it was time for said offspring to get a dose of reality about the cost of living and start becoming more independent.
Or I might be indulgent. I've had 3 kids through university. It's quite a long and expensive business and we were happy to support them provided they also pulled finger themselves, which they did. I have some friends who I consider to have been far too indulgent whose grownup kids borrow money but never quite pay it back, expect to live at home in their late '20s in complete comfort, making no more than a derisory contribution to costs and spend more on "going out" in a single weekend than they themselves spend in a month. I think they're mugs. 
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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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You make me out to be a total freeloader. Yes my dad supported me for the time between the finish of my A-levels and the end of November. Did you support your kids from when they finished their A-levels up until they started Uni? I took for only another month or so, and I'm grateful for that.
I'm going home for a week or so then I'm off again (under my own steam) until I get til September and I go to Uni (of which I expect to fund myself through).
Is that deemed acceptable?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Spikyhedgehog, I can't honestly remember all the details and each of the 3 kids took a different path; only one went to Uni straight from school. But our basic principle was that if they were earning, however low their pay, they made a (suitably modest) contribution towards their keep. Their pocket money/allowance stopped the day they left school.
I do think you did well to earn enough in that time to live on in Tignes for so long - you must have had a well paid job, and worked hard and not for one moment would I suggest you were idle. You are obviously energetic and motivated. However, although it is not a word I would use in the context of someone your age the fact is that you have, so far, been "freeloading".
If you manage to be financially self supporting, through your own efforts, at University I would be genuinely impressed and so, I am sure, would any future prospective employer.
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I agree, I've been quite lucky in the fact that we have good rates of rent here and it is shared by quite a few of us which is probably the main reason that bumming it is feasible. I personally have more than enough money to support myself through this and the rest of my gap year, but I make a fair amount off the internet through various ventures.
In answer to Fergus's original question, i'd say that if you don't manage to find a job with a TO then don't let it stop you from thinking of other options. 
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I make a fair amount off the internet through various ventures.
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Spikyhedgehog, enough to support your aged relatives in their retirement, I hope.
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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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I owe my dad some ski holidays! 
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Spikyhedgehog, are you not inviting him out for a free doss with you and your mates?
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FAQ
