Workamping

Are you interested in Workamping? To quote from the home page of Workamper News, “Workampers are adventurous individuals, couples and families who have chosen a wonderful lifestyle that combines any kind of part-time or full-time work with RV camping. If you work as an employee, operate a business, or donate your time as a volunteer, and you sleep in an RV (or on-site housing), you are Workamping”

Do you want to RV but need a little extra income? Well, we are in the same boat. Or, you may want to do volunteer work. There are enough workamping opportunities to work and volunteer out here on the road that we don’t see any unemployment problems. Many folks have left a lifetime of work and in retirement, want to give back something. There is a world of volunteer opportunities available to them. You may want to be on the road full time but need some additional income. There are many, many paying jobs you may have never thought about. Lots of RVers are willing to trade a few hours of work for a campsite in an area they wish to visit. We have done all of this, and we are the richer to have  chosen Workamping.

There are, however, some basic principles to remember when you decide that Workamping will be part of your RV lifestyle. The main thing is: you are not starting a new career. These are part-time seasonal jobs. The pay, if any, will be at or near minimum wage. Secondly, unless you have been hired as a manager, do not try to be one. This can quickly lead to problems between you and management, and can just as quickly lead to dismissal. If you can keep these basics in mind, and keep a good work ethic and attitude; you will be successful.

What is Workamping?

Workamping typically means trading your labor for an RV site. The electricity may or may not be included. This type of job is usually in a campground in one of their departments. You could work in the office, maintenance, grounds, food service, security, or perhaps in the activities department. These are quite typical jobs that RVers may take. You should receive your site and utilities for perhaps ten hours of work each, or maybe a little more. You may not be asked to do any more than that; or you may be asked to work more hours for pay (usually minimum wage for the state). This is how the bulk of workamping jobs are offered. Some places will offer pay for all hours worked but you pay a discounted rate for your site. Many high end resorts do this. You might even be fortunate enough to find work where you are paid for all hours and receive a free site.

There are many other types of Workamping jobs out there for RVers. You might work at an amusement park such as Adventure Land in Iowa where they have a campground for workampers. Maybe you want to work at Disney World? They do not have housing for you, but you will receive passes to the park for your family. You could work at Dollywood in Tennessee and get health insurance while you are working. Most of this type of job requires a seasonal commitment. This means the whole summer or winter season. Some positions even offer an end-of-season bonus for staying to the end. If you don’t want to commit so much time, consider something like the sugar beet harvest in North Dakota. It lasts between two and four weeks and pays quite well. Maybe you have the stamina to work for Amazon.com in one of their warehouses for the eight to twelve weeks leading up to Christmas? This job could require you to walk as much as fifteen miles a day while lifting heavy packages. They do not have campgrounds for you but they will recommend some in the local area and will pay for your camping. Perhaps you might want to work as an Oilfield Gate Guard. A relatively new and upcoming job easily adaptable for workampers is to become an RV Inspector. I’ve just scratched the surface of the different possibilities available to you.

My best advice is to go to Workamper.com and sign up with them. For a very reasonable fee, you will have access to their Awesome Applicants resume database. Once you complete your resume there, it will be made available to employers signed up with Workamper. Kathy and I have found all but one of our jobs through their service. We receive e-mail daily with new job postings. We submitted resumes to those employers we wanted to work for, and sometimes we received multiple offers and got to pick and choose. That’s a good situation to be in.

Other sources for Workamping jobs are:

http://www.happyvagabonds.com/

http://www.work-for-rvers-and-campers.com/

By far the best place we have found is http://www.workamper.com. It is where we have gotten most of our jobs, and we have found them to have all kinds of information on their web site. They have quite a bit of advice for those just starting out working on the road. Their resume database is scanned by many, many prospective employers. A bi-monthly magazine, the Workamper News, contains job listings in every state as well as general information. Daily e-mail notices of newly posted jobs are available as an option. We support Workamper.com because they provide complete service for the workamper. As such we occupy a Concierge position with them which allows us to offer a free issue of the magazine if you join through the posting on our website. Otherwise, please use the code hugg4019 in the “referred by” space on the application. We are compensated by Workamper.com for generating new members. You should check out the page full of great Workamping Tips.

Volunteering

While Workamping was our goal, in our first year RVing, we joined an Escapee group of Red Cross Disaster Volunteers. Almost immediately after training, we found ourselves in San Antonio, TX, working in a shelter for victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. That was an amazing three weeks. We also did two stints of volunteer work at the Escapee CARE (Continuing Assistance for Retired Escapees) Center in Livingston, TX. I’ve never washed so many pots and dishes, and at the same time been so happy about it in my life. We have also worked in campgrounds across the country, both for a campsite and for campsite and money. These jobs were easy for us to find, and you can, too. Here is a link to the Volunteer Jobs page where you will find many volunteer job opportunities.