Seasonal Work Experience in Spitsbergen

Longyearbyen Camping and Spitsbergen Tours cooperate closely on the campingsite. Every summer a team of colourful personalities meets here for running the campsite and working as tour guides. If you are interested, please read on:

Spitsbergen Blog:
Sunny Seecamp, professional ultra runner and in our team 2011, is on the campsite since end of April. She shares her experiences in a > personal blog (sorry - German, but lots of shots) 

Campsite attendant:

With its low number of overnight stays, Longyearbyen Camping cannot offer any full-time job. Work is limited to a few hours per day, also depending on part of season - but this every day of the week, for about 3 months. Apart from the actual work to be done, we appreciate having a campsite attendant who is present and accessible for customers on the campsite also in some other parts of the day, for instance following some private interests on the campsite, which can be nicely combined with this job.

For just one attendant, this would mean being linked to the campsite for the whole season, with little work and accordingly low income. This can make sense, nevertheless, for somebody who can combine this for instance with a suitable flexible personal project possible on the campsite or in the Longyearbyen area, or who is sure that spending a summer like this, with people from many countries in such an exotic place, is the kind of experience one likes. For instance, we had an artist as campsite attendant, who flexibly used the service building at times of low activity as her art studio. More difficult and therefore less desirable also from our side is a combination of the campsite attendant job with another regular job (or also studies at UNIS) in Longyearbyen, because work on the campsite varies, which may lead to conflicts with a fixed schedule of another job or studies.

Another possibility is several persons applying for and doing this job together. This means even less work (and thereby income) per person, but also much more freedom for having more time off in between, even several days in a row, to do other things in Spitsbergen.
A variety of this option is to combine work on the campsite with work as a tour guide for Spitsbergen Tours (see further down). Spitsbergen Tours has its summer base for their guides on the campsite, in close cooperation.

Characteristics of and desirable qualifications for the work as campsite attendant:
• Good command of English and preferrably in addition one or more of the other main languages of our guests (especially: German, French, possibly furthermore Spanish, Russian, scandinavian language).
• Good ability to work with people of very different backgrounds from many countries and ability to interact with people througout much time of the day.
• The attendant can use the facilities of the campsite and there is also a bed in the small campsite office. However, due to activity in the service building throughout most of the day, attendants usually prefer to sleep in a tent where disturbance is less.
• High flexibility and the ability to maintain tidiness and a positive atmosphere also under sometimes stressy or chaotic conditions.
• With several guests on the campsite, the attendant should be present normally at least for the official opening hours (2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the evening), which are normally also enough for doing the necessary work (cleaning, administration, sale, contact with guests, etc.). At times with very low occupancy, these hours can be reduced, while on very busy days, some work will be done preferrably at times of the day with less activity in the building.
• Sufficiently long period of stay - ideally the whole summer season.
• Longyearbyen Camping and the team of Spitsbergen Tours cooperate closely on the campsite, to the benefit of all, including the persons involved. A good atmosphere in this team, which often is together also privately, should be seen as a goal also for the campsite attendant. 

In case of interest, please contact info@longyearbyen-camping.com - preferrably already in autumn or winter.

For summer 2011, we have already enough applications.

Tour guide for Spitsbergen Tours:

Longyearbyen Camping and Spitsbergen Tours (mainly focussed on hiking and trekking) cooperate closely on the campingsite. Every summer, a team of partly repeaters (some coming again and again for up to more than 10 summers) and partly newcomers meet here for a season in the arctic, combining work, but also often private activities. These are people who do not look mainly for a job, but more for this special lifestyle. Accordingly, a good atmosphere in the team is of importance.
Spitsbergen Tours runs a number of hiking and trekking tours in central Spitsbergen with small groups, main languages: German and English - from day excursions to more or less demanding wilderness tours of up to 3 weeks. For this, a team of about 10 persons (all freelancers) comes together every summer, based on the campsite when not out in the field. Permanent work with guiding is not the concept, rather a combination of periods or days with work with time off for personal interests or simply relaxing. This appeals to social people with a keen interest in Spitsbergen also for private pleasure and who like to be together with others with similar interests. The concept is not suitable for persons mainly looking for a well-paid summer job. Newcomers go through an introductory period for improving their local competence and practical experience, including excursions, introduction to the company logistics, shooting training, etc., before getting their first guiding task. Preferrably, newcomers should have 2 or more months of time for this Spitsbergen experience.
For more information, contact info@terrapolaris.com with information especially about your tour experience (not necessarily arctic) and social competence plus possible other useful qualifications, picture is welcome but no must. On the terra polaris website www.terrapolaris.com > About us > Team, you find some information, too.

A combination of campsite attendant and work for Spitsbergen Tours is partly possible.

For summer 2011, we have already enough applicants.