Brodel

Hi there,

I spent a semester at university in Canada and enjoyed my time, I also really like the outdoors, mountain biking etc and am finishing my degree in May.
Once that is done I want to spend a year abroad working as part of the BUNAC program. My degree will be in History and Social Anthropology but I would really like to get out there and work at something outdoors. I am looking at going to BC, maybe the Whistler area as it has a really good biking scene.

I was wondering what would be the best way to get into an outdoor job (forestry, helping park rangers etc) whilst I'm there? Even if it was something that I volunteered to do in-between a regular job, that had the possibility of paid work after a certain period or maybe a work visa afterwards?

I'm not sure how these things work and am planning to attend a BUNAC meeting in the next couple of months but wanted to see if anyone here had advice? Maybe I'm being unrealistic, I don't know.Thanks for any help.

Brodel

anybody, please?

Brodel

Perhaps somebody could recommend a different route of enquiry? Thanks.

Judy in Calgary

I have not worked in the area that you want to move to, and I haven't worked in the industries that are in that area (forestry, national or provincial parks, hospitality, recreation, etc.).

I think the national and provincial parks would not be the best place for you to start looking, because government entities tend to give preference to permanent residents.

So you're left with forestry, hospitality and recreation -- at least as a starting point.

If I were you, I would go to the Wiki called Finding Job Opportunities.

On that page there is a link to the Canadian Company Capabilities website. Use that website to do a word search, e.g., "forestry."

There are ways that you can "tweak" the search, e.g., to look for information about British Columbia.

I did a search for "forestry" and used the pull down menu to narrow it down to "Canadian Forest Industries."

I found a website that looked promising and that was entitled Contacts By Geographic Area - British Columbia.

On that page I find an organization called Council of Forest Industries (COFI). I fossick around that website a bit, and I find a page that lists the companies that are members of COFI. Many of the names are hotlinks, i.e., links to the respective companies' websites.

Another link that I find on the Contacts By Geographic Area - British Columbia is to an organization called Coast Forest Products Association. I find that it too has a page on which it lists its members. There are links to all of the member companies' own websites.

The next thing I would do if I were you is pick up the phone and start calling some of those companies. You don't have to call twenty or thirty or forty or fifty. Probably half a dozen phone calls would shed some light on who the main players are, who has forests that are relatively close to Whistler, etc.

Then you could look at the Whistler-Blackcomb website to find out who operates the ski lifts, the ziplines, and so on.

Then you could look at the Whistler Chamber of Commerce website.

In each case, half a dozen phone calls probably would start steering you in a productive direction.

If you want to ski, it might be worth your while to repeat the exercise for other ski areas of BC, e.g., Golden, Revelstoke, and on and on.

Don't bother to email anyone. If you send 100 emails, you'll probably get 2 replies. When you're hunting for jobs in Canada, or even just doing preliminary research (well, preliminary research that goes one step further than the info you can find on the Internet), the phone is your friend.

I suggest you read all the Wiki articles on job hunting in Canada.

To see which kinds of jobs are more likely to secure you a longer term working visa, after BUNAC, see the Wiki article entitled Labour Shortages. Interestingly enough ski and snowboard instructors currently qualify for expedited labour market opinions in Alberta and BC.

Hope that helps.

live to ski

Hi - sorry only just seen your messages - all of them!

We came out on BUNAC student WP after our Masters, and thanks to BC PNP have turned it into PR (see timeline in my signator).

Which uni were you at out here? Mr L2S did an exchange year at UBC back in 2000/01 which is one of the main reasons we are back here.

As with many ********** (and probably Canada) it is a lot about who you know, and Parks / Environment is esepcially hard to get into especially in the public sector. You're right in your idea of getting a job to pay the bills, and then volunteering to get experience.

Try:
http://www.civicinfo.bc.ca
http://www.govolunteer.ca
http://www.volunteervancouver.ca
http://www.monster.ca/
http://www.workopolis.com

Vanoc also has volunteer positions. http://www.vancouver2010.com/en/Part...bOpportunities

and of course Parks Canada and BC Parks

You can also try all the local municipal (local councils) websites, and regional districts, as they post both jobs and volunteer opportunities. Many also post "summer-only" type jobs as well. I haven't time to list them but have a look at this wiki and just search then for them on Google.

Also try the local ski hills in Vancouver as they have summer work going on: Cypress, Grouse and Seymour.

Finally I have no idea how it works or any contacts or info, but I know lots of people who ski instruct in the winter and then tree plant in the summer. Normally up north in BC, hard labour but good money. You'll probably need to do some Googling for that.

As for location - BC is amazing (I'm biased!). The north shore of Vancouver has some of the best mountain biking in the world. Whistler and other ski resorts in the summer are of course good too but a bit commercial for my liking. http://www.nsmb.com/ http://www.nsmba.bc.ca/


As for:
Aim high! I'm very much a believer in the fact that you make your own luck.

Good luck!

Brodel

wow, thanks so much for all the information guys. The last bump was really worth it lol. You've given me a lot to go on so I will get looking through those links. The ski instructor in winter and tree planter in summer sounds exactly like the kind of thing I would like to do. I've never done skiing before though so that would be a problem, I had a friend who went out a year or two back and said that for a really basic job on the slopes you don't have to be an amazing skier though... maybe I could take a course and get some kind of qualification in Europe before heading out.

I'd like to try and get positions or at least a very good plan of what to do before leaving, rather than turning up and spending a month or so getting my bearings and running around finding adverts but we'll see how easy that is. I just hope a year is long enough to establish myself enough with regards to being offered work afterwards.

Thanks again for the links, much appreciated. I will let you know how I get on.

live to ski

Loads and loads of jobs on the slopes that don't need an instrcutor qualification. L'il Bear did one last season up Grouse. Lifty is the most popular. Generally if you work for the ski hill (as opposed to a local private restaurant, shop etc), you have access to free passes, lessons etc. so it would be a fab time to learn how to ski. Most ski hills also do instructor training sessions to help you get up to the right standard for taking your first or next level of the CSIA Instructors Certification.

You could then potentially take your level 1 ski instrcutors at the end of your BUANC season and then look into the ski hill applying for a LMO for you to be an instructor the second season.

You'll need to look into all this more.

Or another option is to take one of the course like this one by nonstop ski.

Maybe see if there is a local dry slope or snowdome near you in the UK (where are you?) where you can at first take a few lessons, and then once your comfortable on skies, do some volunteering with, so that you get free / cheap access to the place and lessons.

snowman365

It is possible to take the CASI (Canadian Association of Snowboard Instructors) / CSIA (Canadian Ski Isntructors Association) exams in Soldeu in Andorra. Check out the following site:

http://www.instructor-academy.com/

It's a lot cheaper than going out to Canada to do it! If you can attain Level 2 then apparently Ski Resorts will sponsor you to stay out there. However, if you go out there with Level 1 you will probably have a good chance of getting a job teaching complete beginners and then you can train for Level 2 whilst working.

You do need to be at a reasonable standard of skiing / snowboarding though to do the Level 1 so it might be worth learning at your local inddor / dryslope in the UK.

I would recommend snowboarding myself - it is quite easy to learn as long as you don't mind a few falls to begin with!!!

Keep us posted to how things develop for you - I am thinking of doing something similar myself - I already have the CASI Level 1 and am hoping to do the Level 2 next season. I also currently teach at one of the UK indoor snowslopes.

Good luck!!!