Workamper Job Fair
The RR museum sent us to Mesa AZ to a job fair presented by the folks at Workamper.com. This outfit acts as a clearinghouse for both employers and employees, pretty much aimed at RVers who want to work at campgrounds and campgrounds that want to find them.
There were about 30 employers there and lots of potential Workampers. There were a number of seminars during the 2 days to explain the idea and help with resumes and what to expect. A lot of the attendees appeared to be first timers at this, looking a little flustered, and taking information from everyone to digest later.
The first category to decide is if you are working for paid $ or just working to pay for the site. Since the RR museum is only volunteer, we lost a lot right there. Normally working about 20 hours a week for a full hook up is about average, and we have that. But, there are a lot of things about being here that are very different.
There are no campground amenities, no “comfort station”, no pool, no shuffleboard, no tennis. We are out in the middle of nowhere, Walmart is 40 miles away, nothing but rocks and sagebrush. We are 1 ½ miles from the Mexican border, which scares a lot of people. We told them that the Border Patrol’s big depot is right here, but you could see the worry on some of their faces. And hardest for many, we are a little down at the heels, too many derelict pieces of RR treasures, and dry and sandy and given to winds.
The best thing we have to offer is TRAINS. So we made a huge bulletin board with a 16 page poster of our train in Tecate, Mexico. It was interesting to watch people go by, many just glanced, but anyone who loves trains came over like a shot, including some women.
We talked and explained, Don had a slide show running on his laptop. Of those who were drawn to us initially, many seemed to like the idea, even though we were honest about what we have and don’t have. I am hoping that we reached people who have done the working at the campground deal, want a change, don’t mind being out here and like trains.
In idle moments we watched the other booths. Next to us was a guy selling membership in an RV transport system. For $55, you got the book, the CD, a video and were signed up to get information on what RV’s needed to be driven where. It seemed to appeal to a lot of people, and the guy gave seminars about it. Seems a lot to pay.
On the other side, a concessionaire for the stores at Yellowstone had a big team, recruiting hard. Across the way were the Disney folks, and then mostly campgrounds. We were glad we brought props, the bulletin board, a map and the slideshow, as some recruiters were just there with nothing and didn’t get much traffic.
We workamp because we would be bored to tears just sitting around at a campground. We are not resorty people, I guess.
On our way home, we picked up 4 gate actuators, 200lbs each, which was putting Darth through his paces, but we steamed up the mountains just fine.
We won’t really know if we accomplished anything, since someone else will contact the people who expressed interest, and I guess until they turn up and actually stay on, it’s anyone’s guess. But we got to have a road trip, found a terrific restaurant in Mesa ( Blue Adobe Grill) and gave the Airstream some exercise.
There were about 30 employers there and lots of potential Workampers. There were a number of seminars during the 2 days to explain the idea and help with resumes and what to expect. A lot of the attendees appeared to be first timers at this, looking a little flustered, and taking information from everyone to digest later.
The first category to decide is if you are working for paid $ or just working to pay for the site. Since the RR museum is only volunteer, we lost a lot right there. Normally working about 20 hours a week for a full hook up is about average, and we have that. But, there are a lot of things about being here that are very different.
There are no campground amenities, no “comfort station”, no pool, no shuffleboard, no tennis. We are out in the middle of nowhere, Walmart is 40 miles away, nothing but rocks and sagebrush. We are 1 ½ miles from the Mexican border, which scares a lot of people. We told them that the Border Patrol’s big depot is right here, but you could see the worry on some of their faces. And hardest for many, we are a little down at the heels, too many derelict pieces of RR treasures, and dry and sandy and given to winds.
The best thing we have to offer is TRAINS. So we made a huge bulletin board with a 16 page poster of our train in Tecate, Mexico. It was interesting to watch people go by, many just glanced, but anyone who loves trains came over like a shot, including some women.
We talked and explained, Don had a slide show running on his laptop. Of those who were drawn to us initially, many seemed to like the idea, even though we were honest about what we have and don’t have. I am hoping that we reached people who have done the working at the campground deal, want a change, don’t mind being out here and like trains.
In idle moments we watched the other booths. Next to us was a guy selling membership in an RV transport system. For $55, you got the book, the CD, a video and were signed up to get information on what RV’s needed to be driven where. It seemed to appeal to a lot of people, and the guy gave seminars about it. Seems a lot to pay.
On the other side, a concessionaire for the stores at Yellowstone had a big team, recruiting hard. Across the way were the Disney folks, and then mostly campgrounds. We were glad we brought props, the bulletin board, a map and the slideshow, as some recruiters were just there with nothing and didn’t get much traffic.
We workamp because we would be bored to tears just sitting around at a campground. We are not resorty people, I guess.
On our way home, we picked up 4 gate actuators, 200lbs each, which was putting Darth through his paces, but we steamed up the mountains just fine.
We won’t really know if we accomplished anything, since someone else will contact the people who expressed interest, and I guess until they turn up and actually stay on, it’s anyone’s guess. But we got to have a road trip, found a terrific restaurant in Mesa ( Blue Adobe Grill) and gave the Airstream some exercise.
posted by Thistledown24 at 6:39 PM
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