Next May, I turn 62 and with my Military retirement, Early SS and our side business, my wife and I are going to hit the road after 10 years of full-time RVing but being employed and stationary. We want to supplement our income with some work camping, however, we have little experience to bring to the table. My questions:1. How do you find open positions?2. How do you present the limited experience?3. What is a fair exchange of my time to what they will offer? I have been a fairly well paid for many years and I know my 'compensation' won't be in that range, but 80-160 (husband and wife) hours a month for a $500 lot seems out of wack.4. What hidden benefits do you find work camping? (Social, educational, entertainment)?

We prefer state parks so we just looked at the area we wanted to try the workamping life, called the state park we wanted and asked for the volunteer coordinator. We had a resume prepared highlighting what we had to offer for the state park environment and never needed to give to anyone. The coordinator told us what was needed (filling out a simple application for the background check) and we were off and running.We continue to get gigs by just calling the park that looks interesting and going from there. Works for us.P.S. We are both Navy retired living the good life.

Why parks and not campgrounds? Do the parks offer utilities etc? The only ones we have stayed at are basically dry camping, which wouldn't work for us. What benefits do you see for state parks versus other campgrounds?

Here are 2 places to check for job openings: http://www.workamper.com/ (requires a paid subscription to see job postings) and http://www.workampingjobs.com/index.php (free). Fair number of hours is always subjective. At some state/federal parks, the hosts have the only FHU site in the campground and don't have stay limitations. Or you could work at an RV park only a few miles from close relatives. Or just be in a great area of the country.Since you mentioned side business, should we assume that you'll need reliable Internet access without driving 20 miles to find the nearest hotspot?

Go west young man!Not all State parks are created equal. Most of the Oregon state parks for instance offer full hookups on a nice site with at least 30 amp service in exchange for 4 hours per person 5 days a week. Most also provide laundry facilities shared among the hosts.

Location, location, location! Choose the area you want to explore and start looking there for a workamping job. The Forest Service concessionaire we work for pays minimum wage for the state you work in, PLUS the site is free. Be sure to ask what hookups are available. Each site is different.As far as limited experience (related to campground hosting) - you probably have LOTS of experience. One or more of these are valuable skills/experience: customer service (pleasant attitude/patient), organization, physical labor, book keeping, teaching/training, plays well with others, management, first aide, scout leader, soccer momBenefits we've experienced: Supplements our travel expenses, love working with and meeting new people, love the outdoors/wildlife

Getting Started, Experience, finding a place, what to expect

lostdog
Explorer
Jun 21, 2013
We prefer state parks so we just looked at the area we wanted to try the workamping life, called the state park we wanted and asked for the volunteer coordinator. We had a resume prepared highlighting what we had to offer for the state park environment and never needed to give to anyone. The coordinator told us what was needed (filling out a simple application for the background check) and we were off and running.

We continue to get gigs by just calling the park that looks interesting and going from there. Works for us.

P.S. We are both Navy retired living the good life.
Rlaubert
Explorer
Jun 21, 2013
Why parks and not campgrounds? Do the parks offer utilities etc? The only ones we have stayed at are basically dry camping, which wouldn't work for us.

What benefits do you see for state parks versus other campgrounds?
HappyKayakers
Explorer
Jun 21, 2013
Here are 2 places to check for job openings: http://www.workamper.com/ (requires a paid subscription to see job postings) and http://www.workampingjobs.com/index.php (free).

Fair number of hours is always subjective. At some state/federal parks, the hosts have the only FHU site in the campground and don't have stay limitations. Or you could work at an RV park only a few miles from close relatives. Or just be in a great area of the country.

Since you mentioned side business, should we assume that you'll need reliable Internet access without driving 20 miles to find the nearest hotspot?
donn0128
Explorer II
Jun 21, 2013
Go west young man!
Not all State parks are created equal. Most of the Oregon state parks for instance offer full hookups on a nice site with at least 30 amp service in exchange for 4 hours per person 5 days a week. Most also provide laundry facilities shared among the hosts.
wepampercampers
Explorer
Jun 21, 2013
Location, location, location! Choose the area you want to explore and start looking there for a workamping job. The Forest Service concessionaire we work for pays minimum wage for the state you work in, PLUS the site is free. Be sure to ask what hookups are available. Each site is different.

As far as limited experience (related to campground hosting) - you probably have LOTS of experience. One or more of these are valuable skills/experience: customer service (pleasant attitude/patient), organization, physical labor, book keeping, teaching/training, plays well with others, management, first aide, scout leader, soccer mom

Benefits we've experienced: Supplements our travel expenses, love working with and meeting new people, love the outdoors/wildlife
RV_CONUS
Explorer
Jun 21, 2013
1,269 + or - options.

Volunteer Opportunities - Everywhere, almost
doxiemom11
Explorer II
Jun 21, 2013
If you don't need the income, I would do volunteer positions. They are much more enjoyable that when wages are involved and we have always felt very appreciated and been treated well at the volunteer positions we have had. We have volunteers at forest parks and many do have full hookups for their camp hosts even if there are no hookups for the rv public.
fla-gypsy
Explorer
Jun 21, 2013
Rlaubert wrote:
Why parks and not campgrounds? Do the parks offer utilities etc? The only ones we have stayed at are basically dry camping, which wouldn't work for us.

What benefits do you see for state parks versus other campgrounds?

As 1 poster pointed out not all parks are created equal.
stickdog
Explorer
Jun 21, 2013
We've been full time volunteers for the last three years USFS, USF&W, Florida State Parks, Illinois State Parks, and USACE. Full hookups everywhere but Illinois, we did have a waste storage tank that was drained weekly. We will not camp host again unless for a concessionaire/paid, weekend campers are a pain and off duty sign or not if your there they'll come a knocking.
We would not work for in a crowded RV Park we love the outdoors too much.
lostdog
Explorer
Jun 22, 2013
Rlaubert wrote:
Why parks and not campgrounds? Do the parks offer utilities etc? The only ones we have stayed at are basically dry camping, which wouldn't work for us.

What benefits do you see for state parks versus other campgrounds?

We always ask if the park has full hookups. 30 amp is tolerable, but no sewer is a deal breaker for us. As for benefits of a park over a commercial campground: We retired so we do not have to work for someone else that will have a bottom line mentality. We never work for dollars and the experience that we've had with true volunteer workamping positions is the flexibility of the scheduling and the awesome places we get to visit. We don't ever want to come close to punching a time clock again and then there is always the tax consequences of working for dollars. Just not for us.