20 Questions You Should Ask Before Accepting a Host Job

NOTE:  These camp hosting questions apply whether you want a paid working RVer job or a volunteer workamper position.

Camp hosting questions about when you work:
1. How many hours will you be expected to work each week in exchange for the campsite?
2. Is that per couple or per person?
3. Will it be in a certain period of time, such as two full days? Or do you have to be there every day?
4. Can you get away...say for doctor appointments?
5. Will you work weekends and holidays?

Camp hosting questions about the work you'll do:
6. What are your job requirements?
7. Exactly, what does “light maintenance” include?
8. What does “some grounds work” really entail?
9. As a working camper, will you greet campers and assign them to their sites, and then just be there to keep an eye on things?
10. Or, will you also be expected to clean bathrooms, collect money, and solve problems?

Camp hosting questions about the campground or RV park:
11. Is the campground facility in a popular place with lots of visitors?
12. What does it cost to stay for one night?  (This is the market value of your host site.)
13. How far is it to shopping, gas, a post office, etc.?

Camp hosting questions about the social climate of the park:
14. Are there many organized activities or other recreational opportunities?
15. What's your guest population...adults, hunters, organized groups, young families....?
16. Are most of the guests overnighters or are they staying for the season?

Camp hosting questions about your pay or benefits:
17. How will you be compensated?
18. If you are working in exchange for a site, is it possible to work extra hours for a salary?
19. Is it mandatory that you work additional hours when the park is busy or staff numbers are down?
20. If free use of the facility’s amenities is included, what are those park amenities?

Asking these questions can help make your hosting experience rewarding for you and free from conflict with the park management. After receiving the answers, give it some thought. Is this really the camphost job that is right for you, or should you look for a different position? Make a realistic list of the pros and cons so you don't make an emotional decision.  Good luck!

Want to be paid Cash Money?

There ARE many, many camp hosting positions that are paid (in real money).  One of the must varied lists of camp host jobs is found at http://www.simplyhired.com/ .  You can get your free spot without even being in a campground.  Another surprising site is jobsonline.net  with an easy search gadget.  You could be involved with anything from camp counseling to RV sales.

We worked with a couple who had happily been employed by Hoodoo Recreation.  She had been an area manager, and he drove a nice truck around with a spray system mounted on the back.  He could clean outhouses in a whole forest in one quick run.  Word is they all smelled great, too.  The secret?  Jasmine air fresheners and biological agents which contain not only potent enzymes, but also bacteria to break down the mess.  Anyway, click on the following site for an excellent description of both host and attendant jobs... It also explains why some jobs pay more than others:  Hoodoo Campground Host Job Descriptions

Recreation Resource Management has contracts to staff many campgrounds throughout ten states. They hire about 500 seasonal employees per year to work at one of 175 different campgrounds.  You can apply with Recreation Resource Management in one of three ways; you can apply online, download an application from the website and mail it in, or receive a paper application by mail to mail back in.   Click here to learn more or go to CampHost.org .  One caveat:  Some hosts have complained area managers with RRM have given them such a hard time that they felt they had to quit.  We do not know if some situations have really been that bad, do you?

I was told ALL of the state parks in Texas pay their camp hosts.  See How to apply for Texas State Park jobs  It turns out SOME of the jobs are paid.  The State of California has had paid camp hosts in the past but is going toward using more and more volunteers.  Check out their jobs at California Host Positions .    Don't forget Older and Bolder for paid jobs.

Legacy RV Resorts hires for their RV resorts in eight states. Visit http://www.legacyrvresorts.com/ to learn more about the job opportunities available.  Their online application is very easy to fill out.

Are you interested in employment at a Jellystone Park™? Check out the parks who are looking to fill  positions by visiting http://www.campjellystone.com/.  Please contact the individual parks directly for detailed information.  Bob and I paid to stay in a Jellystone campground here in Florida, and it's a great place if you miss having kids around.

If you go to http://koa.com/community/ there's a list of KOAs you can contact for employment.  As always, it's best to go in person to the campground you are interested in.  You want to see what the job is, and the employer will feel so much more comfortable meeting you in person before offering you a position.

Bahia Honda it is! Life in The Keys begins...

I know if you are a human-fish or paddler, island life must be paradise.  But I am a "Shore Bird".  This key is seriously the stage for the most enticing and exotic post cards ever made...but to a non-swimmer with a sinus infection and feet that must stay warm... "what the?!!@!!"  Nevertheless, we pulled into our assigned spot the evening of October 4, 2011, with the wonder of Florida enveloping us.  There's a nurturing feel to the warm, moist air...and who can resist a flamingo pink sunset with silouettes of darkened palms along a shore... complete with the sound of gently lapping waves.  What does one do?....why hurry and cruise the whole park on bikes to see where everything on the map might be and what we will shortly be tending.

There's 80 glorious campsites and 8 big cabins on stilts.  Four overly "delicious" beaches have pavilions, outdoor showers (known to have nude bathers we need to ask to cover up) and lovely tiled change houses.  There's even a Nature Center and butterfly garden!  Click-4-pictures!



Buttonwood Camping Area

 Link to Campground Map                                                         Link to Park Reservations

So what's stopping you?  Come on down for the adventure of your life!!

Job Offers Galore!



Ocala National Forest called us again after we turned down Shanty Lake and offered us a very nice position at Doe Lake Group Site.  We'd just have to watch over one site that was mostly used by equestrian clubs.  I was in heaven!  I love horses so much that I thought I was one growing up.  Pictures are at Doe Lake Description   But then it got confusing.  We got offers to camp host at Gold Head Branch State Park, Juniper Springs with Recreation Resource Management of America (a great company to work for; apply at RRMofA Employment Application or http://rrmofa.com/ ) then four offers in one day from the Forest Service.  Next Jolene called from Manatee Springs State Park with an offer to run the Ranger Station a few days a week in return for a spot with hookups.  We spent a few day at this remarkable state park in January 2010, so that was completely exciting.  And church was an easy bike ride into Chiefland, which was an important feature.  Then on September 23, 2011, we got an email from a ranger in the Everglades offering us the job at the Nike Missile site.  But the job didn't start until December.  (We should have asked, because we thought it started October 1st, like all of the other offers we'd received.)  We also got an offer from Bahia Honda State Park on this same day.  I told Bob to turn it down:  too hot and too buggy!  Besides, I'd miss the family reunion that was planned for October 8th.  He seemed devastated...saying that would be his dream job of all time.


Manatee Springs, complete with Manatees....of course

Here's a sample email we received:  The Ocala National Forest has immediate openings for volunteer campground hosts at the following campgrounds:   Delancy West - available now - April!, Hopkins Prairie - available October 15 - April 15



How to get Camp Hosting Jobs (National Parks)

It was September 2011 and we had no job to go to in Florida.  Then I was struck with an idea....an inspiration?  Well, we had been praying.  Why not apply to a national park?  Unlike Utah, Florida has only one.  So we called their volunteer coordinator.  Bob was so excited! because the job he was told about was being an interpretive guide at the formerly secret Nike Missile Site in the Everglades.  The RV site provided was just a mile away in beautiful woodland... so we could bike to the visitor's center.  Wow!...with our science background, this had to be the job.  We'd get a uniform and a propane allowance.  The job had barely been posted on http://www.volunteer.gov/gov/    We were told to fill out the online application.  We'd already sent in the paperwork to get a background check and an authorization for driving a government vehicle.  We needed to take a defensive driving course, provide a driving history (listing all of the vehicles we could drive and our hours on each of them) and a DMV 3-year driving record.  There's pages of government paperwork.  I can send you a copy, if you'd like.  The required driving tests were a bit intimidating. 

How to get a Camp Host Job (State Parks)

We got serious about looking for a state park job when we remembered our fabulous tour of Florida parks the winter of 2010.  We tried for Wekiva Springs (pictured) because it was the closet one to our youngest son, who lives with his family in Orlando.  It was a recreational bonanza, but our call to the nice volunteer coordinator revealed half of it was closed to put in a sewer system...and so there's be no openings until 2012.  Our call saved us putting in an application.

We called the next closest one, Lake Louisa State Park , and the coordinator, Jenny, was super nice and helpful.  She had no openings, but she explained the best way to apply:  Don't just fill out the ap (by clicking here:  Volunteer Opportunities ) ...but call the park you are interested in and then follow up with a hand-written ap.  You can get the contact info at the bottom of the home page for many campgrounds by going to ReserveAmerica.com or Recreation.com and searching the campground or area you are interested in.  Here's a link:  Campground Addresses and Phone Numbers   According to Jenny, the campground managers get a steady stream of emailed applications...and they often just get lost in the deluge or deleted.  But a good application that comes in the mail (especially with a picture and a friendly note of introduction) gets filed for when an opening does come up.  We followed Jenny's instructions and mailed our explanation of what we hoped would happen...and sure enough....the next month she called with an offer to work for a one-month opening she had.  We wanted something for the whole winter, but she promised to hang onto our ap in case something "bigger" opened up.  [If you need help doing any of this, just email me at camphost.white@gmail.com ]

Finding the PERFECT National Forest Position



This picture is of Shanty Pond Campground.  Our first job offer from the Forest Service!  We started with an online application, as we didn't know who to call directly.  It was so easy!  Just go to: Volunteer and search the available jobs.  Campground hosts receive free campground site use, so we checked the current fee per day to get an idea of the benefit we'd receive.  Shanty was a primitive campground and only $4/day.  Depending on which forest you would be working in, there may be a "daily subsistence and/or travel reimbursement"...as well as compensation for personal vehicle and cell phone use for Forest Service business.   This job's only benefit was the use of a Kawasaki Mule.  It had no hookup for water, just one water pump and one vault toilet for over 100 camp sites.  It also required a 6-month commitment...but we were excited.  We believed the postings about how hard it was to get any type of offer. 

We studied the Basic Requirements:

• Enjoy working positively with the public and being visible.  Convey the recreation facility rules as necessary.
• Provide own self-contained living unit.
• Agree to a background check as Hosts handle sensitive information, communicate with by radio and in some cases handle cash.  Provide a copy of your driving record and take a driving course.
• In good health and physical condition (repeated bending and lifting to clean restrooms and fire rings, litter pickup, filling potholes, and maybe even splitting firewood and pulling vegetation.)
• Able to operate equipment such as a leafblower, trimmer, mower, etc.

We shared pictures of Shanty, and our family complained 6 months was too long and the Ocala was too remote (no internet or cell service).  But there's only 15 campgrounds in all of Ocala National Forest.  What else could we possibly get? 
While searching on the internet for reviews about this campground, I found police reports of shootings and even a brutal murder of two environmentalists by gun shot.  It turned out this was mostly a hunters' camp and only had dirt roads.  I started nightmaring about drunken hunters laden with multiple guns.  Oh, no.