Gap year jobs in Alaska

Alaska is home to some of the most stunning scenery North America has to offer. Many work and volunteer opportunities embrace this with positions in national parks and places of natural beauty across the state. If you are interested in nature, conservation and the great outdoors then this is the destination for you.

Volunteering is the best place to start and there are numerous ways to get involved throughout Alaska. The bureau of land management offers 300 volunteer placements annually and the US Forest service has even more. With eight national parks in the state there is plenty of scope for work. Positions range from hands on research posts to administrative and educational roles. Most placements offer accommodation and a small stipend. The work can be physically demanding but it is a great place to gain hands on experience and hopefully you should break even and end up with no out of pocket expenses.

The Student Conservation Association is a great place to search for available placements. For any given summer season you generally need to apply by April of that year and placements usually last anywhere from 1 to 6 months.

Opportunities for seasonal paid work are limited in Alaska, firstly due to high unemployment and mainly because of the difficulties of obtaining a work visa. Working in any part of the USA requires you obtain a visa before entering the country. Immigration officials are very strict and it is not worth trying to bypass this formality. The best way to go about this is to get the company offering a job to sponsor you and deal with the paperwork.

The two biggest seasonal employers in the state are Gray Line tours and Princess tours. They both ferry tourists in during the Summer and have a variety of positions across Alaska. Jobs include dealing with cruise ships in port to running motorcoach tours and working at one of their wilderness lodges. These roles offer a great chance to take in the same experiences as the tourists – and get paid for it. Because these are large companies they are also more likely to help you out with visas than smaller businesses.

At the time of writing, the minimum wage in Alaska is $7.15ph and you can expect to make around $8-10 for most seasonal jobs. Rumours of highly paid employment stems back to the days of manual labour on the trans-Alaska pipeline and isn’t the reality anymore. It is possible to earn more in salmon fisheries but these often require long, arduous hours and it is unlikely you would be able to get a visa to work there.

It is definitely worth making the effort to secure a seasonal position in Alaska. There are plenty of opportunities to enjoy the outdoors in your time off with hiking, biking and climbing around every corner. If you are considering a career in conservation then the experience you gain will be invaluable and jobs in the tourism industry build up strong transferable skills. Either way, just soaking up the amazing surroundings will be payment enough.