baitI am considering to apply for Park Crew at my home mountain, as I like building features and the position is open. Any tips?
do I need a resume
current park crew members have busted me and threatened to pull my pass for building on trails
The park currently isn't great.
Mr.BishopWhat mountain?
Best advice I can possibly give is to offer to volunteer. Park crews notoriously are very difficult to get onto, so the better you know the guys there the better your chances of actually getting a job are.
This but Jay shouldn't be horrible. Small enough I think that he's got a shot.
baitJay Peak, it says on their application page that they are hiring and its pretty well known Jay Peak is low on employees. Chances are that I will be liftying alot too.
They are hiring my friend works there. I was thinking of going for shits and giggled cause a ton of friends live at jay and my gig at northstar fell through.
A resume never hurts. The more job related stuff it has the better but you gotta start somewhere.
The problem with building on trails is the liability aspect which has become very serious the last 10 years. It's not as much against you is it's just what they have to do. That's what they're told they have to do. Don't take it as them personally attacking you, it's not personal. Honestly most park guys hate bitching at people for having fun building a jump.
For your resume or application. Emphasize hard work(if you're hard working) don't bullshit that. If you're lazy it's not the job for you. You should be as comfortable out of your skis with a shovel as shredding all day or be down to get there.
Anything like landscaping, construction, welding, knowledge of 3d modeling programs like cad or sketchup. Anything that shows you're not a lazy doucher pretty much.
Now if you get the job. Work your ass off. Don't complain about everything when you have to work. Do your job. I advise going a second year regardless if possible as 2 years at the same spot to start and a decent resume can get you a job at another mountain. Some park crews have hundreds of applications, so if you ever want to move on, work experience and a good reference go a very long way.
If you do end up doing it and get into it. I recommend following some other parks on facebook etc. What are other people doing? What features are cool right now? what works, what didn't? What are good features for everyone to have etc. What are some creative things you can do that are fun but won't alienate people etc.
Idk, the more you know about the parks the better you'll be at your job. The physical aspect is a lot of ojt. Pretty much just be willing to work and listen to other people.
Good luck OP. This is my 13th year in the parks. Also used to build jumps with an avy shovel 15 years ago on the sloped, mtn had no park. Used to spend have the day building a new line of jumps, then the cat would kill them and repeat. Sometimes ski patrol would make me kill them. Sometimes they'd threaten my pass.
When I landed on a crew at first it was by accident. I never even really knew about it. Hadn't known anyone that had done it. Got in deep shit for building a 3.5 or so tall booter in the middle of the trail opening weekend. Actually was out of the way on a corner but there were only 2 trails open and there ended up being 30+ people hiking and it was a shit show. They bitched me out and then asked if I wanted to join the park crew instead of teaching. Switched over and never went back.
Still struggling to find the right long term home but it's a job I'll be doing till I'm dead. I fucking love it. It makes me crazy, it keeps me up at night, it keeps me at the mountain absurd hours, but i love it.
Good luck op. I can't stress enough that if you get the job to a good job even if you hate it. A lot of people flake out which is why people are weary to hire first years and Doug mentioned volunteering to gain experience.
Everyone wants to be on the park crew, but a lot of people don't want to work.
Once again good luck!
