Time to spruce up your résumé

Before you send out your résumé to employers, take time to review and update it.

• Add any new positions — paid or volunteer — to your work history, including key elements of your job.
  
• Take a look at your last position. What skills did you use? Did you learn any new ones? Are there any new tasks you did at this job that you hadn't done previously? For example, if you cleaned and did maintenance on the pool or learned a campground reservation system or operated the cash register for the first time, add these to your résumé.
  
• Proofread your résumé one more time and ask someone else to take a look at it. Writers can look at the same mistake over and over and miss it!

Customize your résumé
When you apply for each position, take a few minutes to customize your résumé. With a word processor, it is easy.

First, rewrite the objective to suit the job you are applying for:

• Seeking position in landscaping and maintenance
• Office and reservations work in an RV park

Second, check your skills list and focus on any relevant skills you'll need for this position. You can change the order to more closely match the job or add or delete skills and past work history.

We'll talk about cover letters and types of résumés soon. Jaimie Hall

For information on Jaimie Hall's recently revised book, Support Your RV LIfestyle! An Insider's Guide to Working on the Road, 2nd ed., see RVBookstore.com.

Solo woman Workamper

Solo RVers can find work on the road. Becky Reiger is a solo woman Workamper. She has had several paid and volunteer positions since she began full-time travel in 2001.

Her first position was volunteering at Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu in New Mexico. She worked on the farm taking care of sheep and in the trading post. She came back the next fall for another two months.

Her next assignment was a paid job with the Forest Service concessionarie, Mountain Campground Management in Utah, working two days in the office and staying at the Strawberry Reservoir outside Heber City. After returning to Ghost Ranch, Becky was offered the position as assistant to the volunteer coordinator at Big Bend National Park. She missed the training but volunteered for three months. This was her first of several seasons there.

The next summer Becky worked for the Forest Service concessionaire American Land & Leisure, campground hosting at Yellow Creek Campground in Lassen National Rorest in California. She camphosted at a small, pack-in, pack-out campground at Yellow Creek, cleaning two pit toilets, campsites and keeping trash picked up. She collected fees from campers and emptied the iron ranger. The area was very remote, though beautiful and the campground primitive, which appealed to her. .

After a year off, she accepted an assignment with AL&L at a smaller park on Beauty Creek in the Coeur d’lene National Forest..

Becky has volunteered at Big Bend for three winters and is going back this February for another stint. She is assistant to the VIP (Volunteers in Park) co-ordinator. As assistant, Becky has a variety of duties. She keeps volunteer files and helps park personnel find a volunteer who matches their needs. She also organizes volunteer activities. She checks in VIPs, gets them uniforms and makes sure they have what they need.

Each month Becky writes and publishes a monthly newsletter for the VIPs. Becky’s love of hiking dovetails with producing the newsletter. Each issue features several volunteers so she spends the day with them, getting to know them and their duties, often hiking. She also writes an article for the park employee newsletter, The Big Bend Bull. In addition, she helps with special projects as needed. Most days off you’ll find her hiking the myriad trails in the park. .

Many solo women RVers drive motorhomes. Becky drives a truck and New Horizon 5th wheel. For her, safety has never been an issue. "I’ve never had any problems that couldn’t be dealt with," says Becky.

Becky found her paid positions through Workamper.com; one through the newsletter and one at a job fair. RV women friends brought volunteer opportunities at Big Bend to her attention.

For information on Jaimie Hall's recently revised book, Support Your RV LIfestyle! An Insider's Guide to Working on the Road, 2nd ed., see RVBookstore.com.

My favorite Workamping® job

"Oh, come to the place where they struck it rich, come where the treasure lies hid.... Klondike! Klondike! Label your luggage for Klondike... "

Those words were part of the song I opened my program with at my favorite Workamping job. I worked as a seasonal interpretive ranger at Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park in Skagway, Alaska in 1998 and 1999.

What I interpreted was the history of the gold rush. It was a fascinating time in our history. I gave a walking tour through the historic district, did a program in the auditorium, manned the visitor center, plus worked on special projects. For my program, Barbara Kalan (pictured on the left), got me started learning to play the autoharp, an instrument which was popular then. She also taught me some gold rush songs. I started out my program by playing and singing "Klondike!"— a song about the gold rush, then invited the audience to join me in "Bicycle Built For Two" and "The Man on the Flying Trapeze," gay 90s songs popular then. Barb, whose grandfather had run a hotel during the gold rush, joined me with her autoharp a couple of times during the season for extended music. After the songs, I talked about women in the gold rush and showed photos taken back then.

While in Skagway, we had all sorts of adventures. We flew to Glacier Bay and kayaked among the Beardsley Island with whales, seals and porpoises. We drove to Dawson City in the Yukon where the gold was actually found. We took the White Pass & Yukon Route RR to the U.S. Forest Service hiking trail to Laughton Glacier and hiked in. I could go on and on. Skagway itself was a darling town, tucked in a narrow valley. Two passes — the White Pass and the Chilcoot Trail—led over the mountains and the gold rush stampeders used those to access the Yukon River and float on rafts to Dawson City. The town was magical.

It had been my dream to visit Alaska. Working on the road brought my dream true and gave me experiences I never would have had otherwise. You might find working on the RV road as a way to make your dreams come true too!

Learn about Jaimie Hall's recently revised book, Support Your RV LIfestyle! An Insider's Guide to Working on the Road, 2nd ed., at RVBookstore.com. The Jan/Feb issue of Workamper News features a Skagway employer.

Need health care?

Are you considering full-time RV travel? For those who are not at retirement age, finding reasonable health insurance is often the biggest challenge.

The first step is choosing your domicle. Full-time RVers can choose a new domicile or tax home that is beneficial to them tax-wise. Many working RVers choose one of the no-state-income tax states like Texas, South Dakota, Wyoming, Nevada, Washington, Alaska. Other states have no state income tax but tax other things that could have an impact. Health insurance should be part of that decision. You can look at Consumer Guides for Getting and Keeping Health Insurance for the states you are considering and see what your protections are in that state.

Once you have a state in mind and want to check specific ratings of companies, see the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). Work with an independent insurance broker in your domicile to suggest policies. They are knowledgeable about all or most policies written in their state and do not charge a fee.

Before deciding on a policy, check with the state insurance department to make sure the insurance company is regulated there and what their track record is. Some insurance companies have left a state to "dump" high risk members, later returning to start anew. Also be wary of insurance policies written through an association. They may come under different regulations and your protections not as great.

Learn about Jaimie Hall's recently revised book, Support Your RV LIfestyle! An Insider's Guide to Working on the Road, 2nd ed., at RVBookstore.com.

Add fun and adventure to your RV travels!

Working and volunteering on the road can make your RV travels even more fun! You often get to do things the ordinary tourist never gets to do. Sue volunteered in search and rescue at Yosemite and rode a helicopter up and down alongside Bridal Veil Falls three times in one day. Jean helped Cinderella put on her costume at Disney World.

RV workers may also get to do things tourists pay money to do. As part of George's volunteer training at Big Bend National Park, both volunteers and seasonal workers took an overnight canoe trip down the Rio Grande through Santa Elena Canyon (see photo by George Bruzenak). Workers in Branson, Missouri get free and discounted tickets to the shows. Ron and Val could ride the ferry to Juneau and Skagway at no cost when they worked in Haines, Alaska.

By staying in one place for a while, you get to know the area. Locals tell you special things to do. Fellow workers at national parks gave us directions to petroglyph sites and Ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi) ruins that were not on any of the maps. You have time to see more because you don't have to see it all in a few days.

Besides helping the pocketbook, working or volunteering can provide experiences you'd never otherwise have.

Learn about Jaimie Hall's recently revised book, Support Your RV LIfestyle! An Insider's Guide to Working on the Road, 2nd ed., at RVBookstore.com.

Take advantage of the Quartzsite RV show

If you are thinking about working or volunteering next summer, attending an RV show will put you in contact with potential employers.

At the Quartzsite RV show, running from February 20-28, several employers are actively recruiting. Other potential employers will have booths and you might be able to find out more about working there and how to apply, plus get some feedback about what it is like to work there. Resorts, concessionaires at national parks, membership parks and RV caravan companies are all potential employers. Pick up tourist planners from areas you would like to visit and you'll find lists of attractions and RV parks that, in all likelihood, hire seasonal employees.

Workamper.com often posts employer job fairs and interview sessions at its Web site. One is currently listed for the Quartzsite show. They are also listed in Workamper News, their print publication with jobs for RVers.

Working on the road, also known as Workamping®, is a way to add fun and adventures to your travels! Jaimie Hall

Learn about Jaimie Hall's recently revised book, Support Your RV LIfestyle! An Insider's Guide to Working on the Road, 2nd ed., at RVBookstore.com.