Park Concessionaire Jobs

One of the fastest ways to break out of your old office job, including the traffic, noise and congestion, and into one surrounded by the serenity of nature is to work for one of our national or state parks as a park concessioner.

Working in a state or national park offers many rewards and benefits, and it provides many new opportunities for its employees.

Concessioner jobs, while typically not conducted in the outdoors, do give employees a chance to live in some of the nation’s most scenic outdoor settings, with time off spent traveling the surrounding environs. Just imagine that on your day off you can climb up mountains summits, snorkel coral reefs, raft down a river and watch the geysers as they go off.

Did You Know? National park areas have volcanoes, glaciers, white sand beaches and dinosaur fossils. The largest living things in the world, Sequoia trees, also live in national parks, as does the world’s largest carnivore, the Alaska Brown Bear.

The service-oriented companies that are located in the national parks throughout the country hire seasonal workers to operate gift shops, hotels, restaurants and tours. These private companies are not affiliated with the government, and that makes the hiring process more personalized than that of federal agencies. The deadlines are generally much more flexible, as well. Some concessioners accept job applications all the way through April or even after that for the busy summer season.

Park Concessionaire Job Outlook

Concessionaire companies are privately owned, and that means that they hire their employees using a different set of guidelines and principles than the U.S. government does. With these types of companies, not only is the chance of getting a job better, but the process itself is much easier. With less competition and less restrictions than the government agencies, most applicants can get the jobs and the locations in which they wish to work on their first try. The only downside to working in the private sector is that the average pay rate is lower. The upside is that employees usually earn bonuses and their food and housing is sometimes subsidized.

Job Search and Application Process

If you already know the park that you want to work in, the next step is to find the job openings that are available there, and then start the application and interview process. The Internet is always the best place to start looking for job listings. For instance, our job board will give you hundreds of open positions to choose from. Most job listings include the information you need to make a decision about whether or not you want to apply. If you don’t already have a specific location in mind, just go to the concessioner listing and find a few areas that appeal to you. You will have to contact each company separately for an application, and then apply to each job individually, even if they are at the same company. For the best results, apply to more than one job, be open-minded about where you might work, and get ready for a great adventure in your life.

Did You Know? The largest national park is the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve. It’s more than 8.3 million acres.

Concessioner Companies

There are three major companies that hire the largest percentage of employees for all of America’s most popular parks. They are Xanterra, Aramark and Delaware North. These companies actively recruit and hire students and other workers who are looking for summer and seasonal work. In addition to these companies, there are many more who offer thousands of positions each year to seasonal jobseekers.

Quick Summary:

• If you’re dreading your typical summer office and desk job, the easiest way to leave it all behind is to work in the parks system as a concessionaire.
• Concessionaires make up the largest group of employees in the private sector and provide a wide range of services to visitors.
• Seasonal work is available every summer and it’s much easier to get hired in a private company verses the federal government.
• After finding the positions you are interested in, you should request an application, fill it out and then return it as soon as possible.
• Always apply for more than one position at a time in order to increase your chances of getting hired.