After our stint in Switzerland it was finally time to find a job in Austria. We both love skiing so it was decided early on that a job in the mountains was a must if we where going to work during our trip. Before we left we had a ski village called St.Anton Am Arlberg chosen as the place we wanted to work. We chose this village because when looking into what the best ski areas where in Europe it was almost always mentioned. This was also part of the reason for getting a working visa in Austria. Before leaving and while traveling we had been looking for and applying to jobs with no success, making the upcoming job hunt very important.
St.Anton is about an hour east of the Swiss boarder and about an hour west of Innsbruck by train. It is located in a region called Tyrol. Basically it is in the heart of the Alps. Innsbruck was to be the closest city with cheap accommodation so we decided to stay there while looking for work in St.Anton. We rolled in to Innsbruck Sunday so that we could get a good start on the job hunt Monday.The last time we stayed in Innsbruck was the week after Oktoberfest and the hostel we stayed in was horrible, but it was the only one with online booking. We really did not want to stay in that hostel again so instead of booking ahead we arrived at the tourist information to see if they could help us out. They gave us some options of places to stay and even called one to check the availability for us. It was avaliable, so we walked to the bed & breakfast/hostel. It was actually in an area of town we did not even know existed. As it turned out it was a great location in the heart of the old city just one street over from the Golden Roof. Check in was in a bakery/coffee shop at the bottom of the place. The owner checked us in to a great room and we knew right away this would be a much better place to stay than the other hostel in town. That evening we went down to the Internet café and printed off a bunch of résumés and cover letters in preparation for our job search.The next day we took the hour train ride to St.Anton and followed up on a tip that a good spot to see job postings was at the internet café in town. As it turned out there where 27 pages worth of jobs available, with each page having about 5 jobs on it! Very positive information, at this point we knew we would for sure be able to get find some sort of employment. Another tip we where given at the café was that calling people was the key to “applying” for jobs, email as we had already realized does not get you anywhere. So we emailed some people on the list, but did not stay in town for that long. It was decided that night that we should look into getting a cell phone or handy as they call it in German. The next day getting a handy was task number one. So we checked out a few shops in Innsbruck and the phones and plans where actually quite affordable. Not nearly the hassle and cost like in Canada. So we bought a slightly used phone with a pay as you go plan for about 100 Euros. We where actually very surprised by the service plan. It costs 5 cents a minute to call Canada and 7 cents to call Austrian numbers.
With our new phone we started going trough the list of jobs and called a bunch of people. Some jobs where already taken, some required German, but in the end we arranged a few meetings with people the next day.
The next day at the meetings no one cared to see our resumes and it was all a fairly informal process. As it turned at one of the meetings we got offered a job. The problem was we where being offered one job, so basically we had to decided which one of us would take it. It sounded like a pretty good job making drinks and doing some other kitchen help from 5pm-12am 6 days a week at a local upscale restaurant. Accommodation and dinner would be included, so we both wanted the job. We told the man we would let him know which one of us would take the job and that we defiantly would take it. So we left the meeting and decided that the only way to choose which one of us would get the job is by a coin toss. Joel won the toss, so his job search was then done. Scott now needed to find one. So he made some more calls. While waiting at the train station a person Scott called was able to meet with him right then and he was right by the station so Scott went to go see the guy. This was for a kitchen help job as well, a little different than Joel’s job but roughly the same hours with accommodation and food included as well. Scott pretty much got offered the job on the spot and actually needed to start the upcoming Monday. So he took the job and realized his travel days where done until the end of the season. Needless to say we left St. Anton very happy, the job hunt and the biggest stress of the trip was finally done. To add to the excitement they where calling for one meter of snow over the next 3 days, a very good thing considering it was completely green and the season was to start in a weeks time.
Scott moved into his place on Sunday, November 23. Arl.Rock, a brand new recreation facility where he would be working was just being finished so he was needed first thing Monday morning to help out.
St.Anton is about an hour east of the Swiss boarder and about an hour west of Innsbruck by train. It is located in a region called Tyrol. Basically it is in the heart of the Alps. Innsbruck was to be the closest city with cheap accommodation so we decided to stay there while looking for work in St.Anton. We rolled in to Innsbruck Sunday so that we could get a good start on the job hunt Monday.The last time we stayed in Innsbruck was the week after Oktoberfest and the hostel we stayed in was horrible, but it was the only one with online booking. We really did not want to stay in that hostel again so instead of booking ahead we arrived at the tourist information to see if they could help us out. They gave us some options of places to stay and even called one to check the availability for us. It was avaliable, so we walked to the bed & breakfast/hostel. It was actually in an area of town we did not even know existed. As it turned out it was a great location in the heart of the old city just one street over from the Golden Roof. Check in was in a bakery/coffee shop at the bottom of the place. The owner checked us in to a great room and we knew right away this would be a much better place to stay than the other hostel in town. That evening we went down to the Internet café and printed off a bunch of résumés and cover letters in preparation for our job search.The next day we took the hour train ride to St.Anton and followed up on a tip that a good spot to see job postings was at the internet café in town. As it turned out there where 27 pages worth of jobs available, with each page having about 5 jobs on it! Very positive information, at this point we knew we would for sure be able to get find some sort of employment. Another tip we where given at the café was that calling people was the key to “applying” for jobs, email as we had already realized does not get you anywhere. So we emailed some people on the list, but did not stay in town for that long. It was decided that night that we should look into getting a cell phone or handy as they call it in German. The next day getting a handy was task number one. So we checked out a few shops in Innsbruck and the phones and plans where actually quite affordable. Not nearly the hassle and cost like in Canada. So we bought a slightly used phone with a pay as you go plan for about 100 Euros. We where actually very surprised by the service plan. It costs 5 cents a minute to call Canada and 7 cents to call Austrian numbers.With our new phone we started going trough the list of jobs and called a bunch of people. Some jobs where already taken, some required German, but in the end we arranged a few meetings with people the next day.
The next day at the meetings no one cared to see our resumes and it was all a fairly informal process. As it turned at one of the meetings we got offered a job. The problem was we where being offered one job, so basically we had to decided which one of us would take it. It sounded like a pretty good job making drinks and doing some other kitchen help from 5pm-12am 6 days a week at a local upscale restaurant. Accommodation and dinner would be included, so we both wanted the job. We told the man we would let him know which one of us would take the job and that we defiantly would take it. So we left the meeting and decided that the only way to choose which one of us would get the job is by a coin toss. Joel won the toss, so his job search was then done. Scott now needed to find one. So he made some more calls. While waiting at the train station a person Scott called was able to meet with him right then and he was right by the station so Scott went to go see the guy. This was for a kitchen help job as well, a little different than Joel’s job but roughly the same hours with accommodation and food included as well. Scott pretty much got offered the job on the spot and actually needed to start the upcoming Monday. So he took the job and realized his travel days where done until the end of the season. Needless to say we left St. Anton very happy, the job hunt and the biggest stress of the trip was finally done. To add to the excitement they where calling for one meter of snow over the next 3 days, a very good thing considering it was completely green and the season was to start in a weeks time.
Scott moved into his place on Sunday, November 23. Arl.Rock, a brand new recreation facility where he would be working was just being finished so he was needed first thing Monday morning to help out.
Waking up at 6am and walking through snow a foot high in running shoes made Scott quickly realize he was no longer on holidays. The shoveling for four hours without cloves, a hat or boots made him realize it is time to get a winter shipment from Canada.
Meanwhile Joel was in Innsbruck still in holiday mode. His job did not start until the 9th of December and he could not move into his place until then so he decided to do some more traveling. The rail pass we got was valid until December 10th so he decided to visit some of the places we either missed, or did not spend enough time in.
Meanwhile Joel was in Innsbruck still in holiday mode. His job did not start until the 9th of December and he could not move into his place until then so he decided to do some more traveling. The rail pass we got was valid until December 10th so he decided to visit some of the places we either missed, or did not spend enough time in.
