These Ski Resorts Are Hiring & Offering Major Perks

Think signing bonuses, higher wages, employee housing, and more.

Steve Boice/Shutterstock
Steve Boice/Shutterstock

While the internet may be chock full of "dream jobs," such as gigs that will pay to you to drink like you're in college or smoke weed, they're not entirely realistic. You can't make much of a career out of toking up. You can, however, snag lucrative pay, employee housing, and picturesque snowy mountains as your backyard by joining the ski industry. 

Major mountain resorts across the US are currently short-staffed and desperate to hire, which means it might just be time to retire that accounting career and move to Vail for life as a ski instructor. According to Travel + Leisure, the ski industry lost $2 billion last year due to the pandemic, with visits dropping around 14%. 

"It is the issue. It's pretty much all we talk about," President of Killington and Pico ski resorts Mike Solimano told Vermont Public Radio, according to T+L. "It's depressing. You go to job fairs in town, and two or three people show up."

But as a result of unreasonably steep living expenses, people can't afford to live and work in these areas. It's a problem, however, that these resort groups are looking to rectify by offering higher salaries and housing options. 

Vail Resorts, for example, has upped its starting wage to $15 an hour, while Mount Snow in Vermont has increased its wages by 28% to compete. According to a spokesperson for the National Ski Areas Association in Colorado, select mountains are even offering signing bonuses, meal perks, flexible hours, and discounted childcare to draw in potential employees.
 

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Megan Schaltegger is a staff writer at Thrillist.