I really got brave the other day and began sending emails and our resumes out. One place in particular really appealed to us, a KOA in Chattanooga, TN.  I responsed to an ad they had for an open position and got a response within hours that they were considering our resume. Then I got the following a day or so later:

Thanks so much for your interest in joining our KOA team! We appreciate it!
> We are getting numerous applicants that have previous KOA experince. We obviously consider those over ones with no experience. But, that doesn't mean that we haven't trained several over the years. It's such a time consuming process for us though, so we try not to go down that road.
>
> Thanks,


I did write them a pleasant email back, stating that we hoped that we'd get the opportunity to be trained someplace so we could be experienced workampers and then we would apply again some time in the future.

I have a feeling that this will be pretty common. Although we have all of the skills and background that a campground/rv park could wish for, other than training in their procedures and on their software, they prefer already trained applicants. We have not even gotten a response from several positions that we applied for and that may be the issue.

So, any suggestions as to how to circumvent this kind of response? How do we sell our  strenghts and past experience to make it desireable to the park, enough so that they will WANT to train us? Any suggestions would be welcome.

In the meantime, I will keep plugging away, sending out resumes and calling when I feel it deemed necessary or desireable. I sent out quite a few resumes, even to parks in which we were not truly interested, to see what kind of response we'd get. Only two, and one just said they had the help they need at the moment and to keep in contact, and the other was this one.

Not giving up. We have renewed resolve. Sure wish we didn't have to worry about working as I've been watching our cash reserves dwindle as we travel (gas) and stay at rv parks. Ouch. Need to find cheaper overnight solutions, but hate to boondock at Walmart if we don't have to.

Well, I can understand them wanting experienced people, especially people who have worked for their particular "brand" of campground. That's true in many other types of jobs in this country too. I'm sure some experienced folks will come along here and give some good advice (especially Howard and Linda). It's almost the same as young people just getting out of school and starting their job search. Seems everybody wants you to have already done that particular type of job, if not that exact job, so how do you get that first one to get the experience they desire? I look forward to hearing the answers of people who have beed through this. Best of luck in your search!

You didn't mention it but I assume you are looking for paying positions versus volunteer/barter type workamping jobs. It has been my observation that workamper jobs that pay are highly desirable and there are fewer available positions. Competition for these jobs is going to be much higher than volunteer jobs. And, because there is money involved, the employer will expect professional and experienced employees to service the park guests. It might be worthwhile to find an volunteer position, preferably one that uses one of the popular software programs to handle reservations. Get some experience under your belt and you may find more opportunities opening up for you.

I've never worked or even stayed at an KOA park. I know they use proprietary software to handle reservations, and, they run their own job bank in house. The program doesn't sound bad on paper. They have a seniority type system that gives more benefits to those who have been in the system longer. I think they also pay mileage for some job positions when moving from one job to another. But as you found out, breaking into the system can be difficult with no prior experience.

Work on your resume. If you view my profile you can read our resume. It covers our previous work experience, that we are full-timers traveling with a dog, and some of our hobbies. I think it's important to show your interests in life. More than once I've had parks contact me based just on my hobbies. Keep it on the short side, one page or less. I want them to be able to read it quickly. It's not a life history, just some of the highlights. If you email your resume from the workamper website, make sure to include some details in the cover letter. Since I don't write target resumes, I use the cover letter to personalize the email and direct it to them specifically. If it's a job we really, really, are interested in, I follow it up with a phone call (unless the job ad says no phone calls). I mainly call to verify they received our resume, and get a feel for their attitude, it's hard to explain, but you get a feeling when talking to someone on the phone that doesn't happen with email.

FWIW, very few parks will respond to everybody who sends them an resume. They just don't have time to respond to each person. I wouldn't let that discourage you from sending out resumes.  Good luck in your search.

Hey Jeannie,

I'll second what Dan said about tweaking your resume.  We have a little about ourselves in ours, too.

After our less than positive experience with KOA, we will not work for them and avoid staying at one if at all possible. 

If you hunt around on the KOA site, I believe there are online training modules on Kampsight, etc.  Learning all you can about the way they do things and mentioning that when you apply can't hurt; you are showing initiative.

Same thing with other campground software programs.  Search for them on the Web, visit their Web sites, download a demo if available or at least familiarize yourself with the system as much as you can.

Of note, I did that with self-storage software and we got our foot in the door with storage.  Again, it shows initiative and an interest in their business.

There are other workamping gigs out there other than campgrounds, so you might want to explore some of those options.

Wishing you success in finding the right spot!

I agree with Dan that a volunteer position might help you show that you are a good employee especilly in the rv related areas and one that would involve taking reservations. You might also give them an incentive like - offer to work without pay at a limited number of hours service while training for a short period of time like a week or two at 15 hrs per week. My wife and I have worked on volunteer jobs and would have no problem getting a good recomendation if we decided to get a paying job. We just prefer the volunteer jobs.

Well, life can change on a dime, as they say. First of all, when I wrote them back stating that I understood, that hopefully someone would be willing to train us and that we would be in contact in the future, I got a lovely email back basically explaining why they hate hireing newbies (it stresses them to have to train someone new as it is so busy there) but they would love to have us once trained and with some experience under our belts and that we are on the "top of their list" as a hire once we have this experience. Very nice email.

Then, we had been contacted through the KOA site (AFTER I rewrote our resume using some of the suggestions posted by forum members) by a park in Indiana and had a phone interview. It went very well. Then I stated that we'd be up there in a few weeks anyway and that we'd stop in. Well, I got an email from the owners stating that they were looking forward to meeting us when we were up there. The manager is the one that did the phone interview.

Since we just settled in Bradenton, FL where we will stay for 3 months now and work locally, I wrote and said I was flying up there briefly with hubby staying behind to be with our furry companions (I was going up anyway for family reasons), the owner wrote back with a joke about everyone liking his wife better than him anyway, so it may be the same with us and they would love to meet me! I will see them on the 25th and perhaps secure the spring/summer job.

So, we may have our first job lined up by the time I fly back down to Bradenton!

Thanks for all of the suggestions and I will keep y'all posted.