246: Ski Jobs Special 2025: How & when to apply, and how to become a Ski Instructor

We look at how to make your dreams come true and find a ski job, including what jobs are available, what skills you need, when to apply and how the market has changed in the last few years. 

We also consider the ski instructor qualifications available and where they entitle you to work, and we also find out more about the possible new ‘Youth Mobility Scheme’. 

Host Iain Martin was joined by Jenny Greenwood, HR Director at Skiworld, George Gray, co-founder of ski job recruitment specialists SZN and Dave Burrows from SnowPros Ski School in Switzerland. 

SHOW NOTES

Alex Armand from Tip Top Ski Coaching reports from Les 2 Alpes (5:45)
Floss Cockle  from the FreeFloFloss YouTube channel is in Tignes (6:45)
Find out more about Snow Camp (8:45)
Iain is trying to raise £2500 in the ‘25 for 25 Snow Camp Challenge’ to give 25 inner-city young people the chance to experience snowsports for the very first time in 2025 (9:00)
Dan Keeley is community and events director for Snow Camp (9:20)
You can sponsor Iain on his JustGiving page here (11:30)
George Gray is co-founder of SZN (12:15)
Iain founded the recruitment website Natives in 1999 (15:30)
What ski jobs are available? (16:00)
Skiworld is the UK’s largest chalet company, recruiting almost 200 staff (18:15)
SBiT’s reseach shows that since Brexit there are 56% fewer chalets & 69% fewer workers
Last winter, Skiworld had 5000 applications
How do you make your application stand out? (21:30)
When do interviews happen? (23:30)
Do you need an EU passport? (25:15)
How does an employer secure a visa for you? (26:00)
Charlie Owen is the MD of SBiT and European Pubs (29:30)
Find out more about developments in the Youth Mobility Scheme
When should people apply for jobs? (36:00)
When do staff go out to resort? (40:00)
Can people still apply during the season? (41:00)
Dave did his instructor qualification via the Warren Smith Ski Academy (44:15)
Are instructor qualifications portable across countries? (46:45)
How to qualify as a French ski instructor (49:15)
Dave hosts the Ski Instructor Podcast (54:45)

Feedback (55:00)
I really enjoy finding out from listeners what you think of the show. I’m always interested to hear from you, so please do contact Iain on social @theskipodcast or by email [e-mail] 

Robbie Milne: “Great recent episodes - keeping the stoke well and truly alive! I’m getting married this summer meaning I couldn’t get out for spring skiing but this podcast makes it not so bad”

Steve from York: “Love the variety of topics covered in this podcast. It really gets you revved up for your next trip to the mountains”

Paul1608: “I’ve recently found the podcast and am working my way through the back catalog. I can’t make it to the mountains this year, but the podcast is the next best thing”

Rob Olliff: “I’ve enjoyed listening to The Ski Podcast since lockdown when it helped me keep going during those dark days…I recently found the episode on taking an EV to the Alps particularly useful. We drove to Les Menuires in an EV in Feb and Iain’s advice and tips definitely helped smooth the journey and calmed the nerves about charging in France. Keep up the great work.”

There are now 258 episodes of The Ski Podcast to catch up with and 127 of those were listened to in the last week. If you’ve enjoyed this episode, why not to go theskipodcast.com, have a search around and there is so much in there you’re bound to find something to keep your snow fix going over the summer. 

You can follow Iain @skipedia and the podcast @theskipodcast. You can also follow us on WhatsApp for exclusive material released ahead of the podcast.