That’s the case for John Strugnell, who’s been working seasonal jobs in town for the past seven years. During the winter this year, he was working at Jasper Park Liquor and teaching dance classes at the Activity Centre. Those jobs will hold him over until the summer when he returns to work with Parks Canada as a heritage presenter.
Ultimately, Strugnell hopes his efforts each summer will eventually land him a permanent job.
“I love working for Parks Canada and I’m looking at every season I do, every job that I get and every person that I meet as a stepping stone to finding something permanent with the agency. I would rather stick it out and work my butt off every year and hope for something to come up.”
He says there’s no doubt it’s a difficult life, constantly hoping and waiting for an opportunity to come along.
“It is really stressful, no question, especially now having a child,” he says of his son Will. “I didn’t get an indeterminate position with Parks until this year, so I had to go three or four years each year applying for a job, even with Parks, which was definitely a terrifying experience.”
Valerie Grunwald, who just landed her first permanent job in Jasper, can attest to that fear and stress.
For five years, each summer, she worked for Rocky Mountain River Guides as an office manager and she loved every minute of it. But, when the season ended and it was time to line up a winter job, it was never an easy feat.
“I didn’t have something that was consistent. A lot of the raft guides go up to the ski hill, but I worked in the office and I’m not a good skier, so it’s hard to find work.
“I thought I would take winters off, but you can’t really do that here, you need the money to survive.”
So, Grunwald found herself handing out resumes each fall, hoping someone would take a chance on her for a few months before she went back to the guide company.
“It’s hard because to find a winter job, you want to be honest with your employer—that you’re going to be leaving them. It’s a challenge to find some place that would take you back every year—other than the ski hill.”
This winter, Grunwald approached the Adult Learning Centre to find a winter job, and after a probationary period she was offered her first permanent, full-time position in Jasper.
“I’m excited,” she says of her new job providing program support at the centre. “Now I know in the winter I’ll have something and it will be cool to have long weekends off. In the summer you work, work, work and now I’ll have a steady schedule, so now I can enjoy Jasper in the summer a bit more.”
