Employment Opportunities with Serendipity Adventures

This was a great trip with Serendipity. The activities were very challenging, but that made getting through them even more rewarding. I'm walking away from this trip feeling better about myself!

—Mary B., Darien, CT, August, 2005

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Your worst nightmare may be your boss. She really thinks she can still climb the trees with the boys. Be prepared to rescue her.

Serendipity is seeking guides and adventure leaders for employment. By American standards the pay is excruciatingly small, but the experience is worth more than the money, and there's an opportunity to make a real difference in other people's lives, as well as your own.

We are looking for people with the following qualifications:

As of September, 2001, Serendipity will not be hiring any guides who do not already have Costa Rica legal residency. You can contact the Costa Rican Immigration Department to learn the terms of residency in Costa Rica, but the terms are roughly equivalent to obtaining residency in the USA
PLEASE NOTE! Any person who CALLS Serendipity on our toll-free number will automatically NOT be considered for any employment. Best to send your request via e-mail, or call the in-country number 558-1000 and interview with us in Spanish.
Fluent Spanish and English. This is a mandatory requirement, and will not be waived for employees, guides, or unpaid volunteers.
Superior English, possibly with a charming foreign accent.
Really enjoy giving support, encouragement and enthusiasm to people who are trying something new and are perhaps not very adept at what they are doing.
Really open to getting involved with all types and varieties of people you'll run into during Serendipity trips — from cautious clients to nasty taxi drivers to humble sugar cane cutters to suspicious native Americans to swaggering raft guides to outrageous chefs.
A very good sense of humor, especially about yourself, your family, your dog, your alma mater, your accent.
Advanced First Aid certification. Extra points (and pay) for current Wilderness First Responder.
Driver's license, and experience with stick shifts and 4 wheel drive.
Genuine interest in learning even seemingly unimportant details about Costa Rica, the people, the culture, the economy, the history, the geology, the food, the geography, the animals and trees and fish and insects, and the names of all 18 active volcanoes.
Physically adept — we're into boats, horses, ropes, harnesses, rafts, white water kayaking, backpacking, mountain biking, camping, sea kayaking, jungles, rivers, 4x4s, latin dancing, oxcarts, and a little bit of beaches (scuba is helpful, but more a luxury than necessity). Be able to bait your own hook and clean your own fish.
We guarantee our clients will do something every day that they haven't tried before, so you'd better be ready to teach them, hold hands, pick up the pieces, apply bandages, administer water, encouraging words, sometimes gentle scolding.
Eclectic — we're not looking for super experts in anything, but rather people who enjoy challenging stuff every day, especially when they get a chance to learn from people only a few steps ahead of them.
You'd better like to sweat.

WHAT SERENDIPITY PROVIDES TO YOU

Guiding a Serendipity trip is about being an adventure leader of a small, private group — usually 3-6 people, all who knew each other before they decided to come to Costa Rica. You have full responsibility for the whole trip. It is very demanding physically and mentally, but also very rewarding. At the end of the trip it is common for the clients and the guides to part with tears in their eyes or outright emotional scenes. First we have to make it clear that we cannot give anyone any guarantee of employment. You may have a most fantastic resume, but on coming here we may regretfully discover that you are unsuitable for the position (too qualified, too expert, too full of yourself are usually good enough to raise our eyebrows. Good education, however, is always a plus). The responsibility for the safety and enjoyment of the group is paramount, and our guides need to think on their feet and solve complicated logistic problems. Experience in EXPEDITIONARY guiding is absolutely essential.

MORE ABOUT WORKING IN COSTA RICA

INFORMATION IN GENERAL ABOUT WORKING IN COSTA RICA, BUT NOT NECESSARILY ABOUT WORKING FOR SERENDIPITY

BEST TIME TO BE IN COSTA RICA: For white water it's July through November, but high travel season for Costa Rica is December through August. There's really no down time for Serendipity, although we tend to have more younger, adventure travelers in August-November, families at Christmas time and June-August, and small groups and couples January through April.

VISAS: An American, Canadian or E.U. (and other selected countries) passport allows you in country for 3 months; you have to leave for 72 hours to renew the passport. A lot of guides take off for Panama or Nicaragua for a few days to renew their passport and see these countries. This is a Visitor's Visa, not a work permit. Working permission is complicated here, as it is in the USA, and there's increased interest in closing down the foreign employees.

PAY: Payment for most "pick-up" guide work is either via cash or through assorted quasi legal means. There is a residency permit available for guides who stay with Serendipity after the appraisal period.

COST OF LIVING: The average Costa Rican family of 4 lives on about $350 per month. In Turrialba you can rent rooms in private homes for $50-$100 per month, with shared bathroom. Lots of guides rent houses and share expenses for 4-6 people. Food is cheap, delicious and very well balanced if you live Tico (Costa Rican) style; if you insist on American luxuries (Frosted Flakes, Coke) then you'll pay for them. Transportation via buses is cheap; $1 to San Jose, $3 to the Pacific. Owning a vehicle, however, is REALLY EXPENSIVE!! Bikes get most people around town; bring your own down when you come (airlines usually don't charge if you have only a backpack and a bike box stuffed up to 50 lb. with junk).

GETTING A JOB IN COSTA RICA — RAFT GUIDES: Raft guides pile up at the bridge on the Reventazón, where all the river companies cross on the way to the rivers. Guide work is "picked-up" this way. A lot of Americans come down year after year and have an established reputation. New guides pay their dues by "standing on the bridge". Only recently (April, 2001) is there interest in the legal residency/work permit situation in Costa Rica. Everyone is waiting to see what the government will do to allow or deny foreign specialist guides.

Pay is dependent on qualifications. Normal rafting pay is $28-45 per day in Costa Rica, assuming complete familiarity with the rivers etc. Pay is higher for WFR certified guides. All guides must have CURRENT First Aid and CPR certificates.

For the established river companies, the chief guides are usually experienced (4 or more years) with the same company, are Wilderness First Response (WFR) qualified, and bilingual. The established river company chief guides are also the people who ride in the client bus from San Jose and back, so they work from 6 AM until 7-7:30 PM each day. They make $50-$55/day.

WORKING FOR SERENDIPITY: Serendipity does only about 10% of our work as a river company — there's mountain biking, canyoning, horses, etc. Our real emphasis is finding intelligent, alert, educated, people-sensitive and adventure-oriented people who can guide the "big" trips — groups that come with Serendipity for 7-12 days. We need quite a few for the high season, especially December 15-January 15, and we also need guides for year-round commitment. Serendipity temporary guides are paid the same as the going river guide rates, but our guides get a wide variety of work and usually excellent tips. Pay increases as guides get experience with Serendipity, complete Advanced First Aid or EMT or Wilderness First Response, and learn more adventure skills. Beginning guides, or "guides in training" as we call them, make $20-$35 per day (depending on extent of the work and level of responsibility), and have no security or benefits. Top temporary guides for Serendipity make $50-55 per day. Full-time guides have lots of other opportunities which include chances to learn new skills, go to school, get a pilot's license, do some extraordinary exploration trips (in and out of Costa Rica), etc. Permanent staff guides do need to qualify for residency in Costa Rica, which is a massive pile of red tape and frustration dealing with government (not unlike in the USA, but a lot less formalized).

It's not a bad life, but it is also not one to grow wealthy with. However, we know Serendipity guides and adventure leaders will also some day have kids in college, and have to pay mortgages and all the other stuff that life demands of bright, energetic people, and Serendipity will be there for these people when the time comes, too.

We'd very much like to see your resume/CV, a photo of yourself (doing something you enjoy doing — not a formal one in a suit!!) and hear more about your interests.