Trip Coordinator

Currently interviewing qualified applicants who speak Italian.
Also seeking a German-speaker, though French or Italian is additionally required.

Read on for info and application process.

Our “Trip Coordinator” job is the “sexier” of our two itinerant jobs. You swan around Europe for the summer (and spring, and fall), going to nice restaurants with nice people, and biking through beautiful countryside.

Of course, if that were all there were to it, you would be a client on one of our trips, and be paying us, instead of applying for a job where we pay you. No, there is a lot of work involved, too. In order for people to pay you to travel with them, you have to have a pretty impressive skill set....

We have a long shopping list of criteria we look for in a Trip Coordinator. If your short life has permitted you to meet all of them, and are willing to share your expertise with your fellow travellers, then you are hired, now. Go get your ticket, get on a vehicle, and report to work. Of course, in that case, you don't want the job, because you are actually a superhero, or perhaps a space alien, and you have other things to do with your time.

But if you have most, along with a few flaws which we will all try to overlook, then maybe we can talk.... A brief overview of the job follows, and the qualifications needed to apply can be found at the bottom of the page.


PROFILE and JOB DESCRIPTION

As Trip Coordinators, we are above all hosts. Our fellow travellers are our guests, and we owe it to them to make them feel welcome and comfortable on our trips. In order to accomplish this, consistently and for all types of people, we must ourselves, individually, “feel” it. We are genuinely friendly, social, and generous people, attentive to the needs of others.

These are not usually characteristics that can be learned as an adult (if they are “learned” at all, but we’ll spare you the “nature versus nurture” debate). Before you apply, consider carefully whether they describe you. Your enjoyment of the job, and your professional success, will depend on honest self-appraisal here.

We act as cultural intermediaries between our guests and the cultures of the countries through which we pass. We translate menus, explain local customs, and deal with restaurants and hotels. As “New Worlders,” this means that we must know quite a bit about Europe, or at least the part of it in which we are travelling, in order to fulfill the expectations of our guests. If we are native European, we must instead have lived somewhere in the “New World,” and for long enough to understand how our long-lost cousins tick.

We are group leaders: we maintain a positive group dynamic. At the same time, we remain attentive to individual needs, and especially to an individual guest’s need for privacy and discretion. Again, the ability to relate to, work well with, and be sensitive to the needs of a wide variety of people, is indispensable to our work.

We handle all the administrative detail of travel for our guests, making reservations, buying tickets, paying bills, and assisting in the transport of bikes and luggage, usually by rail. Since we control the trip budget, strict record keeping is required, and good organizational / managerial skills are needed. This is one of the hardest aspects of the job, and one of great importance. It is not enough to bring in a shoe box of receipts at the end of the summer: much more is expected of us in the domain of record keeping.

We repair and maintain bicycles, and are able to help guests with any bicycle related question or issue. Training is available, and recommended, as this knowledge is indispensible.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we must be flexible and quick thinking, since we will often be called upon to solve unanticipated problems as they arise.

A Warning!

This is a great job once you've learned the ropes, but it is not a great job at first. It is difficult, complex work, for which you are on call all the time, and (initially) poorly paid. Keeping on top of your obligations to your guests and your colleagues while maintaining your sanity requires efficient organization, high energy, infinite patience, and a profound sense of humor. You will quickly discover that as a coordinator, cycling is not your first priority -- if you just want to ride your bike around Europe with fun people, you are looking for a vacation, not a job. May we suggest one of our trips?


QUALIFICATIONS required to apply for the job of Trip Coordinator.

In order to be considered for this position, you MUST...

1. ...above all, be an enthusiastic “people person,” with a love of travel, cultures that are not your own, food, and wine; an all-around “kind” individual.
   
   
2. ...be a citizen or full-time resident of a country outside of Europe, the former Soviet Union, or North Africa (this allows you to be Eurailpass holder, an essential requirement). If you are working only in France, Italy, or Spain, you can be a non-French / Italian / Spanish european.
   
   
3. ...be available for at least four months (more preferred) in the period between May 1st and November 1st. It helps to be able to work at either the beginning or the end of this time span, if not both.
   
   
4. ...be proficient in non-English Western European languages (English is assumed). French is generally the most useful, followed by Italian, and one of those two is essential... if you speak only Italian, you will probably have to fill in as a Baggage Master from time to time, or accept unpaid time off.
   
   Consideration can be given to candidates who speak only French, but even for fluent French speakers it is a considerable advantage to speak an additional Western European language.
   
   We cannot consider candidates, even for part-time employment, whose only non-English European language is Spanish. Yeah, we know, everyone told you to study Spanish in school, it was “so much more useful.” Well it is... in Bolivia. But not in Europe. We do not have enough trips operating in Spain to make it an economic proposition to train you, or to keep you busy once we do, and Spanish does not have the role of international language in Europe that it does in the Americas.
   
   
5. ...have excellent organizational skills.
   
   
6. ...possess the physical ability to comfortably ride all our routes and handle some heavy lifting (you must be able to lift a bicycle laden with 40 lbs. of luggage to chest height).
   
   
7. ...submit your application in one of our accepted formats (as an Appleworks or pdf attachment, in the text of an e.mail, or via hard copy). It's not that we can't read your .doc resumé with the funny font and the endearing graphic attachment, given enough time. It's that we are trying to figure out in the first 30 seconds whether or not you fulfill conditions 1 - 6. File conversion uses up those 30 seconds. Blue Marble is a “Microsoft-Free Zone.”
   
   

Applications can be considered from candidates of any age. However, working as a Trip Coordinator requires a high level of maturity and sophistication (generally most visible through past professional and educational experience). Further, the ability to rent a car is essential in emergency situations, and most rental car companies will not accept rentals from drivers under 23, and require the driver to be 25 in order to avoid hefty insurance surcharges. Thus successful applicants are at least 23 years old, and generally older. In general, we do not encourage applications from younger applicants.

We apologize if what follows sounds harsh: we receive perhaps 200 carefully-prepared applications every year which do not meet the above criteria. (Not counting, or even taking seriously, e.mail resumés sent to every company on some endless list.) Shortcomings on points 2, 3 and 4 are the easiest to identify, and youth, while beautiful, is not seen as such by rental car companies.

While we consider all applications received, at least those we can read, and have even offered positions to otherwise exceptional candidates who fell short on one or another “basic” point, we do not normally respond to those who do not qualify to apply. Doing so with any other than a curt rejection letter (worse than no reply at all, in our view) would occupy all of our waking hours. We beg for your indulgence.


REMUNERATION

1st year pay is low, but costs are lower (all living expenses are paid). The formula is complex, but you should have about 500€ a month after expenses, which you can bank. In other words, you will not be able to take the winter off, but you will certainly have enough to relax until Christmas.... Salary progresses by at least 25% per year for the first four years: experienced coordinators are well compensated.


TO APPLY

If you are qualified to apply, and can work for at least 5 months of the coming cycling season, please fill out the application form. If you have questions before doing so, please address them to paris@bluemarble.org.