Chefs

Chefs in particular are always in demand, they can make or break a chalet or hotel, and not only because so many depend upon repeat business from culinary satisfied guests to survive.

Typically the chef is also in charge of ordering, budgeting and kitchen hygiene – which can bankrupt a business in an afternoon if not adhered to rigorously – and managing anything from a single assistant to a small army of staff.

It can be a genuinely high pressure environment, but because of this there are almost always positions available. As Will Corder, who now runs The Ecrins Mountain Lodge by Les Deux Alpes, said:

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“That’s one of the best things about being an experienced chef, I love travelling and I love snowboarding, and I know that I can rock up pretty much anywhere and I’ll find work. I once went to Perisher Blue, with no contacts or job offers, and the same afternoon I arrived I was put in charge of a mountain restaurant and given my own flat and a lift-pass.”

To move up to chef at a hotel may improve your bank balance, but it also ups those stress levels. Even working at a club hotel, where the food tends to be chalet standard, the sheer quantities and staff to control make for a more labourious living. And of course there are establishments scattered about the Alps where even the most highly skilled and experienced are likely to start only as a sous-chef or kitchen assistant.

Nannies

The other key position for which demand always seems to outstrip supply is, perhaps surprisingly, the humble nanny. They are there ostensibly to look after the kids, but for parents to enjoy a guilt free ski, they have to believe that their children are having a good time too, and enjoying it in a safe pair of hands. The days have long passed when a nanny only had to be passably cheerful, over 16 and not totally hate kids.

Katherine Last, Child Care Manager for Crystal Holidays France told me: “From the perspective of health and safety and insurance alone, but also for the peace of mind of parents, it is imperative that all our nannies have child-care qualifications, we insist they have CACHE or equivalent qualification and are CRB checked. We also follow the strictest UK regulations with regard to ratios of adults to children; which means that we need an awful lot of staff.”

Good nannies can usually afford to be choosy, and the size of employer they want to work for is one of the key decisions they need to make. Katherine now manages a staff of almost 100, having started out as a nanny fresh from school.

Whereas, though typically the job is much easier, when looking after the children of a single family there is little room to progress long term. Talent will sometimes find a way however, Lee Mann started working for Chalet Shiraz in Les Houches as a nanny for the owners, but after only one season is now running the marketing side of their business.

Size makes a difference in the cooking world too; as a chalet host with the bigger tour groups, you don’t even need to be a qualified chef, simply knowing your way around the kitchen and attending the early season training will suffice. Of course, being trained makes you infinitely more employable, but be warned, it’s not unknown for the best cooks to be placed in the worst chalets, to even out the holiday experience.

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