Working holidays in Canada

Yes! The ski and summer resorts we work with can recruit for up to a hundred positions through us, so you’ll likely be working alongside 18-30s from all over the world. If you’re travelling solo, we suggest applying for jobs that include staff accommodation so that you have a ready-made friendship group to go.

Your in-person arrival orientation in Toronto and Vancouver is another great way to meet others. Likewise, we have Discord groups set up for different regions in Canada so that you can connect with travellers heading out to the same cities or resorts as you.

On our USIT Job, we include 5 nights of hostel accommodation to help you find your feet when you land. This is in either a 4 or 6-person dorm in either the Samesun hostel in Toronto or Banff, HI Downtown for Vancouver, or the HI hostel in Calgary. If you’re flying straight to your resort to start your summer or ski job, you can do your orientation remotely and use your hostel nights at any other time in any of the above locations. (subject to availability). For example, for a weekend trip to Vancouver or a ski trip to Banff.

Many of our ski and summer employers also include subsidised staff housing, which is filled on a first come first served basis. We advise booking Work Canada early to ensure you get your preferred choice of job and accommodation.

There is no included accommodation on either our Kickstart or Summer packages, with most travellers choosing to find places together after their orientation or in pre-arranged short-term lets via sites such as Airbnb.

SWAP also include access to their accommodation listings for the whole of your visa.

If you book ‘USIT Job' or 'Work Canada Summer’ you have the option to arrange a job before you go. Once you've paid in full, you’ll get access to the USIT Job Hub where you can search, apply and video interview for jobs.

For winter positions: we also have virtual hiring days each year where our ski employers will bulk recruit for their staff over 1-2 days. We also try to have an in-person hiring event each year in London where you can meet and interview with our winter employers face-to-face.

You can do almost any type of work on an IEC visa. A lot of travellers opt to do casual work, e.g. working in retail, restaurants, hotels or resorts. However, it’s also possible to independently find a more career-related job, e.g. if you are a qualified teacher, tradesperson or professional.

Typical jobs with our ski and summer resort employers include working as a server, housekeeper, cook, chef, front of house, retail assistant, barista, rental technician, lift attendant, ski instructor, snowmaker and more.

The 2-month summer city jobs will be hospitality or construction roles. Unless you’re working as a chef, instructor or front of house, you typically don’t need previous hospitality experience – although this can help you to get hired. If you opt to pre-arrange a construction job, these roles include skilled and unskilled labourers, carpenters and carpenter’s helpers, and labour foremans. Many of these are skilled roles, and so are suited towards both qualified tradies and those who have completed their vocational training. For the unskilled roles, it’s a great opportunity to do a physical job and work as part of a team.

We have long-standing relationships with 20+ of Canada’s leading ski resorts - including Four Seasons Whistler, Pan Pacific Whistler, Westin Whistler, Whistler Blackcomb, Fairmont (Whistler, Banff, Lake Louise, Jasper), Panorama Mountain Resort, Big White, Cypress Mountain, Asessippi, Grouse Mountain, Blue Mountain and Vista Ridge to name a few. Plus, leading activity providers such as Pursuit Collection.

Many of these are year-round resorts, offering positions over the summer.

We have hundreds of jobs available on our Job Hub each season, so we’ll definitely be able to secure you interviews. However, whether you get hired is ultimately down to the employer and your interview on the day.

We always recommend being open-minded about the resorts you apply to, e.g., jobs in popular resorts like Whistler and Banff will be more competitive. Also, if you are only looking to work in specific resorts and roles you MUST apply early. Winter hiring opens in May/Jun but as early as Dec/Jan, you can put down you preference for employers – getting you in-front of those employers as soon as hiring opens.