How do you get a job in Antarctica?

General Questions
#1

I presume this question has a factual answer, so…

While flipping through some old issues of National Geographic, I found some stories about Antarctica. One is a brief story on what it’s like to live at McMurdo station, and they’ve got one girl quoted as saying something like “I would have taken any job. It may only be cleaning toilets, but those toilets are in Antarctica!!”

Which got me to wondering: How does one go about getting a job in antarctica? I presume they don’t advertise in the want ads. Where do you find employment oppertunities for the south pole?

#2

The US Navy & US Coast Guard maintain weather stations there.

Join up & volunteer for the ice duty.

#3

AFAIK you can’t directly apply for a job there.
If you’ve been working as a scientist or whatever for one of the institutions that operate research stations there (military, government-funded science institutions or whatever), you might be sent there on a mission, but you won’t get there as an outsider.

#4

[Brief Hijack]
I actually volunteered for a special duty assignment to Antarctica when I was in the Air Force. I didn’t get it. That always struck me as wrong…I mean, how many total wackos are volunteering to go to the South Pole at any given time?
[/Brief Hijack]

So that’s it, huh? Government jobs…damn feds have all the fun :slight_smile:

#5

Raytheon Polar Services provides staffing services for the Antarctic research stations. I have no idea what the competition is like for these jobs or haw picky they are. Send us photos if you go!

#6

Here is Raytheon’s job site. You can do a search for jobs available in Antarctica.

#7

Beel: A lot of folks volunteer for “Wintering Over.” Besides the coolness (sorry) of getting a nifty ribbon out of it, Navy enlisted members also get points towards promotion. “Summering Over” only gets them the ribbon, but no points.

Feel free to check the Advancement Manual and the Enlisted and Officer Transfer Manuals available from http://www.bupers.navy.mil for more information on the Antarctic Duty program.

#8

(1) Have your appendix taken out

#9

Check out the information on the Australian Antarctic Division human resources page (the rest of the site is pretty cool too).