Antarctic role

Can’t face another week of interaction with your co-workers? Hate the draconian social pressure to shower daily? Well, today is your lucky day.The Antarctic Heritage Trust (what heritage?) is looking for four workers to work from November to March at Port Lockroy, a former British research station in the Antarctic.

The trip is all expenses paid, plus you’ll be getting paid a thousand squids a month. The role comprises running the post office, the museum, and the shop — plus being able to fix things that break down. All those things exist side by side in one shack, so you’ll have plenty of time to try all of them, as well as developing murderous cabin fever.

Port Lockroy gets 18,000 visitors per year, over 70,000 articles of mail and is located on a small island which is also a colony for Gentoo penguins. They’re cute and also stink, but luckily you probably won’t smell it after you haven’t washed yourself in a month. You will either develop an obsessive love of penguins, or hate. There is no middle-ground.

Weatherwise, expect daylight almost all the time and for things to get a little chilly – temperatures aren’t likely to go much above 0 celsius.

The Trust is looking for candidates with retail experience, environmental awareness and co-ordination. A high boredom tolerance is probably also a good idea for those hours without a boat arriving. A pack of cards comes highly recommended.

You can read the job advert here, and download the application form here. More information and pictures can be found at the Trust’s website.

About the author

Jerome Langford

Jerome is a graduate in Philosophy from St Andrews, who alternately spends time writing about HR and staring wistfully out of windows, thinking about life’s bigger questions: Why are we here? How much lunch is too much lunch? What do you mean exactly by ‘final warning’?