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How to find work camping jobs in Texas State Parks

Finding work camping jobs in state parks is not your typical job search. As you may have already noticed, each state park manages their volunteer listings differently. While some park systems have very modern volunteer websites with clear information and great usability, others… well, not so much.

The Texas State Parks volunteer portal is great, but searching for volunteer opportunities that offer RV hookups can be time consuming. This post will cover some basic information that you should consider when searching for volunteer opportunities in Texas state parks — and also walks through how to find the listings that include RV hookups!

 

Important things to know before you start your search:

 

Volunteering VS Work Camping

Work camping is a quirky industry that typically falls into a gray area between “volunteering” vs “working”. However, state parks are much more straightforward in that all opportunities are truly volunteer positions. This distinction means that when you’re searching the Texas State Parks website, you’ll see ALL volunteer listings, not just those that offer residence or hook-ups. Keep this in mind when you’re filtering, searching, and reading through job descriptions. Also, everything’s bigger in Texas, so you’ll find that they have a helpful 27-page Hosts manual that will probably answer most of your questions.

Pets are OK

Yes, your furry friends are accepted, but with a few rules. According to the Hosts manual, “Hosts must receive superintendent approval to have more than two pets at their site. Hosts must abide by all park regulations related to leash/restraint requirements and restricted areas. No dog pens or similar facilities for pets are allowed outside of the RV. Pets must be controlled at all times and hosts should be mindful of how pets may impact the visitor experience”. Similar to other parks, you’ll also be required to show proof of current rabies vaccinations for any cats or dogs residing in the park.

Length of Stay

Texas is unique, y’all. Their length of stay can run anywhere from one month to two years. According to the Hosts Manual, “Hosts are required to serve a minimum of one month. A park may require a longer minimum based on the training requirements of the opening and needs of the park (this information will be included in the opportunity posting). Hosts may serve a maximum of six consecutive months at a park. The host placement may be extended with approval from the superintendent. The maximum unbroken length of service at a park is capped at 2 years. After an assignment, hosts must vacate that park for a minimum of one month prior to returning for a host opportunity at that same park. ” So, if the position calls for it and management approves it (and you realllly love Texas), then you might be able to keep a Host position for quite a while.

 

 

How to search the Texas State Parks website

The Texas State Parks website has a dedicated page for searching volunteer opportunities, and the most recent listings are always listed first. However, you’ll notice the volunteer listing titles and information take a bit of time to navigate so make sure to acquaint yourself with the interface. To search for listings, go to the volunteer opportunity page, and read these tips before starting your search:

Here are the important things to know when navigating the volunteer opportunities:

  1. Filters: Like other state parks sites, you can filter by keyword, location and even job category. For Texas, you can filter by “State Park” under the Job Category filter, and search for keywords (e.g. “hook”, “hook-ups”). Keep in mind, however, that if you search by “host”, you might also see results that explicitly say “This is NOT a park host position.” The keyword search bar appears to only allow one set of keywords or phrases to be applied at a time, so keep this in mind when you’re searching.
  2. Locations: The search results will  not give you city/county locations unfortunately. Now, at some point, we’ve all driven through Texas… so you know just how huge of a state it is! To find the exact location, you’ll need to open each job listing, scroll to the bottom of the page and look for the “Location” subhead which typically has the full street address and/or coordinates.
  3. Sorting: In the top right corner of the search page, you’ll see an option to “Sort”. When you click on this dropdown, it will default to “Publish Date (oldest first)”. You may want to consider changing the sort order depending on the opportunity that you’re looking for.

 

Now for the EASY way to find volunteer opportunities in Texas State Parks…

Here at Kamper Jobs, we’re all about easy. We recently launched our state park initiative to scour and post state park volunteer listings that offer RV hook-ups, including Texas State Parks. Now, you can easily find volunteer positions in Texas State Parks that offer RV hook-ups and have all the relevant details at the top of the page! In other words, our team does the heavy lifting of searching and parsing the details so that you can find them when searching for jobs, include them in job alerts, and receive the latest listings via the free weekly newsletter. (Nice, huh?)

We hope you’ll check out all the volunteer opportunities that offer RV hookups in Texas State Parks, and keep your eyes peeled for more states getting added very soon. Happy camping!