Journal · April 19, 2022
Booking summer staff for the islands
Ferries, housing and the third week of June: what to settle before you ask us for seasonal staff in the San Juans or on Bainbridge.
Every April we are asked for the same thing by a dozen households at once: a cook, a housekeeper and someone to look after the boat, on Orcas or San Juan or Lopez, from the third week of June until Labor Day. Every April there are fewer such people than there are households asking. A few notes, then, on how to be one of the households that has them.
Housing comes first
Island summer staff need somewhere to live, and the islands do not have much of it. If you can house staff on the property, say so in your first call; it widens the field enormously. If you cannot, we will need to know what you are prepared to pay towards a rental, and we will need to know soon, because the rentals go before the staff do.
Ferries are part of the day
A housekeeper who lives on the mainland and works on an island does not work an eight-hour day; she works an eight-hour day plus two crossings. Please plan for it, and please do not expect staff to wait at the terminal unpaid.
Book by the middle of May
We fill seasonal positions in the order the briefs reach us. A brief we receive in mid-May will usually be filled from the staff we already know. A brief we receive in late June will be filled, if at all, by whoever is left.
Seasonal placements are made on our temporary terms, which are set out on our fees page. Staff who return to the same household for a second summer, as many do, are placed at a reduced fee.