Postal Updates

An Antarctica post office is hiring and the job description is amazing

Feb 20, 2015, 10 AM

Port Lockroy has one of the most active post offices in Antarctica. And they're hiring! Photo taken by Gregory William Frux.

 

Anyone looking for work in the south pole?

The UK Antarctic Heritage Trust (UKAHT) is hiring a four-person team to spend five months working at the British Antarctic Station at Port Lockroy, "running the shop, post office, maintenance and museum operation at Port Lockroy, on the tiny Goudier Island off the Antarctic Peninsula,” according to the job description that was recently noticed by Yahoo News.

Interested? First, you better check out what they’re looking for in candidates.

Some of the required skills, experience and characteristics are to be expected: 

  • "Good physical and medical fitness"
  • "Retail experience with good customer focus"
  • "Competence and confidence with spreadsheet design and formulae"

Some of them are a little bit interesting:

  • "Prepared to be on call and smiling for all waking hours, seven days a week"
  • "Ability to get on with it—Can you identify what needs doing and get on and do it without having to be asked, whether it be washing up, sweeping the floor or digging snow?"
  • "Positive—Can you enthuse to visitors when it is -5 degrees Celsius and blowing a blizzard as well as cook supper cheerfully after a long cold day and very little sleep?"

And some of them are downright ridiculous:

  • "Coordination—Can you carry a big heavy box over slippery rocks and slushy snow whilst dodging penguins?"
  • "Adaptability to different situations—Are you happy not to shower for up to a month, live in close proximity to three people and 2,000 smelly penguins for five months?"
  • "Happy to be confined to a small island with no prospect of climbing the surrounding peaks"

The deadline to apply is Feb. 27. So if the kind of oddball they are looking for sounds like you, check out the job description, get your cover letter and resume ready, and send them to jobs@ukaht.org

Good luck!

Related posts: 

Post office in Antarctica focus of 'Nature' episode on PBS [VIDEO]

Stamps and covers emerge from the frozen land of Antarctica

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