Career Prospects with Canvas Holidays
What opportunities will be opened up to you after a season with us? There are many different career paths that will require the type of skills you learn whilst working with Canvas. One example would be that of our previous employee Helen Jack.
Helen’s Canvas Employment
1999 was my first season for Canvas Holidays – I was expecting to work just for one summer but ended up working for the company for another six years! I was a children’s courier on a small campsite in the Jura (foothills of the Alps, France). My biggest challenge here was the language barrier as many of the children that attended “Hoopi’s Club” were from the Netherlands and when I started I did not speak a word of Dutch! I soon learned the important phrases (I need the toilet, I’ve hurt myself etc.) but by the end of the season, I had picked up an impressive amount of a completely new language. I worked for a full season (Montage, Hoopi Courier, Demontage) and enjoyed the whole experience so much that I couldn’t wait to come back again the following year.
In 2000, I was lucky enough (along with Jen Thomson) to be assigned to the “Hoopi Road-show”. Our job was to give children attending “Hoopi’s Club” in Brittany and the Vendée the opportunity to meet the great bird himself (or herself I suppose…). Basically we drove from campsite to campsite in our little van, taking over a “Hoopi’s Club” session on a different campsite each day. Not only was it great fun and really rewarding to see the children’s faces when they finally met Hoopi (jaws literally dropped!), but, because we were always on the move, we met SUCH a lot of lovely people and got to know the north west coast of France pretty well too.
2001 was the Hoopi Roadshow’s final year and Jen and I were over the moon to be asked to be Hoopi once more.
In 2003 I came back to Canvas Holidays to help with demontage. As a driver and with a couple of years of experienced under my belt, I was given quite a lot of responsibility by the Area Manager. It occurred to me that I should try to progress within the company so applied for Area Manager the following year.
In 2004 I was Area Manager for the Jura, Alps and Switzerland – what a beautiful little triangle of Europe to be driving around for the summer! I really enjoyed leading a team and learned a great deal about people management and motivation – especially during the steep learning curve otherwise known as montage. I found that having a sense of humour and keeping a smile on my face even when I was tired, cold, wet and covered in mud went a long way to keeping the rest of the team’s morale up. Again, I met some wonderful people with whom I am still good friends. I did another season as an Area Manager in 2005, this time covering the Dordogne, Tarn, Cevennes and the Pyrénées.
After my 2005 season as an Area Manager I went back to Canvas HQ in Dunfermline where I worked in the mobile homes department selling ex-rental mobile homes and arranging for their transport. Although I was happy in this post, I increasingly began to realise that what I had enjoyed most and where I had felt most comfortable and fulfilled was when I was working with children as a Hoopi Courier. Eventually, in 2007 I left Canvas for good and started my Bachelor of Education Primary course at Dundee University. So in a couple of years’ time, I should be a fully qualified primary school teacher – thanks, in part, to my time working for Canvas Holidays.
Positive points:
- See amazing scenery and visit many parts of Europe whilst getting paid for the pleasure!
- Meet wonderful like minded people, who will likely remain friends for life.
- Learn new skills and develop existing ones.
- I just loved montage and demontage! Although these are certainly the most physically demanding parts of the season, being part of a close-knit team or leading a team can be very rewarding and it gets you fit too!
- Driving – big white vans for montage and demontage, cars as an area manager, little white vans (with Hoopi costume in the back)…... It’s the one thing I really miss – driving around beautiful France, Germany, Spain, Italy…..
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