Employment with Carpe Diem

***Currently interviewing for Fall 2012 South Pacific and Brazil programs ONLY***

Carpe Diem Gap Year Family

Beyond the intrinsic benefit of doing work that is international in scope with a strong education commitment, is the fact that Carpe Diem's office staff and organizational mission is dedicated to raising consciousness. We are involved in work that is designed to transform lives and we get to see the results.

As a staff we are also committed to our own growth and evolution. To this end, we keep our inter-staff relationships clear and harmonious, provide health insurance, and on-going staff training.

We seasonally hire for the positions listed below, but accept applications throughout the year. Positions for Fall terms are filled each previous April, and Spring positions are decided each November. Please know that working with Carpe Diem has some unique benefits when you are asked to work overseas: all of your living costs are covered, your airfare is paid for, and your air miles are yours to keep. Beyond these, however, all of our positions get to be part of increasing global awareness through education and service: they always say, “Think Globally but Act Locally.” We believe that global exposure on the local level grows humanity.

  1. Overseas Educator - Abroad (seasonal/ongoing)
  2. Office Intern - Portland, OR. (part-time)

 

OVERSEAS EDUCATORS

OM Peace in India
  1. Semester in Central America
  2. Semester in India
  3. Semester in Australia/NZ/Fiji
  4. Semester in East Africa
  5. Semester in South America (Ecuador & Peru)
  6. Semester in Southeast Asia
  7. Semester in Brazil
  8. Semester on the Navajo and Hopi Reservations of the Southwestern US

 

 

QUALIFICATIONS & QUALITIES

We are looking for people with the following qualifications:

  • Minimum age of 25 (rarely flebile)
  • Proficiency in Spanish for our Latin America semesters (can you take a student to the doctor and explain everything that needs to be communicated?)
  • Basic proficiency in KiSwahili for our East Africa semester
  • Direct experience living or traveling in the relevant regions for which you are applying. We give priority to applicants who have experience in 2 or more of the regions where we work.
  • Experience living or traveling in the developing world
  • Experience leading groups (preferably 17 - 22 yo)
  • Demonstrated experience successfully working with a co-leader
  • Current medical certification in Wilderness First Aid prior to departure (usually a 2-3 day course). Please note that Carpe Diem offers this training and certification as part of its Fall Leadership training each year
  • Experience volunteering in the previous 12 months. Volunteering is an important element of what we do and needs to be demonstrated
  • We are unfortunately able to hire only US citizens or Green Card holders (ie, with Social Security #)
 

These are the qualities you can expect to find in other leaders with Carpe Diem:

  • A strong desire to positively affect another human being's life.
  • Enjoys the challenge of working with young first time travelers.
  • Experience working with teens and young adults.
  • Actively engaged in own personal growth and development.
  • Flexible and able to perform well under constantly changing environments.
  • A good mentor.
  • Well organized.
  • Excellent communication skills.
  • Able to establish clear guidelines and boundaries and assist others to meet them.
  • Enjoys resolving issues and problem solving.
  • Enjoys being a resource for other people.
  • Comfortable being available to students during travel times 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
  • Comfortable with confronting negative behavior.
  • Has demonstrated ability to travel independently and has in-depth experience in relevant regions.
 

Once your application is received, it will be logged and then passed to a panel of former leaders for initial review. Once the panel has reviewed your file you'll either be encouraged to reapply with more experience, or you'll be passed to the Hiring Coordinator who will do a short, 30-minute phone interview. Once approved by the Hiring Coordinator, you'll be expected to do either an in-person interview, or a videoconference interview with the Executive Director.

For an in-person interview, you should be prepared to meet with us here at our office in Portland, Oregon. We ask our leaders to safeguard students' lives and this interview allows us the opportunity to get to meet you: Telephone interviews alone, are not enough. Although we vastly prefer an in-person interview, we can usually arrange a videoconference in its stead. Since many personal computers aren't outfitted to do video-conferencing, we recommend Kinko's as another option. Please do not call for advice on getting set up to do this - when traveling in the field you will encounter many things you have little experience doing and we expect you to troubleshoot these details on your own. Once you've been interviewed, your file will be rated and you can expect to hear back from an office staff with final notifications by mid-November for Spring hires, and early April for Fall hires.

We are particularly interested in people who may be able to lead two or more semesters in a row to give our programs more continuity and better leadership. If hired, all leaders are required to have current First Aid/CPR and Wilderness First Aid (only WMA, SOLO, or WMI certifications are acceptable). Please note that we incorporate a WFA certification into all Fall Leadership trainings.

BENEFITS

  1. Pay: Trip leader pay starts at $2,800 for a 3-month contract, which for first-time leaders is rarely negotiable depending on experience. We are most interested in leaders that are able to lead multiple semesters. Salary grows per semester up to a $5,000 after 5 semesters and upon successful completion of your 4th semester leaders are given a one-time $1,000 bonus.
  2. Employer-matched 401k retirement plans (up to 3%)
  3. Medical insurance for the duration of your overseas program.
  4. All eligible accrued air miles.
  5. Potential to have a semester count towards a partnered Masters Degree program with PSU. Masters of Education with a focus on Sustainability, Leadership, and Service-Learning.
  6. Upon successful completion of a first semester, the ability to travel to a different part of the Carpe Diem world - potentially one you've not visited prior.
  7. The ability to both directly and indirectly change another human being's life for the positive.
  8. A major benefit is to be able to do a trip that others are paying $8900 and up to take part in. Room, board, international airfare and all non-personal trip expenses are paid for during the semester. "And I'm getting PAID for this?" is a common phrase used by leaders.
  9. All expenses paid during Carpe Diem leadership training, and up to a $300 travel stipend to Portland, Oregon.
  10. Potential to work your way into an office position in Portland. Note this is a 10-month office, summer free, 3-month fall semester leadership stint.
  11. Potential to work in one of our overseas offices in either Thailand or Ecuador. Note these carry a 2-year term, and are Directorial positions with salary, stipend, & insurance.

*No phone calls, please.

Click here for the Rogue Manual - a first-person telling of what it is to be an Overseas Educator.
Click here for the Overseas Educator's Online Application.

Part-Time Portland Office Intern

** This position is currently filled**

Zanzibar Gap Student Jumping

We are looking for an intern to support the office with student enrollment, processing leader applications, and program set up and design. You may be asked to do a variety of other small projects, but as an intern we encourage you stay where your excitement is and we will work to make sure that the more tiresome tasks are balanced with those that are exciting to you. Experience traveling is a must and foreign language proficiency is very helpful.

People who do best as Carpe Diem staff tend to:

  • be natural leaders with an entrepreneur's spirit,
  • be willing to keep growing throughout their lives,
  • be able to bring all of themselves into their work,
  • be willing to live in a wholehearted way,
  • value contemplation and their inner life, and
  • value cultural diversity

Compensation is $500/month depending on your individual availability, although we are looking for people who can commit to 15-20 hours/week. Regrettably we are not able to provide health insurance for interns at this point.

If you are interested in applying as an intern, please send a resume and cover letter to: Hiring Coordinator, Carpe Diem International Education, PO Box 17427, Portland, OR. 97217. Alternatively you may email your cover letter and resume to ethan@carpediemeducation.org, or fax it to: 866-903-1077.