Alpine Trail Ridge Inn - Employee Application
Because many people's browsers are not set up for sending forms by email from the browser we are placing our Initial Application for Employment here in text form. You can answer the questions relating to the job you would like to apply for, and then cut and paste it into your email program to send to us. Once we receive your application, we will look at it and let you know if we have any positions left open and if there is the possibility of hiring you.
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How to make your application stand out from all the others:
Here are some comments from the employer's standpoint to help you in your applications to other employers to help you make your application stand out from all the other ones that they get:
A. I handle almost 3,000 applications starting in December. With this volume, I rarely spent more than 5 to 10 seconds reviewing an application. If it had layers I had to go through to get to the information I needed, it usually didn't even get looked at. Include your initial letter, C.V., and picture (if you included one) all within the body of the email. It saves me time to not have to open attachments, and because of viruses, many people will not even open the attachments. Indicate whether you are male or female. Personally, we need to know that for assigning housing.
B. By law, we cannot ask you for a picture. However, consider that if you are one of 3 out of a hundred who include a nice picture of yourself, if you were the employer, which do you think you would spend a little more time considering. Your odds go up much higher if you include a picture of yourself. For us, it gives us an idea of your personality, if you fit our grooming standards, and whether or not you are physically fit enough to do the hard work of housekeeping. Save the picture so that it is not a large file.
C. Apply earlier. The people we hired are those we started talking with in December and January.
D. For the employment application form, include a link to a website for the organization which has the .pdf files. Or, you can email one when the employer contacts you with an interest in hiring you. Don't send a large .pdf or .jpg file initially.
E. Emphasize that you will show up for the job if hired, and you will stay through the date you commit to work. Don't use a job offer as a way to get to the USA, and then look for other work. You destroy your own integrity and damage the reputations of all your fellow workers from your country.
F. Realize that with the current world situation, for the foreign students, Visas are harder to obtain now, so start earlier in the process.
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Alpine Trail Ridge Inn
Jay & Fran Grooters, Managers
927 Moraine Ave, P.O. Box 3959
Estes Park, CO 80517
Telephone 1-800-233-5023 (in USA and Canada)
970-586-2743 (International calls)
Fax 970-586-6249
Email: alpine@alpinetrailridgeinn.com
Thank you for your interest in a job at Alpine Trail Ridge Inn for the summer of 2008. We are a 48-unit motor inn located at the south entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park and 1 1/2 miles west of the mountain village of Estes Park. We have many repeat guests who return each year due to the friendly, complete service they receive at our inn, as well as the surrounding area and the many outdoor activities available.
Our mission statement is: To provide our guests clean, comfortable, safe accommodations in a beautiful setting with a caring, informative, fun environment which is beneficial to all involved.
What is it like to be a housekeeper? We'll be very specific, because sometimes people do not realize how physical the work is. Cleaning rooms is not like what you may have done at home, perhaps cleaning the bathroom once a week and making your bed every day. We clean each room very thoroughly each day, which means you will be cleaning the tub and shower walls, washing down the shower curtain, scrubbing out the toilet and wiping down the outside of it, and being on your hands and knees wiping up the bathroom floor.
You will also dust the room, clean the mirror and the windows, either make up the beds or change them completely, put in fresh towels and supplies, clean out the refrigerator, make sure all lights are working, and vaccuum the room. Multiply this by 8-12 times, and that is your workday! There are also extra assignments each day which are spread out among the employees, such as wiping down the outside furtniture and pop and paper machines for the office, cleaning the employee bathroom, and loading and unloading housekeeping cars.
Each person also has a large housekeeping cart which they push around to the rooms, and we do have some uphill grades, so this is a job for someone who is athletic, in good shape, and not afraid of doing what some people consider the more menial tasks such as cleaning toilets.
Housekeeping is very hard and physical work! You must be physically fit and able to work hard for 6-8 hours a day. If you are not interested in hiking, riding, swimming, etc., but are more interested in less physical jobs such as standing around in a shop serving ice cream or selling T-shirts, then this is not the job for you.
On the plus side, we do strive to make it a good work environment so that our staff enjoy what they do and we have fun as a group. We will also strive to be the best employers you have ever worked for.
Our guests are mostly conservative people who enjoy the outdoors and appreciate a feeling of family as they travel. It is important that our staff reflect and believe in our mission statement in their approach to their job, their personal hygiene, their dress and their behavior. To meet these requirements, the following guidelines must be adhered to at work for employment:
Dress: Clean, neat and decent at all times. No "unpatched holes". Three t-shirts will be provided for useduring the summer. Caps may only be worn by the maintenance staff as a sun-protectant. They are not accepted attire for any other department. Adequate shoes are necessary.
Hair: Clean and neatly styled, must be fastened back from face if it falls into eyes while working or if it is shoulder length or longer. Pre-existing facial hair must be kept neatly trimmed. New facial hair growth during employment is inappropriate.
Body Jewelry: Pierced earrings may be worn by female staff only. No other pierced jewelry may be worn during work time.
Behavior: Employees will be polite, courteous and helpful to all guests, visitors and other staff.Swearing is not acceptable.
Drugs and Alcohol: Drug and alcohol usage at work, or coming to work under the influence of either drugs or alcohol, will not be tolerated and is grounds for dismissal.
Smoking: There is no "smoking area" on property for staff. We do not have any employee housing for smokers.
Tips: Due to the nature of the accommodations business, trustworthiness is a necessary attribute. Tips are to be turned in to the office daily and will be pooled and shared equally among the housekeepers based on number of days worked for each time period. Please note: In order to insure that tips are being turned in, we do "plant" marked tips in the rooms periodically to make sure that they are turned in and not just being pocketed. It is unfortunate that we have to do this, but past experience has shown us that not everyone is 100% honest. Failure to turn in tips is essentially stealing, which is one basis for immediate dismissal.
Speaking English: It is preferable that you are able to speak very good English. It is too difficult for us to communicate if you don't, and we must be able to understand each other to bridge the gaps in our cultural differences. However, because the J-1 Visa applicants cannot usually arrive until about June 1 or later, we have found that the only reliable workers we can get to help us start opening in late April are workers from Mexico, who are in the country with legal papers, and speak primarily Spanish. Some speak some English, but not usually as fluently as the J-1 applicants because of their lack of educational opportunities.
If you have a problem working with these people, please do not even apply to work for us, because they will be an important part of our team from start to finish. We know it may not seem fair that the foreign college J-1 applicants must incur the costs and endure the paperwork process to get Visas to come to the USA, but it is a fact of life that we need them to open for the season, and there just do not seem to be any other alternative, after all the years we have been doing this. We will be taking some intensive spanish language instruction this winter in order to communicate with them better.
Housing: We have 3 travel trailers (caravans) in a trailer park nearby. By its nature, the trailer park has a lot of retired people staying there, so our staff needs to be very quiet living there. It is NOT a place for parties, loud music our loud voices. You must drive very slowly in the trailer park, and not cut ocross the lawn past other trailers when you are visiting our other employee trailers. It is not a place to have friends over to stay for the night.
Accessability to Jay and Fran: Jay will be corresponding with you by email during the hiring process, and even more frequently if you are offered and accept a job with us. I (Jay) do need to let you know up front that both because of my shy nature, and the fact that I work from about 6 a.m. until about 11 p.m. daily and am responsible for the bookkeeping and computer organization and troubleshooting, except for several days off a week that I try to take to get away to our home and rest, I don't interact with the staff very strongly. You will have closer dealings with Fran because she handles the employees more, and our goal for 2005 is to make her more accessible to the staff and for her to be out in the rooms more checking the quality.
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Some questions we'd like to ask you:
Do you have any problem working with other Spanish-speaking employees who may not speak any or much English and why?
What is the most important lesson you have learned about working?
What do you feel are the qualities of a good employer?
What do you feel are the qualities of a good employee?
What are your activities in your spare time?
What are your goals for summer employment?
What areas do you wish to improve in personally?
What do you feel are your most positive qualities?
What questions do you have which you would like to ask us?
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Housekeeping or Laundry Position
(online application form)
If you feel you would be comfortable in this environment, please respond to the following comments forapplying for the Housekeeping or Laundry position:
What country are you from? ___________________________
On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest, how would you rate your English skills, for reading, comprehension, and writing? _____________, _______________, ____________.
Name:
E-mail Address:
Mailing Address:
Telephone Number:
1. Housekeeping position acceptable? Y_____N_____
2. Laundry position acceptable (not always available)? Y______N______
3. Earliest beginning date?______________________
4. Latest ending date?_________________________
5. Willing to work 5 days/wk, weekends included (30 - 36 hrs/week)? Y______N______
6. Willing to work 6 days/wk, weekends included (36 - 40 hrs/week)? Y______N______
7. Minimum starting salary needed?______________
8. Can you work 5-7 hrs/day at a physical job? Y______N______
9. Can you lift up to 30 lbs (about 16.5 kilos)? Y______N______
10. Can you bend, stoop, kneel, sit, stand, walk? Y______N______
11. Are you able to scrub floors on your knees, be up & down making beds, cleaning
bathrooms, washing windows? Y______N______
12. Are you able to vacuum? Y______N______
13. Allergies? Y_____N______
14. Interest in helping with landscaping? Y______N______laundry Y______N______
light maintenance Y______N______
15. Do you have any commitments which would/could keep you from work on scheduled days?Y______N______
16. Are you willing to be part of a team where everyone is responsible for their assigned tasks and yet everyonehelps out until the work is done so that our guests are taken care of as best as possible? Y_____N_____
17. Describe yourself, using descriptive words or phrases, as you are on the job.
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
18. Why should we hire you instead of someone else?
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
19. Do you need housing? Y______N______
20. Do you smoke? Y______N______
Front Desk Positions
(online application form)
If you feel you would be comfortable in this environment, please respond to the following comments for applying for the Front Desk position:
What country are you from? ___________________________
On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest, how would you rate your English skills, for reading, comprehension, and writing? _____________, _______________, ____________.
Name:
E-mail Address:
Mailing Address:
Telephone Number:
1. Earliest beginning date?______________________
2. Latest ending date?_________________________
3. Willing to work: 25-30 hrs/wk Y____ N____ 30-36 hrs/wk Y____ N____
36-40 hrs/wk Y____ N____
4. Minimum starting salary needed?______________
5. Can you work 5-7 hrs/day with 2-3 hrs at a time on your feet? Y____ N____
6. Can you lift up to 25#? Y____ N____
7. Can you bend, stoop, kneel, sit, stand, walk? Y____ N____
8. Are you able to vacuum, dust and wash windows? Y____ N____
9. Are you able to type: 30 wpm ____ 60 wpm ____ more ____
10. Do you have the following any computer experience?
email: Y____ N____
internet: Y____ N____
word processing: Y____ N____
data entry: Y____ N____
other (please explain:
11. Do you have any sales or marketing experience? Y____ N____
If so, what?
12. Do you have any allergies? Y____ N____
13. Are you interested in helping with housekeeping as needed? Y____ N____
14. Do you have any commitments which would/could keep you from work on scheduled days?Y___ N____
15. Are you willing to be part of a team where everyone is responsible for their assigned tasks and yet everyone helps out until the work is done so that our guests are taken care of as best as possible? Y____ N____
16. Describe yourself, using descriptive words or phrases, as you are on the job:
__________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
17.Why should we hire you instead of someone else?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
18. Do you need housing? Y______N______
19. Do you smoke? Y______N______
Maintenance Position
(online application form)
If you feel you would be comfortable in this environment, please respond to the following comments for applying for the Maintenance position:
What country are you from? ___________________________
On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest, how would you rate your English skills, for reading, comprehension, and writing? _____________, _______________, ____________.
Name:
E-mail Address:
Mailing Address:
Telephone Number:
1. Earliest beginning date? ______________________
2. Latest ending date? _________________________
3. Willing to work 5 days/wk, weekends included (35-40 hrs/week)? Y______N______
4. Minimum Salary needed? ______________
5. Can you work 5-7 hrs/day at a physical job? Y______N______
6. Can you lift up to 50#? Y______N______
7. Are you able and willing to learn our cleaning standards so you will be able to leave rooms in very clean, rentable condition after doing maintenance in it? Y____ N____
8. Can you bend, stoop, kneel, sit, stand, walk? Y______N______
9. Are you able to vacuum? Y______N______
10. Allergies? Y_____N______
11. Do you have any commitments which would/could keep you from work on scheduled days?
Y _____ N______
12. Are you willing to be part of a team where everyone is responsible for their assigned tasks and yet everyone helps out until the work is done so that our guests are taken care of as best as possible? Y_____N_____
13. Describe yourself, using descriptive words or phrases, as you are on the job.
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
14. Why should we hire you instead of someone else?
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
15. Do you need housing? Y ______ N______
16. Do you smoke? Y ______ N______
17. We realize that your specialty may not cover all skills below. Describe your skills or knowledge in the following areas: (rate them as excellent, good, fair or poor)
Carpentry
Painting
General repair
Plumbing
Electrical
Landscaping
Swimming pool maintenance
18. Are you familiar with and able to use basic hand and power tools? Y___ N___
Thank you for this information. Please ask us any questions you have. We are in the interviewing process now and will be hiring as we find qualified applicants. Please contact us at any time.
Sincerely,
Jay and Fran Grooters
