For Club Med Staff, All Work and Some Play

When the first Club Med opened in the Western Hemisphere, the entire staff was French. Later, the organization took on an occasional Venezuelan, then gradually switched to an all-nations policy. Today Club Med actively seeks U.S. and Canadian personnel.

From a recruitment office in Coral Gables, Fla., and through “auditions” in several U.S. and Canadian cities, Club Med hires staff throughout the year to keep things lively at more than a dozen Club Med vacation villages in the Caribbean and Mexico. Positions include lodging personnel, food service experts and recreation specialists, as well as gentils organisateurs (or “G.O.s,” meaning “nice organizers,” similar to camp counselors).

You’re hired for six months and receive air fare, room, board and a salary that averages $450 a month for most short-term employees.

You must be at least 19, “outgoing, friendly and personable,” and have experience--if you’re applying simply for a G.O. position--in “customer contacts” or some other such social activity. You apply at www.clubmedjobs.com. Lists describe openings in child care and health, arts and crafts, sports, performing arts, food and beverage, housekeeping and maintenance, massage, stage management, guest services and retail sales. Or you can contact the Club Med recruitment office, 75 Valencia Ave., 12th Floor, Coral Gables, FL 33134; fax (305) 476-4100.

Some villages need summer child-care help for short periods, but these jobs are for room and board only, no salary, and sometimes involve seven-day-a-week schedules. It’s explained on the Web site.

Auditions are scheduled nearly every day, September through November, throughout the U.S. and Canada. Los Angeles/Marina del Rey auditions will be Oct. 3 and 4 and Nov. 14 and 15.

If there’s no audition near you, apply online and you’ll be contacted when an event is scheduled in a nearby city. Or review the events calendar at www.clubmedjobs.com for audition sites.