Stehekin Valley Ranch Employee Information - Job Descriptions

All positions have been filled for 2008. Please keep us in mind for next year. We start making hiring decisions for the 2009 season in January.

Dinner Cook
The ranch serves all three meals to our guests. The dinner is primarily served on a buffet line, off of a menu that is set with a different special every night. Our kitchen is in open view of the public and all employees must enjoy interaction with guests and other employees.
Shift hours: 1:00 PM – 8:30 PM
Skills: This position is responsible for preparing and serving dinner to approximately 75 people  and must be skilled in all phases of cooking including prepping main meat course, vegetable, starch, bread baking, and some dessert preparation. The menu is set and the recipes supplied but there is plenty of room for variation and creativity, for the person with adequate skills. This person oversees one prep cook who does the salad bar preparation. Keeping track of food inventory will also be a part of this position.

Breakfast/lunch cook
Shift hours: 5:30 AM till 1:30 or 2 PM
Skills needed:
Baking biscuits, muffins, coffee cakes, and cookies.
Cooking standard breakfast fare: eggs, omelets, hash browns, breakfast meats, pancakes.
Making soups cooking burgers, slicing lunchmeats and cheese and other details for setting up lunch bar.
This position will clean up after themselves, which will include dishes. During the busy season a helper is assigned to do breakfast dishes.
Breakfast consists of a buffet line, with items stocked in a steam table. Short orders are taken for other items.
This position requires good public relations skills as the person takes the orders as well as cooks and delivers them. This is a great position for a self motivated person who enjoys early mornings, people, and afternoons off.

Prep Cook

Shift hours: 1:00 PM till 8:00 or 8:30 PM
Skills needed: Salad making and broiler cooking.
Duties: Make salads from recipes provided, helps set up buffet line for dinner, helps with serving and cleanup after dinner. Cleanup duties may include putting away food, helping with dishes, cleaning kitchen and floors. Works under main dinner cook.
Like all positions at the ranch, this position requires public relations skill and a genuine desire to help make peoples stay enjoyable. You will be working with ranch guests to answer questions, serving food on the buffet line and taking grill orders.

Dishwasher/serving/cleaning

Shift hours: 8:00 AM till 11:30 or 12:00. Split shift includes 4:30 till 8:00 or 8:30 in the evening helping with serving and cleanup. 30 hours per week minimum and can be combined with other jobs for more hours.
Skills: To be able to “see dirt” and efficiently clean.
Duties: Washing breakfast dishes, cleaning restrooms and showers, preparing dining room for dinner, washing pots and pans before dinner, helping serve dinner and helping with dishes and cleanup after dinner.
This is one of our most important positions since the quality of this persons work will make our customers first impressions. With time off in the afternoons to do other things this is a great position if you like to break up your day with a variety of duties.

Housekeeper/dinner help

Shift hours: 9:00 AM till 12:00. 4:30 PM till 8:00 or 8:30.
Skills: Efficient housekeeping practices.
Duties: Cleaning ranch cabins, doing ranch laundry, cleaning public restrooms and shower rooms. This is a split shift and evening duties include: Helping serve dinner, cleaning up after dinner, which will include washing dishes, general kitchen cleanup and mopping floors.
This requires a person who is able to work independently for the housekeeping/laundry position and to work as a part of a team for the dinner portion.

River Raft Guide and/or Sea Kayak Guide

Stehekin Adventure Company is run by the same family that operates the ranch. For 20 years we have run a river rafting operation on the lower 10 miles of the Stehekin River. The Stehekin is a class 2+ river with fast moving water and large amounts of woody debris on the banks. The rafting operation is ran under Special Use Permit from the National Park Service and meets or exceeds all Washington State requirements. A small company, we only run 2-3 boat floats which are usually paddleboats. We run 14' Achilles, Riken or Aire boats, which are self-bailing.
In 2003 we launched a sea kayak operation on Lake Chelan. This operation includes both beginning instruction and guided paddles around the upper estuary and also overnight trips on Lake Chelan.
The River Rafting takes place every afternoon. The guides meet at Stehekin Valley Ranch around 2:00 PM to get gear ready and to shuttle rafts to the put in. Guides are responsible for all equipment handling including washing, inspecting and putting away rafts, life jackets, paddles and wetsuits. The total time involved takes an average of 4.5 hours depending upon water levels.
Skills: Guides must have knowledge and experience running commercial paddleboats and be proficient in the use of oar frames. Good people skills are also important, as is a general interest in local flora, fauna, and natural history. Not all guides need to be skilled in kayak instruction but that is certainly a plus. All kayak instruction and guiding will take place in the morning so that the same person can raft in the afternoons. After the rafting season closes which is around the middle of August, we do more extensive excursions, which include overnight trips. Qualifications for cooking and guiding overnight trips are desirable for this position.
Rate of Pay: This of course depends upon experience and whether or not you are guiding both kayaks and rafts. Experienced guides can expect to make around $100 per day. We can work with folks who desire maximum hours or minimum hours.
Housing: Housing will be provided for this position as part of your total employment package.
Stehekin is a great place to spend the summer if you enjoy the outdoors!