This Week in Antarctica (TWIA) story: 23 March 2006
Antarctic recruitment is a bit like painting the Sydney Harbour Bridge. No sooner have the last expeditioners returned from a season down south than the recruitment starts again for the following season.
Working in Antarctica is more than just a job, it is a lifestyle. The ability to work and live in a small, remote community is as important on a day-to-day basis as a person's technical or professional skills. All applicants for jobs undergo a two tier selection process, one based on their professional skills, the other on their personal qualities.
 When on station, even the AAD Chief Scientist mucks in and helps unload cargo during station resupply
Photo: Tony D'Amico |
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 Unlike other workplaces, expeditioners live and work together 24 hours a day Photo: Shane Smith |
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 Everybody does extra station duties especially in the kitchen to relieve the chef
Photo: Amy Lemon |
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Expeditioners can be away from Australia for anything from a few weeks to up to seventeen months. Although there is telephone and email contact between the stations and the rest of the world, during the winter months, the station communities become physically isolated until the arrival of the first ship around late October brings mail and new faces.
For the last few years, selection centres have been an integral part of the Australian Antarctic Division's (AAD) recruitment process. Sixteen to eighteen applicants for different expeditioner positions are brought together for 24 hours and are asked to participate in a range of scenarios developed to represent the types of situations they will encounter in Antarctica. Some of these revolve around issues to do with living in a small community, others explore problem-solving abilities.
 Mail arrives for the first time in 6 months with the first ship of the season Photo: Amy Lemon |
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 Expeditioners are well trained to work safely in the harsh Antarctic environment
Photo: Chris |
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 Expeditioners need to be able to fix and maintain all their equipment.
Photo: Graham Cook |
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Personal qualities such as community participation, appropriate response to authority and the ability to deal with a range of people from different backgrounds are essential.
AAD staff run the scenarios and observe the behaviour of the participants. The selection period of 24 hours gives both the AAD recruitment staff as well as the applicants the opportunity to mingle and exchange information. The timeframe allows AAD staff to get to know the prospective expeditioners, their likes and dislikes and their value sets. It also provides opportunities for the discussion of important issues to do with personal circumstances and separation from families and friends.
All applicants are also required to undertake interviews as well to determine their professional or technical skills.
Over the next couple of months the AAD will run eight selection centres along the eastern seaboard of Australia in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Hobart. All expeditioners employed directly by the Australian Antarctic Division, with the exception of doctors whose personal qualities are also subject to scrutiny, are recruited by the selection centre process. These include amongst others, mechanics, electronics engineers, carpenters, plumbers, chefs, electricians, field training offices, telecommunications specialists, and physicists. Bureau of Meteorology staff also participate in this process.
