Guide Recruitment
Who we are
SwimTrek is the world’s leading open water swimming holiday company. We run tours in over 40 worldwide locations in more than 20 countries around the world, from the Galapagos Islands to Bali, Indonesia.
The key role of working within the Guiding Team, and under the direction of the Operations Department, is to ensure our trips run safely, efficiently, and are of course memorable and fun!
SwimTrek Guide
We are now open for recruitment for the European Summer 2025!
Guides are contracted on a self-employed basis, normally with 4 to 6 week location-based contracts. A SwimTrek Guide is proactive self-starter with a passion for open water swimming, enthusiasm and skill in providing impeccable customer service, and most importantly: the ability to ensure that our trips are delivered to the highest safety standard.
The roles of a SwimTrek Guide are many and varied and for that reason we contract guides who are solution-oriented, practical, organised, punctual, energetic, personable, and dynamic. Our guides are the face of the company and the makers of magic.
This key role involves living and working closely with a second SwimTrek Guide for 4 to 6 weeks on location, as well as working closely with local boat crew and suppliers. While the role is supported and managed by the Operations Team in the Brighton Head Office, a very high degree of self-sufficiency on location is required to enable our trips to be safe, efficient, memorable, cost-effective and of course fun! The list of responsibilities should not be considered exhaustive. You may be required to undertake various other duties as reasonably required.
Key responsibilities include
- To ensure the safety of all swimmers and colleagues during swims.
- To perform a rescue when required
- To manage incidents and to administer First Aid when required.
- Lead swims and hikes of varying difficulty depending on location.
- Recording events and carrying out risk assessments.
- Drive a safety vessel during swims whilst keeping guests safe in the water.
- To liaise with local suppliers and hoteliers and work together to trouble-shoot problems and guest complaints, as needed.
- Being proactive in complaint handling and troubleshooting with fellow guides, boat crew, suppliers, hoteliers and the Operations Team.
- To behave in an appropriate manner and maintain professionalism at all times.
- Supporting the Operations team in the handling of all and any incidents
- For trips that offer video analysis, a degree of swimming coaching and technique advice will also be required.
- For our coaching trips, we require Guides to have coaching qualifications.
- Organising lunches for guests, dining with guests up to three nights per 7-day trip and people and advising guests on local cuisine.
- A small number of locations require guides to prepare meals for up to 18
Skills and Abilities required
- Strong interpersonal and leadership skills
- A confident and clear communicator
- A pro-active and organised individual
- Able to use initiative and work independently as required.
- A team player, able to work under pressure and to multi-task.
- A dynamic individual who is able to adapt to rapidly changing conditions calmly, and confidently.
- Passionate about open water swimming
Essential
Pre-Requisite Essential Qualifications:
- Current Beach Lifeguard qualification (for UK guides this is the National Vocational Beach Lifeguard Qualification – NVBLQ)
- First Aid Qualification with Defibrillator Training (if this is not included in your Beach Lifeguard qualification)
- RYA Powerboat Level 2 Qualification and International Certificate of Competency.
- Extensive open water swimming experience.
- Experience of working in a water safety capacity.
Successful applicants will also need to complete:
- Level 2 Food Safety & Hygiene Course
- Marine Short Range Certificate (SRC) Course
Desirable
- Swimming teaching / coaching qualifications & experience
- Open-water swimming pedigree
- Clean driving licence
- Being able to communicate in other languages
Learn more about our essential and desirable skills in our SwimTrek Guide Qualifications (PDF).
LOCATION SwimTrek operates all over the world. Currently, the bulk of our trips run in the European summer months from May to October and as such new recruits would be expected to work in European and UK locations in their first season. Please note that we do not currently recruit guides for our winter season work as those roles are filled by our experienced guiding team.
SALARY Competitive, and dependent on experience and role (i.e. Lead Guide or Assistant Guide).
WORKING HOURS Varied: depending on the location but a Guide should expect to be available to client needs for the duration of each trip and to be with the guests from morning to evening (with at least half of the dinners of the trip to be spent with the guests). Please also note that most trips run back-to-back, with one trip normally ending in the morning and the next trip starting in the late afternoon of the following day.
The Guiding Team are our first point of contact with guests and thereby become the face of the company. From liaising with local suppliers, to troubleshooting challenges on the ground, a guide takes on many roles in their working day - all around leading swims and treks in some of the most beautiful and remote locations across the globe.
Your passion for swimming, eye for safety and good customer relations are all integral in ensuring our trips run smoothly.
HOW TO APPLY
We are now considering applications for the European Summer 2025.
We will consider applications as they are received and expect to complete the bulk of shortlisting applicants in early January and complete online interviews before the end of February 2025 or sooner, depending on how quickly our remaining guiding vacancies are filled. As such, we do not have an application deadline, however the sooner you apply the better your chances of being considered for a guiding place in 2025.
If you feel that you meet the requirements of the job description above and you have the pre-requisite qualifications and experience*, please complete and submit the application form.
Guides who are successful through the interview process will be invited to and expected to attend a week of Guides’ Training (30 April – 6 May 2025) ahead of the guiding season.
*Please note that Beach Lifeguard Qualification and Powerboat Licence are pre-requisites, meaning we are unlikely to shortlist your application without them, unless you can demonstrate extensive experience in these areas and have already found and booked onto courses that would get you those qualifications ahead of Guides’ Training.
Thank you for your interest in SwimTrek Guiding and we look forward to seeing your application.