Don't mind the isolation of a lockdown? Are your videoconferencing skills on point? Maybe one of the upcoming jobs down in Antarctica is for you — but you'll need to have what it takes.
Australia maintains three year-round and one summer-only scientific research stations in Antarctica — Casey, Davis and Mawson — as well as one in the sub-Antarctic, at Macquarie Island.
Each year, around 3,500 applications are received for the 500 jobs on offer, with the recruitment and screening process handled by the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD).
But the process is changing, with a list of "revised expeditioner personal qualities" released today as part of the revamp.
The key attributes include "an expeditioner's willingness and capacity to complete a range of tasks" and the ability to "manage work responsibilities alongside community interests and personal time".
Expeditioners must also "value a sense of harmony within the community but be able to respond to episodes of disharmony in a manner which is respectful of the individuals involved and builds the community".
Successful applicants will also display a "commitment toward an atmosphere which promotes the mental and physical wellbeing of themselves and their colleagues".
As part of the push towards safety, the AAD recently diallied down its limit on alcohol consumption.
The policy, which will come into effect next summer, sets out the volume of alcoholic beverages that expeditioners can take to Antarctica as:
- Seven cans of full-strength beer per week; or
- 1.5 bottles of wine (table and sparkling) per week; or
- Half a bottle of spirits per week
In announcing the new rule, which also banned the popular station pastime of homebrewing, the AAD's director Kim Ellis said the policy was not a response to any particular incidents, but to the risks associated with living in Antarctica.
"Antarctica is a unique environment — it's incredibly cold and incredibly harsh — and very small mistakes can lead to very big consequences," Mr Ellis said in July.
"Here in Hobart you might have a drink and go and sit in the front yard and stare at the stars.
PDAs not welcome
AAD organisational psychologist Maree Riley said would-be expeditioners needed to be made of the right stuff.
"We do know that the psycho-social aspects of station life can be more challenging than the environmental," she said.
She said applicants were "put in small group activity scenarios that they might find themselves in … we get them to discuss how they might respond to that scenario".
Ms Riley said she would not go as far as describing station life as "a hotbed of romance", but that many relationships had developed there.
Couples had also gone on the journey south, however overt public displays of affection were not encouraged.
"We ask if you are in a relationship on a station that you are conscious of those who don’t have their partners with them," Ms Riley said.
Lockdown looking good on a resume?
Would the experience of a COVID-19 lockdown benefit applicants?
Ms Riley noted the irony of people in Australian capital cities being confined to the indoors due to the pandemic, in contrast to Antarctic expeditioners being in one of the most remote locations on earth.
"Our expeditioners were still allowed to mingle," she said.
She said the lockdowns had at least meant potential expeditioners were likely to be "far more attuned to maintaining social connections with video conferencing and phones".
The selection process has up until now been handled by the AAD. However, that is about to end, with the science body looking to "partner" with a recruitment agency to wrangle wannabe expeditioners.
Did something go wrong with the last lot of people? Ms Riley said it was more that the workload became too much.
"We want to make sure we are clearly articulating the personal qualities we are looking for in our expeditioners," she said.
Antarctica jobs on offer for the next season include chef, medical practitioner, boilermaker welder, carpenter, plumber, concreter, aerodrome manager and, perhaps surprisingly, refrigeration mechanic.
Applications will open in December.
