Whats it like working as a tour guide with Young Pioneer Tours?

As the founder of Young Pioneer Tours I am also largely in control of recruitment at the company. This means I often get the chance to give people the “dream job” of getting Paid to Travel the world, or get paid to live abroad.

Yet while many think that it is the opus of dream job, most do not realize that it is also a lot of bloody work. Also while being on the road all the time might sound glam, it really is not for everyone!

What do you need to be a tour guide with Young Pioneer Tours?

Technically not very much. Many of us do not have degrees, so that is something we do not insist on and not having experience guiding is not that big a deal (although it can help). Essentially we are big believers in the fact that everyone ha stop start somewhere.

What we mainly look for is staff that are good with people and have ideally had at least one “real job” in their lives. What does that last part mean exactly? Not fresh out of university and with a track record of doing some hard graft.

What is the reality of being a tour guide with Young Pioneer Tours?

The reality of being a tour guide with Young Pioneer Tours tends to be very different to what many people expect, even if we do explain it to them in great detail before they start!

Many think it is basically getting paid to be on holiday and do a little bit of social media. The reality is back to back tours are hard work, you often go back to the same countries (a lot) and sadly not all guests are nice (although most are).

And then there is the office side, which involves a lot of admin work, with our company motto being “you cant lead a tour until you can plan a tour”. A lot of the job therefore is in front of a laptop, rather than doing a sunset Instagram picture.

What are the benefits of being a guide with Young Pioneer Tours

If you can hack it we pay not only a decent salary, but also offer great commission. And should be able to hack being on the road a lot, you will also see cool places. This in an environment we want you to grow within the company.

You can also by and large work from wherever you want on your time off, but this is also one part that sometimes trips people over. You can be sitting on a beach, or in a bar anywhere in the world, but that phone, or laptop needs to be fired up and you need to be ready to deal with any emergency. Emergencies are not regular, but hey they certainly do happen.

Aside from these benefits we really do have some of the coolest customers in the world and you really do meet great people while being a guide for Young Pioneer Tours.

And people get to walk away with lots of transferable skills. Many move on to careers after leaving us, starting their own companies, or as is our preference working their way up the career ladder oat Young Pioneer Tours!

So, if you think that this job basically describes who you are then check out the YPT contact page and get in touch with us there – ideally with your CV/resume.

Alternatively if you’d like to list your job, or talk about your Paid To Travel experiences then drop us a message at contact (at)paidtotravel.net, or via our contact page.