WORK AT ELKHORN

Most jobs at Elkhorn Ranch are seasonal jobs. Employment opportunities include jobs in the office, dining room, housekeeping, kitchen, grounds-keeping, maintenance, driving and barn/guiding areas. Our crew is small. We aim to have well defined jobs and roles, but occasionally we must pitch in to help in other departments.

Our family works in the thick of it with our crew. When we hire crew, we fully expect everyone to make a commitment for the full season — from ranch opening in early October 2023 through the end of April, 2024. We bring people on about a month ahead of opening day (November 12, 2023) to “open” the ranch, and we view this as an important team-building time.

We have completed hiring for the upcoming 2023-24 guest season.  If a position opens, we will look at the applications on file.  We also have “general interest” positions open where you can leave information about yourself.  

Good luck with your job hunt! Thanks,

The Miller Family, August 14, 2023

We encourage you to apply for winter seasonal jobs in June or July. Returning crew confirm their plans by August 1 and we begin hiring for the new season at that time.

SEASONAL JOB APPLICANT INFORMATION

ABOUT ELKHORN RANCH

Elkhorn Ranch, located in the rugged Baboquivari Mountains southwest of Tucson, Arizona, is a guest ranch offering horseback riding and comfortable living for about 32 guests. The Miller Family has owned and operated Elkhorn continuously since 1945 and enjoys the friendship of many returning guests and crew.

The ranch is located about 1.5 hours drive from Tucson. On a map, follow Ajo Highway/Route 86 southwest out of Tucson; head south at Three Points onto Sasabe Highway/Route 286; the ranch road is between milepost 26 and 25; take the ranch road 7 miles to the very end.

GENERAL JOB DESCRIPTION

Working at Elkhorn is about making our guests feel like part of our family and helping them enjoy the country horseback. With a small crew, every job is vital and pulling your weight is a must. The crew gathers in October to open the ranch — a time for getting to know fellow crew, our family, and the ways of the ranch.

Guests arrive in mid-November and the season continues through April with the possibility of a week or so of post-season work to help close the ranch in early May. Appreciation of the outdoors and rural living makes the winter here a treat — if you need city life, we are most likely not the place for you.

You can begin and end each day with birdsong in the background and usually an above average sunrise or sunset. It is quiet here, well away from town. If you need daily Starbucks, we’re not the place for you. If you can go weeks without driving your car, you’ll be right at home. If you like the outdoors, hiking, peace and quiet — you’ll love it. If you seek a horseback guiding position, you’ll find rugged and scenic country, good horses to learn from and teach, and traditional western cowboy culture.

There’s a pretty solid corps of returning crew ranging in age from late 20s into 60s. As a winter operation, the crew does not tend to be a college age crowd — though we always have people in their early 20s on the crew. The social dynamics vary year-to-year depending on the crowd, but the nearest bar is a solid hour away and sometimes evenings are quiet. People need to make their own fun — with late night campfires being the usual approach to a crew party. Crew are invited to all ranch social functions, and usually there’s some sort of ranch supported social function just for crew about once a month. If you seek a party every night, you might be a bit bored here — and given our long season, you’d be exhausted, if you found one.

Speaking of the long season, one of the biggest differences between Elkhorn Ranch AZ and many seasonal jobs is the long season. In comparison to summer seasons, we are barely hitting our stride in mid-January after crew have been here about 3 months — the equivalent of many summer seasons. We often say that our season is more of a marathon in comparison to the sprint of a summer season. Some people find this very difficult, particularly if they work back to back seasons without any break in between.

We aim to treat our crew well here. We take maintenance of crew housing seriously, do our best to have plenty of good food available, and try to be supportive when issues and challenges come up. We strive to be fair and have jobs clearly defined. We encourage people to value each others’ privacy (which can be difficult in close quarters). That said, we are not white glove wearing rules and regulations people. We aim to treat people like adults, and trust that they will behave accordingly. Most of all, we strive to work closely with our crew to model the family style hospitality that is the essence of traditional guest ranching. We aim for an environment that’s all about friendly horses, friendly people and beautiful country.

Our ideal candidate already knows that you don’t wear your cowboy hat and spurs at the dinner table, or you’re wise enough to look to the head of the table for a good example. You don’t need to know everything when you get here – but be ready to learn fast, and make it stick. You do need to genuinely enjoy people, both guests and fellow crew. We hope you’ll like the beautiful Sonoran desert country where the ranch is located — we’re not in or near the city! For wrangling jobs, you need real livestock and guiding experience, including ability and willingness to shoe horses — we don’t have any entry-level guiding jobs. Ranch life is physically demanding, with long days and at least some heavy lifting for all jobs — be strong and ready to work!

Compensation consists of an every other week pay via direct deposit, full room and board, and end of season bonus to all crew present at the end of the season.  Six day work week with one regularly scheduled day off. Reimbursement for portion of medical insurance costs after one full season.  No direct tipping, rather a service charge is added to guests’ bills and distributed to crew as part of bi-monthly pay and the end of season bonus.

Everyone who works at Elkhorn lives on the ranch. Everyone has their own room, and most likely shares a bathroom with one other person. Rooms are furnished and linens are provided. The Elkhorn kitchen works hard to provide for both guest and crew dietary needs and preferences, but if you have strict dietary needs, you might find it difficult given that you do not have individual access to kitchen facilities and town is over an hour away. Housing for couples and especially families is limited, but feel free to discuss possibilities with us. We do not have hook-up facilities for private motor homes. We cannot accommodate private horses. Most pets that live in your room are welcome but you must abide by our pet policy.

Most crew prefer having their own vehicle. During our long season, it can be refreshing to be able to leave the ranch on your day off. We certainly have had many people work here who do not have cars, and we are happy to help purchase occasional staples for crew on the weekly town run. That said, it can be very difficult to feel dependent on the ranch or fellow employees for transportation. If you have medical or other needs that require frequent town visits, you definitely should have your own wheels. If you do choose to be here without your own vehicle, we are happy to pick you up at the Tucson airport or elsewhere in Tucson. Tucson is a big biking community, but at the ranch you’ll be in a rural environment that is not suitable for road bikes. The ranch road is ok for mountain biking; but we discourage mountain biking on the ranch trails due to conflicts with the horse program. If you’re an avid biker, there are many places you can go on your day off.

You’re welcome to ride and enjoy the pool during your free time, though crew riding is limited when guest numbers are high. The hiking is wonderful on the ranch and regionally. City fun, shopping and the like are about 1 1/2 hours from the ranch. The ranch crew room has satellite TV plus a video/DVD player and many games, puzzles, and books — you can also sample the ranch guest library. Crew are invited to all ranch social functions. There is a “crew only” wireless area around the crew dining room. If you need to be online a lot, you’ll want to arrange your own internet access so as to not overuse shared bandwidth.

HOW TO APPLY

Elkhorn Ranch will accept applications for seasonal jobs during July and early August, and beyond until all positions are filled.

We ask that our returning crew confirm their plans for the upcoming season by July 31st of each year. We should know by then exactly what positions are open, and we will begin serious review of applications by August 1st.

To apply:

1. Complete our Application Form that is housed at Coolworks.com (required). Note that the application requests references and a resume.

2. Once you submit an application, you can communicate with us via Coolworks messaging. You can also attach supplemental information.

*Please confirm that your references’ contact information is up to date. We do check references and if we can’t reach people we will quickly give up on your application.

*Please let us know the dates when you will be available. We expect crew to arrive in early October and work through April or early May.