Career Profile:

Job Summary:

This role involves leading groups of people on expeditions worldwide. Groups could include young people or adults of a variety of ages. The focus of expeditions could include mountaineering, trekking, cycling, canoeing, and many more activities, however most expeditions involve trekking as a baseline. Youth expeditions often have a personal development focus to help young people develop skills such as organisation, leadership, independence and teamwork or knowledge to help them develop themselves as global citizens.

Job Tasks:

• Overseeing all aspects of expedition safety
• Group management
• Providing daily briefings & managing expectations
• Managing group dynamics & team cohesion
• Guiding the route & imparting local area knowledge
• Working with & coordinating local staff
• In-country logistics, incl. solving unforeseen hiccups
• Communication & in-country updates
• Providing first aid & seeking medical advice
• Managing expedition budgets
• Facilitating personal development
• Posting expedition reports

Skills Needed for this Job:

The skills needed for this job are varied and the best overseas expedition leaders have honed their skills through a variety of experiences.

Some of the main skills & qualities needed:

• Excellent people skills
• Clear & effective communication
• Must enjoy spending time with groups of people
• Be happy to make autonomous decisions
• Understanding & experience of working in different cultures
• Ability to coach skills and bring out the best in people
• Organisation & budgeting
• The ability to coordinate logistics, think fast and solve problems, often in a different language and under time pressure – like ‘we’re about to miss our flight!’
• Strong moral compass and sense of what is the right thing to do
• Facilitating personal development: progress review & goal setting

Having empathy & strategies for looking after people who are out of their comfort zones is a must if you want to excel in this role, as you will be working with people who may feel stressed, anxious and, occasionally, scared.

Being physically fit is important too. Whilst expeditions range hugely in how much physical exertion they involve, from 16 hour summit days to half day walks around game reserves, they do all require people to enjoy being on their feet and outdoors in all elements for the vast majority of time.

Working Hours:

Whilst on expedition, 24/7 !! This element of the job is usually the most tiring aspect. However, very few people are expedition-leading full-time. Most expedition leaders lead one or two expeditions a year and work other jobs in between. Some of those will be full time outdoor instructors, but many others are teachers, photographers, writers or work in retail, to name a few.

Where people have a range of short-medium term contracts or jobs that fit together to provide them with a full-time income, their career is described as a ‘Portfolio Career’.

A small number of people in the industry build their own businesses organising expeditions. With an overseas expedition business, the work is often split between the time leading expeditions and being back ‘in the office’ running the business.

More here about Running your own Business.

Income:

The freelance rate for an overseas expedition leader usually ranges from £70 – £200 per day.

Annual income will depend on how many trips are worked, how long the expeditions are and whether the work is freelance or through one’s own business.

Training & Qualifications:

Expeditions take leaders to diverse environments, from high altitude mountain environments to jungles and deserts. There is no single qualification which covers all of these environments or the skills you need for leading in them.

As a minimum requirement expedition companies ask for the Mountain Leader qualification, a 16-hour outdoor first aid course and experience both with leading groups (youth or adult depending on the work) and independent travel in developing countries. Some organisations, like World Challenge, may accept ML training (without assessment) for candidates who wish to work as Assistant Leader, if they have the right skills-set, attitude and experience.

More about the ML qualification from Mountain Training.

The most relevant qualification is the International Mountain Leader (IML). In some countries, to lead an expedition, it is a legal requirement to hold the IML or to be a British Mountain Guide.

Depending on the expedition environment and the activities undertaken, experience in the relevant environment (desert/jungle/high altitude) will be important.

This is a popular job and can be competitive. To stand out from the crowd, having other training and qualifications may increase your chances of being successful. Some examples of other relevant qualification, skills & experience include:

• An advanced first aid qualification
• Being an expert in a particular region of the world
• Having organised personal expeditions to remote and challenging places
• Speaking another language to a good standard
• Having completed a safeguarding course (these are available online for under £40)
• Being a member of a professional organisation such as AMI, BMG or BAIML
• Other memberships such as the Royal Geographical Society
• Other qualifications (e.g. Winter Mountain Leader, Mountaineering Instructor, paddle sports or youth work qualifications)

Do not underestimate the importance of personal experience. You should not be gaining experience of new environments with the groups you are leading. Expedition companies like to employ leaders who have organised and undertaken their own trips, as well as have qualifications. Experience gained on challenging personal expeditions gives reassurance to expedition companies that you’ll be able to cope, problem solve, give advice to groups and make informed decisions when working with them as an expedition leader.

You can gain the skills and experience required by signing up as an armed services Reservist or as a volunteer with the Army Cadet Force. Find out more about volunteering with the Army Cadet Force.

Mentors/ Industry information:

If you want insight into what life is like as an expedition leader, follow expedition leaders on social media.

International Mountain Trekking book: Buy now from Mountain Training

Royal Geographical Society Expedition Handbook – Find this on the RGS website

BS8848 is the British Standard for organising and managing visits, fieldwork, expeditions, and adventurous activities outside the UK. It is most relevant to those who have their own businesses organising trips.  Find out more about the British Standard.

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This profile has been developed in association with Rebecca Coles, International Expedition Leader & Glacial Morphologist, who runs All But Essential Travel, a specialist expedition & adventure travel business. Rebecca is an expert in the field and runs expeditions around the world.  In November 2016 she made the first ascent of Lasarmu La in far western Nepal.  You can find out more about her first ascent on the Womenclimb website.

With regard to her work, Rebecca says:

“I spend about one third of my time on freelance expedition working to both long and short-haul destinations. The other two thirds of the year I work as a mountaineering instructor in the UK and run a business training both leaders and participants for expeditions.

On social media I am active and post about all of my trips on Twitter: @allbutessential, Instagram: @allbutessentialtravel and Facebook. My blog posts also share all sorts of useful information.”

Rebecca regularly runs CPD workshops for those wishing to start their international expedition adventures. You can find information about these on her website and on the Mountain Training site.