unisea (lease, service)

[Foodmuse]

Hi All,
I worked for Unisea in the Inn, back when the Hotel was in the planning stages. It has changed in many ways I am sure, however, the remoteness is the biggest factor for most people, and that hasn't changed.
800 air miles to a city is far! Funny thing was, I went there from living in the Grand Canyon National Park, whch was 80 miles to the nearest city, which at the time, I thought was a far distance.
Also, weather is a real challenge. It changes every ten minutes or so and is almost always some form of wet. I could tell you stories....I've seen some of the most amazing things there. A place like no other!
If I was half my age I'd go back again. You can save a lot of money if you don't have expensive habits. Liquior & smokes are about twice what you'll pay in the lower 48.
Otherwise, the cafe's that the company provides where great when I was there. I hit it just at the transistion from eating at the galley of a retired fishing processor to the opening of the cafe's. In the galley you had to sit with your back up and bet over your dish because the pipes overhead dripped condesation all the time. Usually you had on your rain coat anyway, so getting wet didn't matter. hehehe
Check out alaska newspapers online, the one for Dutch is something Fishermen. It's a weekly. There you can get an idea from the sale adds the price of things.
I'll answer any questions I can.
Peace, in waves & particles

[Xa'at]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

Xa'at--you know I really like you. A lot. Really. So don't take this wrong, please. Not everything is about you.

Whoops, didn't mean to derail the thread. I was in a really odd state of mind last night.
But I do think my last bit of advice was sound- one should always check things out fully before one makes a commitment. Best of luck-

[orange89]

Well to answer my own question after my interview yesterday....
it is dormitory style housing usually 4 to a room with a bathroom
there is usually 2 bunk beds
and two people generally work a day shift and two night so that there is usually only two people in the room at once
from the pictures that i seen there are no small household appliances, microwave, coffee maker and such
and there is a recreation room available, (tv, pool, ect.) as well as a library, (just going to assume there is internet, what library doesn't) then again im not super familiar w/ extremely remote locations



anyways a little bit about my interview!
it was group interview, fill out app, watch a short film and then a one on one.
it just so happened that i had work to do yesterday, so i should have been wearing business appearal but remembered i had the interview and i actually dressed down quite a bit wearing just a pair of kaiki pants, and a button up shirt and was STILL by far the most nicely dressed person there! wow. did i get some looks... well i suppose it also could have been because i was actually the ONLY female.
and i suprised the interviewer quite a bit when he found out i actually grew up on a farm and worked on the high school farm in high school (basically earned a high school credit for shoveling crap and taking care of farm animals (castrating calves, dehorning cattle, cleaning hooves) and that i was involved with FFA competitions and also had taken agricultural mechanics where i learned to weld (both arc & wire), solder, use oxy-acetylene torches, and a little bit about electrical wiring.

[Xa'at]

Great to hear, Orange!

Regarding your internet question... It seems to me that if they had internet, they would likely say so, right?

[aquariusmom]

LOL I saw "unisea" and did NOT expect it to be about employment stuff, I had no idea it was a full lodge and restaurant, I thought it was just a bar! One of the husbands old CG ships did Bering patrols regularly and Dutch was a regular stopping point enroute. Every time "Hey, what'd you spend so much money on, on that little rock??" would be answered with that grin and "the Unisea".

[MjrKrash]

For anyone interested on life and work out here, feel free to email or ask via the BBS. My name is Dan and I manage the rooms division of the Grand Aleutian Hotel in Dutch. Born and raised in Kenai, Ak. I've been all over the state. Most of the jobs at Unisea are production jobs where it's dorm housing and galley style meals. We hire internal for jobs here at the hotel. We provide our own housing. Two to a room and meals primarily galley but you can eat at the outlets if your working. Every six months you get a month off and we will fly you RT to Seattle. Holidays are always paid, OT after 8 hours day and 40 hours a week. Almost all of Unisea works a 6 day work week. Besides that there are community jobs, and city state jobs as well. Boat jobs are hard to come by unless you want to process at sea. email me or post questions.

[veruzaj]

I worked for Unisea in the past and still here in Dutch Harbor. I was a very young girl(19) when I first came here through Unisea. I can say it is not for everyone. It is definetely not like military nor concentration camps(hello weird). It is though work. Long hours of doing the same thing everyday the pay is low. The rooming is like 4 people to a room and if you get lucky, you will get compatible roomies. But dont count on that. The food is good buffet style. However if I could do it all over again, I would not have worked at Unisea. You should apply for processing boats like American Seafoods, Glacier boats, they are all based in Seattle and hire anyone. They do exactly what Unisea does but on huge boats and get paid way more. I mean all those people own homes and have money and did it at a young age. It is even better than being a fisherman. It is not dangerous never have these big boats sank, the ones that do are smaller. If still interested in Unisea try it if do not like it make sure save $1000 for ticket back home.

[royalrich]

Is Unisea a publicly traded company?

[rotorhead]

I'd be very surprised if they had decent internet access. If they do, it's unlikely to be either free or cheap. It'd have to be satellite based, and the further north you go the worse the situation becomes for geosynch satellite coms. Even here in relatively close SE AK we have slow, expensive, (and did I mention slow?) internet access. You really have no idea just how far out the Aleutians are until you see it on a polar projection map, and even then there's nothing for scale. If you HAVE to have access to the internet, I'd suggest you ask them directly about it.

I'd also ask for the e-mails or a contact telephone number for a couple of current or past employees and ask THEM how they like working there. If that turns out to be impossible, it's telling you something right there.

[icarian]

Nothing to contribute about Unisea...but can we please quit comparing concentration camps with "the military". Borderline idiotic and definitely uneducated. Some really do have no idea about "the military".