event staff

seasonal associate

painter

electrical technician

driver

Jurassic Quest

The reason that attracted me to this job is the same thing that pushed me away, weekly travel.  While I did enjoy getting to see the country and making lifelong friends, it is not sustainable.  Your typical week will start on a Thursday where you will unload trucks all day and set up in a convention or fair space.  You will be unloading and setting up no matter what position you have.  You will eventually be sorted into a department to assist in setup and tear down of that area.  Typical Thursday hours, 9AM to 10PM.  On Friday, you will finish setting up the exhibit in the morning and make sure everything is ready for the guests.  Second part of the day will be the show, where you will work in a certain area servicing guests.  Friday hours would be 9AM-8PM.  Saturday you will come in and do the same thing you were doing during the show on Friday, typical Saturday hours are 8AM-8PM.  Sunday you will do the same thing during the show.  Typical show positions include: Ticket seller (where you feel bad about the prices in poorer areas of the country), Tickets for Activities (where you will sell tickets for Face Paint, Green Screen, enter people into Virtual Queue.  You will deal with angry people because the VIP wristband they bought thinking they could do everything doesn't cover face painting or green screen pictures), Ride Operator (think bounce houses, toy jeeps, or watching kids sit on a moving stationary dinosaur), Activity Station (things like operating a computerized Jeopardy game, fossil display, watching kids dig for "fossils" in sand boxes) or Store (operating a cash register for the store).  After the show closes on Sunday, you will spend the rest of the evening starting to break down and pack up.  Typical Sunday hours are 8AM-11PM.  On Monday, you will finish packing up and loading into trucks.  Once everything is loaded, you will immediately begin driving to the next city.  Typical hours at the venue on Monday are 9AM-8PM.  You will then be in a cramped van, possibly driving while exhausted, for the rest of the night.  Plan on trying to sleep one night a week in a van.  When you arrive at your next destination early Tuesday morning, you will fall asleep.  If you have a particularly long drive that week (drives greater than 20 hours are not uncommon), you may not get in until late Tuesday night.  Your first day off is Tuesday, second day off is Wednesday.  Those are the magic days where if you are not too exhausted you will be able to explore the surrounding area.

Management is an interesting thing to consider.  I would say there is Upper and Lower management.  Upper management consists of the Owners, their children, and the GM.  The GM likes to play mind games with the employees.  The children are nice enough people, however whether or not they are qualified to lead an operation of this magnitude on the ground is questionable.  To their credit, they mostly try.  The owners (parents of the kids who travel with the show and run day to day) are hardly present.  Lower Management consists of employees who have been promoted, anyone has the potential to advance to lower management provided there is a vacancy.  I was fortunate enough to make it into lower management when a bunch of positions opened when a second show was started.  With the turn around, there are usually vacancies every year.  There is absolutely NO chance for advancement to upper management.

I was able to find a niche that I could make into my own role.  This allowed me to gain some valuable resume experience to land my current job.  If you are talented enough, you have the opportunity to advance and grow your resume.  If you are just going along for the ride, if you are unable to advance, or if you are unable to apply your interests to the job you will take little away on your resume.

Coworkers are an interesting bunch.  Made a bunch of great friends on the road.  I have already attended a wedding and a funeral for different people I met on the road.  It's cliched, but they do become family to a certain extent.  One of the better parts of the job.  However there tends to be a culture of trying to work yourself to death, ignoring safety standards.

Safety.  I sincerely HOPE that things have gotten better in this regard.  During my tenure, I witnessed 3 accidents that sent someone to the hospital and could have resulted in death.  There is one instance where a whole van of people almost got into a terrible wreck, possibly killing all, on the way to the airport for winter break because a member of management improperly hitched a trailer to the van.  The trailer came unhitched and swung the van around in the middle of the road.  So fortunate there was low traffic on the section of road the incident happened on.

Also, a note on taxes.  You will be expected to file a tax return in each state you visit.  A typical year will be about 30 different returns.  The cost to file my taxes for a year of working at this company was $1400.  You will need to see a professional to have them done, which is no small feat when you are traveling every week.  I am quite sure there is something they are doing wrong in the payroll tax department, but I also don't know enough about it to say one way or the other.  Additionally, you will want to ensure taxes are being deducted for your home state (if your state has income tax) even if you never go there for the job.  You are still expected to pay those taxes to your home state, it added about $1200 to my tax bill that year since there were no deductions made ever for my home state's income tax.

Take this job at face value.  It is a good way to save money and travel.  You just may be too exhausted to enjoy the travel.  You are able to advance yourself and gain resume fodder, so long as you have something to advance in and have a vision for how you can grow the show.  This job is nothing that you should consider for the long term, although some do.  However a business like this won't last forever, especially considering some of the bridges they've burned in various cities.  It is important to note that no matter what you think of this job, it is not worth your life.

The hourly wage was $11. I was paid the correct amount at the end of the 3 day show. The shifts were 7 hours on Friday & 12 hours on Sat/Sun during which I was given 3 15 minute breaks and an unpaid 30 minute lunch. It can be difficult to find the people you're required to sign out with at the end of the shift, because it is a big event and they're very busy. Make sure you find them though, or you will not get paid for those hours. You'll be given their cell numbers but they may not answer you. Go to the office and wait until one of two managers can sign you out. You cannot leave your station to urinate or do anything else unless you're on a break. If you leave, they consider you as abandoning your post. Be punctual coming back from breaks or they may cut you loose early or totally. This is very important. Bring food with you. You can snack and have a drink at your station. Bring hand wipes that kill kid germs. They do not provide any. All the kids were great. Most parents were also but there were some parents who treated you like you owe them something. The ticket prices are on the higher side, so be prepared for a few angry/disgruntled parents, not to mention the ones that refuse to help their own children. They expect you to be a babysitter and teacher. Most were not like this though, thankfully. You'll get a used previously worn but laundered tshirt to wear. Bring it back or they charge you $20 for a used shirt. Be advised that nobody is really doing background checks on other workers. Some have questionable actions. Lock up your things that matter to you. Do not expect to be on your phone at your station. You'll be dismissed. Also, you get a few minutes of instruction on the task you're assigned to and then your area manager disappears. If you need anything at all, you are on your own. Nobody will be "holding your hand".

I highly recommend taking advantage of this opportunity if they come through your city and you need a quick money boost. They seem to have use for diverse skills and will teach you what you need to know to do the job.

I worked two Jurassic Quest shows in Colorado, so two weekends in a row in different cities. The first time was so fun I wanted to do it again!

Working lots of hours in a short time is great because you can make a decent amount in three days and the time flies by! It's totally worth it!

Also, I met some incredible people, enjoyed a sense of accomplishment when the shows were done and got to see families out having fun together.

I did get breaks, lunch and payment as promised. 

Honestly, I think this company provides a lot to the communities they go to. Not only is the show insanely fun to see, they also offer a quick, good payday for many who need that extra cash right away.

I'll be joining them again the next time they're in Colorado. Being part of a team pulling off a unique event like this is rewarding.

400+ people apply and they only pick around 20. interview process was really simple. if you got hired you started the next day. you get paid out on an instant cash card at end of your 3rd day. the job itself is fairly easy, it is just physically and mentally exhausting. some stations are easier to run than others. some stations take WORK (i.e walking up and down stairs constantly within the hour, picking up and putting down children constantly within the hour.) some stations you work solo, others you're given a partner. sometimes your partner is absolutely horrible and leaves you to do all the work. the animatronic dinosaurs and bounce houses are disgusting. SO dirty. overall if you are in desperate need of cash, this event is perfect for you. 

I'm going to be very blunt, the management I encountered for this temp job was so utterly incompetent that I am shocked they are allowed to hold positions of power. Just to name a few things that the managers did during this 5-day employment:

- Told temp staff multiple times the incorrect times to arrive on-site for events such as orientation
- Give staff members name tags/ID badges with INCORRECT names (not typos, just straight-up incorrect names) and would not change them
- "Forget" to give people breaks
- Refuse to cover for a temp staff if other employees were hours late coming back from breaks

The entire ordeal was incredibly disorganized, and I am genuinely disappointed in the managers that I had for this temp job. The ONE saving grace is that they did pay, in full, 100% cash at the end of the event, so if you are truly desperate for money this is an option... just not one I'd recommend.

This could be an amazing place to work if the company  wasn’t so disorganized. They cut corners. We travel on our off day and are not paid for that. Work life balance is not great. The employees are not cared for properly and empathy is not there at all. We were made to work with moldy and smelly materials. Leaders are mentally checked out don’t really want to help staff. Pay is just okay. You’re expected to do a lot more than what they pay you for and they are surprised when that’s unacceptable. They want you to basically break your back for the company. Also the people there are not welcoming. Employees will basically ostracize you especially if you are a woman. You will not enjoy it here there’s  heavy male energy. Save your time. These people don’t know how to run a company. And I promise they won’t care about you or your well being. You are a body. That’s all. 

When working for Jurassic Quest, be ready to immediately engage with very young, excited children and their love for dinosaurs. I worked as a face painter and learned a lot of techniques from a couple of the permanent workers. If you can doodle, you can face paint! The days were long (roughly 8am to 8pm), but you can make a nice chunk of change in a weekend. The manager was nice and understanding if anyone had any concerns. The only negative was the seat I was sitting in was extremely uncomfortable for a long day, so I had some body aches for a few days afterwards. Also, since this is a temp job, and there is no formal interview process, some of the other temp workers can be a pain to work with (i.e. lazy, taking excessive and long breaks, using their phones while working).

A typical day at work consist of 12-15 hours a day and 5-6 days a week. The company is a great and growing company. I've learned a lot about dinosaurs and I became Forklift Certified. I learned a lot about operations and whats needed to run this particular business. Management is not on the same page and I've witnessed people get fired without proper reasoning or facts for management reason for firing employees. Also write-ups do not fall off after 90 days like most companies. That is probably because it is a family owned business. The culture of the job is somewhat diverse. I am a diverse person, So I fit in. The hardest part of the job is working 60 hours a week every week. I do not have enough time for personal. The most enjoyable part of the job is interacting with children & traveling to a different city every week.

It’s always understaffed on purpose. You’re doing a lot of physical labor during load in and load out every week, and not having enough people makes the day longer. Expect to work at least 12 hours every day and don’t expect any kind of break during show days. The pay is good because of all the overtime you’re required to work. If you voice your concern about safety for anything, management shuts you down and will alienate you. I’ve seen multiple people injured on the job and treated like they injured themselves on purpose. None of the rides for guests are safe. Stay away from this mismanaged organization. 

This was a great weekend gig for some quick cash. The guy in charge of open interviews and overlooking our assigned roles was pleasant and showed true southern hospitality. He always made sure I was comfortable. The hours were quite long but it was so busy that it went by pretty fast. 

I volunteered to be their temporary face painter and didn't think I had it in me but it worked out! The professional face painters were all really nice and helpful. Also made decent tip which I wasn't expecting. It was tough at times to face paint fidgety kids but their reactions after handing them the mirror were worth it. 

I would definitely take the opportunity to do it again should they return next year.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Event staff 23 salaries reported	$17.84 per hour
Seasonal associate 3 salaries reported	$13.67 per hour
Painter 3 salaries reported	$16.33 per hour
Electrical technician 2 salaries reported	$21.00 per hour
Driver 2 salaries reported	$13.50 per hour

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