Now that’s a COOL job! Chefs, plumbers and electricians could be paid more than £50,000 to work in Antarctica. So could you live in an area where it is dark 24 hours a day?
If you’re feeling the January blues, a new job and a change of scenery might sound like a tempting offer.
However, this extremely cool opportunity cannot promise that the weather will be any better than in Britain.
The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) is recruiting chefs, plumbers and electricians to live and work at the South Pole.
And as if the opportunity to work with penguins wasn’t enticing enough, living costs, rent, travel and even your clothes are covered as part of the deal.
The new recruits will be tasked with maintaining the BAS’s five research stations across Antarctica.
However, these jobs are certainly not for the faint of heart.
Residents of the Antarctic research station have to deal with frigid temperatures of up to -49°C in winter and complete darkness for months.
Eloise Saville, a carpenter at Halley VI Research Station, said: ‘If I had known this was an option before, I would have been working towards this all along. It’s not just cold, it’s cool!’
The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) is now hiring plumbers, electricians and chefs to live on site at its five Antarctic research stations

The new recruits will live in the Antarctic research stations so that scientists can conduct their research. Eloise Saville (pictured), a carpenter at the Halley VI Research Station, says her job involves scraping ice from wood and driving ski boxes.
When it comes to jobs at an Antarctic research station, you may first think of scientists, marine biologists and explorers.
Although the BAS has been responsible for incredible research, including finding the hole in the ozone layer, that wouldn’t be possible with scientists alone.
Maintaining an outpost on the coldest, driest, windiest, and most remote continent in the world requires an entire team of people working year-round.
The BAS has now done that has posted vacancies for the first series of new vacancies including diving officer, meteorological observer and ocean scientist.
However, in the coming months, more job openings will open up for chefs, vehicle mechanics and zoological field assistants.
Employees will spend extended periods in one of the research bases located across the southern continent.
While one of the bases is only open in summer, the remaining four are open all year round – meaning work doesn’t stop during the frozen Antarctic winter.
That means enduring months of prolonged darkness with winds of more than 100 kilometers per hour and temperatures that rarely rise above -30°C.

Although scientists are perhaps the best-known part of the research station, the BAS requires a team of mechanics (pictured) and other employees to keep the stations running.

Maintenance personnel (pictured) will spend up to 295 days in the station. That means surviving the Antarctic winter through months of constant darkness with winds exceeding 100 kilometers per hour and temperatures that rarely rise above -30°C (-22°F).
“This job is unlike anything I’ve ever done before,” says Ms Saville.
“I scrape ice off wood, drive ski boxes and build things in some of the most extreme places on earth, but it’s still funny how quickly it all feels normal.”
The trade-off is the opportunity to live in one of the most unique places on earth.
Ben Norrish, head of vehicles at BAS, has spent 16 seasons on the ice since starting as a mobile factory technician in 2001.
Mr Norrish says: ‘There’s something special about Antarctica and the people who adventure there that just gets under your skin.
‘No matter how many times you go, when you step off the ship or plane to Antarctica, you look up and realize where you are. That feeling of being in a great place is still the same now as it was the first time.”
However, these unique circumstances bring their own challenges, especially when it comes to food.
The bases are so inaccessible that food deliveries can only take place once a year.

The Antarctic research sites are so remote that food can only be delivered once a year. That means chefs have to plan meals up to 18 months in advance

Salaries for base staff start from £29,273, with a 10 per cent salary-based bonus on successful completion of a tour of Antarctica. Employees can also boast that they have some of the best views in the world from their offices. In the photo: A BAS employee checks scientific equipment
That means chefs should be able to plan balanced, nutritious meals for all station staff up to 18 months in advance.
And with some of the staff stuck at the station for up to 295 days at a time, it takes a lot of ingenuity to keep people fed and happy.
Olivier Hubert is now a catering manager at BAS, but was a chef at a Michelin-starred restaurant before deciding he needed a change of scenery.
Mr Hubert says: ‘Meals are such an important part of life in the South – they are the anchor points of the day, so the pressure is on to create interesting and nutritious meals from a limited supply.
‘But it’s such a privilege to cook for the team that you become family while you’re there – and the view from the kitchen is pretty epic!’
Contracts with the BAS run from six to 18 months and salaries start at £29,273 with a 10 percent salary-based bonus on successful completion of an Antarctica tour.
Applications for the first wave of jobs close in March and contracts begin at the end of July.