The perfect profile guide: creating great positions at Worldpackers

The first contact you will have with your travelers will be through your Worldpackers profile, before the volunteer even applies for the spot. Therefore, it is essential that the profile conveys all the most important information about your property - from the most basic things about what you will offer, to clear descriptions of the tasks and rules.

Choose your profile images well

These images, together with the title of the position, will be your business card. With this in mind, take the time to pick the best photo that matches that position as the cover: for a reception position, for example, take photos of the common area on your property, or images that communicate the idea of socialization which is so valued in a receptionist.

Quality and quantity of images in your Photo Gallery are also indispensable points: have 8 to 20 images, all in high quality (no smudges or those pixels that make it difficult to see the photo) and that show the place well: include images of the rooms where the volunteers will stay, the common areas of the property, surroundings, people interacting in the environment and in the city.

Avoid a lot of selfies, images of food (unless they are artistic!), logos and images taken from picture banks. Remember that your Gallery should be unique, just like your property is.

In your Profile Cover Image, put an image that summarizes your property - normally a view of the front. In the Profile Image, choose a photo of a face to convey more confidence to the traveler.

And don’t forget to ask for help from your volunteers: it’s very common that worldpackers take really good photos, plus they have a unique view of your place.

Use creative titles

Your title should peak the curiosity of the volunteer and inform them about something positive about your position or property, like “Help clean the Inn in the morning and enjoy the beach in the afternoon!” or “We need fresh content! Are you up for it?”.

Avoid titles that are really long (more than 65 characters), uninteresting (like just “Receptionist”, or “Looking for volunteers”) or with dates (ex: “We need help in reception in Dec, 2019”.) Use the Description field and the job Availability tool to share this information.

Hours and Skills

Always remember that the volunteer will be at your property so that you both have an interesting and enriching experience. Therefore, ask for a number of hours that gives the traveler the opportunity to live the local culture, and look for activities and tasks that heighten their interest and teach them new things.

A practice of 25 weekly hours is a good average for both sides, and the maximum number of hours we allow in hospitality businesses is 32 hours a week.

Make sure to ask the worldpacker for the amount of hours and type of skills that match with what’s on your profile in order to avoid frustration.

Offer good benefits

Many travelers choose a host because of the rewards listed on their profile. For this reason and if possible, offer meals and other extras that are available on your property, like a place to cook and free laundry. We recommend offering at least one meal.

To avoid making the worldpacker feel helpless or abandoned during the experience, only choose benefits that can actually be delivered to all travelers. If your property, for example, offers more than one type of accommodation, make it clear in the Description of your property what the possibilities are and when they can be used.

Give details about activities in the Position Description

The more detailed your Description, the more aligned the volunteer will be when they apply to the position. Give clear information about the type of activity or skills you need help with and any other information that is essential to you, like if the volunteer will need to bring some sort of equipment or that your property does not allow alcoholic beverages.

Avoid using this space to give a lot of technical details about your property: you can use the Property general Description for this.

Adjust your requirements

The requirements for your position should take into account what you are searching for in a volunteer in relation to languages, age and even some necessary documents.

If you need someone for reception, for example, it’s necessary that the person has more fluency in the local language, while a job that does not have contact with the public doesn’t require that level. By the way, don’t forget to select the local language for your property!

In relation to the minimum and maximum age in order to apply, consider the vibe of your property: If your property is a party hostel, you will probably prefer a younger crowd to help you. We have a diverse audience on the platform, and that is paramount to the experience.

Charging fees

If your property needs to collect fees from volunteers - in cases of an Ecological or Social Project - don’t forget to include the amount, currency and reasons for charging the fees in order to offer the most possible transparency to the travelers.

We do not encourage charging fees for hospitality businesses. However, we understand that for certain reasons, the host might feel the need to charge a refundable Deposit Fee to travelers, that should be explained on the profile in a clear way and with all the necessary information. In these cases, it’s important to remember that the deposit fee can be used as a way to lower the number of no shows, but never as a way to hold the worldpacker on the property if he/she shows interest in withdrawing as this is not the purpose of the platform.

In any case, we emphasize that charging fees on the profile could lower the amount of applications received.

Update the availability

Don’t forget to always keep the availability of your positions up-to-date. This is useful not just for the traveler, that won’t be frustrated by having a rejected application, but also for your position in search rankings on Worldpackers, which has the response rate and time as one of the criteria.

Adjust the length of stay

In our experience, we know that experiences have an expiration date. After some time, both the worldpacker and the host may have certain problems from living together, or even start to confuse the collaborative relationship with a work relationship - which goes against the purpose of Worldpackers. Therefore, we propose that the maximum length of stay for a volunteer on the property to be 3 months. This helps in renewing the energy of the property which is always receiving new worldpackers, as well as more applications.

We also understand that a good experience needs a minimum length of time that allows the volunteer to learn the tasks well - as well as the place. For this reason, we say that artistic positions, like communication and arts, should have a minimum period of 5 days to 2 weeks, while the operational positions have a minimum duration of 2 to 4 weeks. Also to guarantee the quality of the exchanges, we recommend that the minimum length of stay not to be longer than 4 weeks.

Add videos to your profile

If your property already has a video hosted on Youtube, include it on your page: travelers love getting to know more about a place where they will have their experiences!

Use this material to show off the property, give information about the type of help you need, and introduce yourself to worldpackers.

If you don’t have any videos yet, one idea to leverage your project is to create a video-maker job so that a volunteer can help you shoot and edit a good video.

This can help you not only make your profile more attractive, but also generate more recognition for your project on social media.

Add strategic questions on your Questionnaire

You need to ask the right questions to better filter the applications received and evaluate if the volunteer has the profile you are looking for through their answers. For example, if you need worldpackers that have bartending experience, add the question “Do you have any experience as a bartender? How was it?”. This will help you to align expectations with the travelers from the very start.

Clearly describe your property, tasks and rules

In order for the worldpacker to be able to identify if the experience you are proposing matches your goals, you should add clear descriptions of your property, rules and activities, explaining any points that you deem important for your experience.

When you are writing out this information, think about the type of volunteer you are in search of, the fundamental rules of your property and what the specific tasks will be and the shifts you need help with. Then you’ll already be able to better plan for receiving the traveler and he or she will arrive well prepared for the experience.

Don’t forget to add tags to your profile so that it will be easier to find when a traveler needs to search for a specific tag. This helps you to get more targeted applications.

You only need one position to each group of skills

You can host as many volunteers as you need to the same position and, because of that, you don't need to create several equal positions. When you confirm a trip with your volunteer, you'll get the option to close your position to stop receiving applications, or to keep it open to receive applications if you need more travelers to that position in that same period of time.

We hope that these tips help your profile to get a lot of (excellent) applications! And remember: our team is here ready to help you with more tips so that your experience is incredible! If you have any questions, please check our Help Center.