Finding Short-Term Work and Cheap Places to Stay in Hawaii



Dear Lisa

I was surfing the web for info on Hawaii when I came across your great website. I’m a 19 year old girl currently living in Brussels, who’s planning on going to Hawaii from september ‘07 and staying for approx two or three months (90 days is maximum on a travel visa). My plan is to buy a planeticket, book an acommondation for a week or two and then figure out what to do next.. My question is; how difficult is it to get a job on Hawaii? Thinking of jobs like bartender, lifeguard, waitress - basically whatever to get some cash. And is it absolutely necessary with a U.S work permit (which is kinda stressfull to get in my country), or is it possible to get work, and get paid in cash, and work - well, you get the picture.. “illegaly”.

My other question; is it possible to find a place to stay for 2-3 months? Obviously I can’t stay in an hotel or something pricey for such a long period of time. Is it possible to live somewhere for free if you help about, work for them etc ? Do you have any helpful advice?

I would really appreciate it if you would take time to answer my questions.
Thanks for a great site and happy new year by the way!

Well, especially right now, it’s pretty darn easy to get a job. Employees are *desperate* to hire because there are many more jobs than people right now. I don’t think you’ll have a problem. Unfortunately, I know NOTHING about getting a job under the table :). I’ve never done it and I just don’t even know where one would start. I think that what you need is to get in on the Hawaii hostel scene. Hostels are places where people can stay for a while for free or cheap and they probably would be able to give you advice on where to get work. Start here: (hawaii hostels search at google) if you don’t know anything about hostels, and look for a forum where maybe you can get a contact before you come. Good luck! Have a great time! Lisa

7 January 2007 | More like this: Hawaii - general, Jobs in Hawaii, Most Popular Questions, Prices

8 Responses to “Finding Short-Term Work and Cheap Places to Stay in Hawaii”

  1. 1 jessica 22 January 2007 @ 6:21 am

    I was wondering are there any summer work programs for college students? I am looking to stay in a hotel and work for the summer and I was wondering if there are any hotel jobs where you can work at the hotel and stay for free. I am a college student and I remember one of my moms friends doing something similar while she was in college. Does anything like this still exist?

  2. 2 Lorin 31 January 2007 @ 5:31 am

    You should check out wwoofing (willing workers on organic farms)there are several in Hawaii

  3. 3 Lisa 14 February 2007 @ 11:07 pm

    Ellen from Belgium sent me this question:

    I would like to stay in Oahu for a while, like a sort of vacation. But I don’t want to stay in a hotel. So my question to you is if you can find people or families who wouldn’t mind to have a stranger in their house for a while? I would like to stay at the North Shore, so I can learn to surf. I’m aware of the fact that this probabely isn’t your job, but I have no idea where I can find chatboxes or adresses to get in contact with local people.

    and I replied:

    I know of no such program or website and I am really reluctant to even look into it for you, because I can only imagine how people looking to take advantage of other people might find their way into such programs. You may want to look into Backpackers Hostel on the North Shore: http://backpackers-hawaii.com/ or look into wwoofing (I cannot vouch for the validity or safeness of this, I am just passing on what someone else suggested) http://www.wwoofhawaii.org/listings/oahu_kauai_molokai.htm

  4. 4 SUMMER 30 June 2007 @ 12:13 am

    This is the website lisa needs: http://www.globalfreeloaders.com/ They list people offering a place to stay in their homes. I haven’t used them, but was thinking about it for my next trip.

  5. 5 Danielle 29 July 2007 @ 5:37 pm

    I’m a 21 year old college student. And I was thinking about traveling over to Maui next summer and get a waitressing job. I do have experience. Do you have any suggestions about cheaps places or locations to work?

  6. 6 Lisa 29 July 2007 @ 5:41 pm

    Try Lahaina or Wailuku - Kahului

  7. 7 Jon 1 September 2007 @ 12:16 am

    Hey - I’m a 21 year old, who will be graduating college in December, and was wondering how to go about finding a job a as a bartender or waiter in Hawaii for about 6 months? Me and my cousin also 21 year old are looking for a hotel/resort where they would put us up in maybe staff quarters or something. Any ideas on where to start?
    Thanks!

  8. 8 tom 25 January 2008 @ 8:23 pm

    I’m thinking about going to the big island for about 6-8 months for work. would like to find an organic farm with camping or small lodging, with a little pay and food in exchange for work, other possibilities; restarunt work, labor,would like to be close to a raw food community or farmers mkt.

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