How to read a rotation before you sign

Fourteen days in, seven out. Two weeks on, one off. The schedule is half of the job.

A rotation is the pattern of days you work and days you are home. Two jobs with the same pay can be very different lives depending on it, so read it as carefully as you read the wage.

Before you say yes, get answers to these:

• Is travel paid, and when does the clock start? Some employers pay from the airport, some from the gate of the site.
• How long is a shift, and is overtime built in?
• Is the days-off block real days off? Travel days can eat a third of a short break.
• Who pays for the flight, and from where? A fly-in job is only as good as its closest pickup.
• What does camp look like? Private room or shared, food, laundry, connectivity.

Then do the arithmetic. A rate that looks high on paper can come down to an ordinary hourly figure once you count the long shifts, the travel and the weeks you are away from home.

The best rotation is the one you can still keep up in year three.

Ask people who have worked there. A foreman’s answer and a camp cook’s answer are rarely the same, and both are worth hearing.

Good jobs are listed on this site as they come in. We read the rotation so you can too.