Hiring a great team is what makes a great summer camp. Building a community of positive and friendly counselors that make your campers feel at ease is essential. The magic of summer camp starts with your camp counselors! They’re the ones that initially welcome campers, check in with them daily, run activities and teach new skills.

Learn how to hire great summer camp staff.

 

Find People Passionate About Their Hobbies

If you’re looking to bring in someone to run arts and crafts or teach campers outdoor survival skills, it’s important to find someone who is passionate about those topics. Advertise what areas you’re looking to hire for, and you’re more likely to get a talent pool that is passionate about that specific area. For example, if you’re trying to get a theater program off the ground, you could advertise that as a theater camp counselor rather than just a generic camp counselor position. Budding actors, directors, and production crew members might be looking to add some managing experience to their resume, and a camp counselor position is a great way to do it! If they’re passionate about an activity, they’re more likely to inspire campers to give it a try!

 

Pull From Your Own Community

Recruiting from your community of campers is another way of finding quality campers. At the end of camp season, look at the kids you have aging out of your programs. If they’re old enough to join you as a counselor next season, start talking to them about it now. Start giving them leadership tasks around camp in their last year as a camper. Putting that seed in their brain might make them decide to apply next summer when they’re old enough to be a camp counselor. Plus, when you recruit from your own community, you are working with people who have gone through your camp and know what to expect. They know what helped them when they were a first-time camper away from home for the summer, and how to relate to others learning how to thrive at summer camp.

 

Show Off The Fun Side 

It’s important to show the fun side of working at a summer camp. It’s work, but it is rewarding and more fun than most jobs! In your marketing materials and social media posts, make sure to show camp counselors engaging with campers in activities. Try to capture moments where there are genuine smiles or expressions of excitement on campers’ and counselors’ faces. Write fun job descriptions. Not every job lets you make art, run a theater production, or go kayaking every day. There are perks to being a summer camp counselor that you just don’t get anywhere else!

 

Recognition And Retention

Don’t forget to recognize your current camp counselors and the great job they are doing throughout their time working for you. Recognition helps with retention. Make your camp counselors feel valued so they are more likely to want to come back again next season. Let them know before camp season that you had a great time working with them last summer, and invite them back. They’ll have even more confidence coming back to work for your summer camp a second year!