Working at a summer camp is an exciting experience and many people have had the benefit of spending time at a summer camp either close or away from their homes. Meeting new people, trying new things, and engaging with children are all exciting propositions for any aspiring counselor or head counselor (senior staff). For many, however, it is their first time working at a summer camp, let alone not having the experience of being a camper first. This page is to address some common questions that people have regarding working with a summer camp from Lake Greeley Camp's perspective and a small word on the expectations we expect applicants to adhere to.
A summer camp job is something that you won't find much else in the world of employment. There are many unique aspects to working at a camp that make it an enriching experience and a great use of your time during the summer. Much like any other job you would get, there are numerous expectations that we as a employer and as a supervisor of children during the summer would expect you to fulfill. We can go into those later.
What you should also consider is that a job at a summer is one that will require you to be on the campgrounds, the premises where you are working, for the length of the employment. That means you aren't communting each day to the campground to begin work. You are living the work. By completely immersing yourself in the environment of the summer camp, you are experiencing something that very few people will, and if you really commit yourself to the work, it can be an experience that will enrich your life for years into the future.
Usually, the people you will find in a summer camp position will be those who have been involved in some type of childcare profession or are seeking to become a part of a childcare profession. Many people will be teachers who have the summer off from school and are looking to do something in that time. Others are counselors or case workers that are looking for a different job for a short amount of time. Others will have open schedules for a period during the summer and are looking to fill that void with some employment before going back to a "regular job" in the rest of the year.
In addition to these type of people, which is usually characterized as people living in the United States, you have international staff who make up a large portion of our staff as well. International staff members have these similar motivations at work, or they have a joy of working with children, but they also desire to travel to another country and experience another culture for a length of time. They certainly gain that by being at camp for 9 weeks.
First and foremost, the main important point that we look for in people who want to be a counselor at Lake Greeley Camp is a desire to work and enrich the lives of children. A job at summer camp is one that is constantly giving of attention, care, concern and experience. We are at camp not just to look after children as at a daycare, but to also give them something of ourselves.
While a fun job, it is most certainly demanding. Counselors (and our supervisory staff) are expected to function well in the schedule we utilize in the normal operation of camp. The days are long with waking up at 7:30 AM and curfew for being around 12:30 AM, so we need to know you have the stamina necessary to operate with this schedule. Rest is crucial, so your decision making needs to focus on your well-being to make sure you get the rest needed to perform the job.
Our counselors operate in a "duel role" function. That means counselors are not only responsible for campers in a particular cabin with a co-counselor, but counselors are also instructors at activity sites that fill our schedule of periods during the day. This is why managing the schedule and getting rest when we are able are crucial. In short, you are (almost) always on duty and we need to respond to the job at all times of the day, whether that be in the cabin and managing a conflict or at an activity site and teaching the campers who signed up to be there at that time.
We get all kinds of applications and people that are looking to work at Greeley for a summer job. They fit the profiles listed above or are just looking for a job. So what are those people that stand out doing that the rest are not? Refer to the following points to help make you a better candidate: