Camp Counselors Develop Job Skills

How can you turn summer fun into job earnings? Can camping offer you job skills that will get you hired early in your career? Hernando County 4-H puts many hours into training and preparing youth ages 14 to 18 as camp counselors. These teens give up several weekends, evenings, and then a week (sometimes more) of their summer to work hard at making camp fun for others. The benefit? Life skills of course. According to Educational Career Consultant Cheryl Magen, “Human Resource managers value camp counselor experience.” These skills are not only learned but put into practice and, the more years you counsel, the more hands on learning and experience you gain. http://www.metrokids.com/MetroKids/January-2010/Counselor-Jobs-Build-Useful-Skills/

Skills Learned
Some of the skills employers look for that are prevalent amongst successful counselors are: teambuilding, supervision, mentoring, problem solving, communication, cooperation, leadership, and program development. This last one is significant because Hernando counselors plan and carry out their residential week of camp. They not only set the schedule and choose the events and activities, counselors then go on to organize, plan, and carry out the majority of them. Classes are taught by adults but chosen by youth.

How it Starts
To be considered for the job, hopeful candidates must first complete a job application with references. It is important that parents or well-intentioned adults NOT do this for them. Applicants are asked to sell themselves, the same they would need to do if up against 50 other qualified candidates for the job. Why should we choose you? Communication, writing, task-completion, and (eventually) public speaking are more skills highly valued by employers. All applicants then attend mandatory training sessions totaling approximately 64-75 hours. Due to the nature of the job, being in charge of other peoples’ children, new trainees are not permitted to miss any time. Experienced, successful counselors can miss 2-4 hours total but not consecutively. During training, we teach various lessons including How to Deal with Emergencies, Ages and Stages, Working with Differently-abled youth, and Cooling Hot Spots. Trainers also observe social skills during breaks, willingness to try new things, enthusiasm, leadership, and time management.

Read more here:
10 Reasons Why Businesses Should Hire Former Camp Counselors – Anne Archer Yetsko
https://www.acacamps.org/news-publications/blogs/counselors-corner/10-reasons-why-businesses-should-hire-former-camp-counselors

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Posted: February 9, 2018


Category: 4-H & Youth, Curriculum
Tags: Teen Leadership


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