We’ve all been there. First career showcase Freshman, Sophomore, maybe Junior year, with a resume boasting of high school accomplishments, a hopefully decent GPA, and that last summer you spent as a camp counselor. You look around and everyone seems to know what they’re doing—marching up to recruiters with a firm handshake and a “Oh yes, I interned here last summer and am on the board in this organization!” and all you can think about is that time you yelled at 15-year-old Robert Smith to quit whipping people with his wet towel.
It may seem overwhelming. However, a camp counselor role actually teaches you very valuable skills that all recruiters look for, skills that you can describe in nearly every interview to score yourself an internship or leadership position in an organization.
Leadership
As a camp counselor, you must both lead programs and set a positive example. Leading programs involves public speaking, capturing everyone’s attention, making sure your co-counselors are on the same page as you, organizing all supplies needed for the event, counting the campers to ensure nobody gets left behind, maintaining safety, and promoting maximum participation and inclusiveness. Additionally, you need to set a positive example, maintaining an overly happy, energetic demeanor for several hours in a row. This intense leadership role demonstrates responsibility and accountability, something recruiters and campus leaders look for.
Time Management
The camp counselor role requires you to juggle programming events, supervising your campers, attending meetings, all while having maximum energy and somehow making time for yourself to breathe. If you can talk about how many programs you arranged and led each week, interviewees will be exceptionally impressed.
Dealing with Unexpected Changes
Think about the fights you’ve had to break up. The vomit you’ve had to wipe off the bus during the field trip. The time a camper lost $50 at the bowling alley. Someone who can plan for the unpredictable, maintain composure in times of trauma, and handle ambiguity is especially valuable to every company.
Creativity
A camp counselor must plan events that appeal to a broad range of campers, find innovative solutions to deal with problems such as fights or unexpected weather, and understand where to find and how to use various resources such as past programs and information on specific campers.
Teamwork
A camp counselor must work with other counselors to plan events and solve problems. In an interview, give an example of a time you and your co-counselor with very different strategies managed to work together to solve an issue. For instance, I am generally a more lenient counselor, but I learned from those around me how to lecture my campers without coming off as the bad guy.
The Counselors (Camp Ramah Darom, Summer 2015)
Ultimately, interviewees want flavor. With any skill—be it leadership, time management, dealing with unpredictability, creativity, or teamwork—you need both numbers and a story. How many campers did you have? How many people did you lead programs for? How many people did you work with? What did you do that proves you have those skills you mentioned? Lastly, always tie in what you did to how that will benefit the internship or position you are going for.
So this year when you walk into career showcase, don’t be intimidated by your peers with staggering lists of past internships and leadership positions. Because in all honesty, you are right up there with them.
Good luck everyone!
