Where Your Camp Experiences Can Take You…

“…maybe it is time for you to get a real job”.  These dreaded words are probably the last thing that a camp-loving young adult wants to hear from a concerned parent/university adviser, and definitely something that many of us battle with in our own heads.  Heading back to camp for another summer of hard work, random camp craziness, and sun (hopefully) is certainly easier to justify if your future plans involve a child or youth based profession.  Busting out a great camp example of your behaviour management skills during an interview is admittedly more likely to impress the interview panel if you are applying for a youth worker position, than if you are going for a junior marketing job.  At a time when getting a summer internship seems to be “the thing to do” (even though an internship invariably involves more mind-numbing jobs than knowledge-gaining moments), justifying coming back to camp year after year may be becoming increasingly difficult for some of us.

I have personally heard the “real job” line on numerous occasions and never really managed to come up with much of a convincing response to the contrary.  As far as I am concerned, the issue is not that working at camp is not a “real job”, but that most of us are unable to articulate the transferable skills that we gain during our summers working at camp.  If we are able to speak about the transferable skills that we have developed during our time working at camp, and help future employers recognize their value, I am confident that many “camp-people” will find themselves more qualified and employable than their summer-in-the-city counterparts.

Here are just some of the transferable skills from camp that are invaluable when working in any workplace:    

ü  Communication Skills – camp pushes us to constantly develop our communication and observation skills.  As you know, effective communication is the foundation of a successfully functioning camp. 

ü  Leadership Development – camp provides various opportunities for you to continuously develop your leadership style and skills (e.g.; with your cabin group and activity groups) and be led as part of a group (e.g.; the counselling team).  Both of these qualities are extremely important in the workplace.

ü  Self-Directed Teamwork – at camp there are many instances where you are expected to work effectively and independently on a project as part of a small team with little input from your supervisors (e.g.; working on evening programs and special events).  Many workplaces today consist of numerous self-directed teams.

ü  Discipline – working long hours and constantly meeting high expectations, where you cannot just leave on a whim, requires some serious discipline.  Being mentally “present” every day is not easy, and also requires self-control and dedication.

ü  Problem Solving and Decision Making Skills – working with children, and as part of a team, you are constantly required to solve problems and make decisions that can have weighty consequences.  Your actions and decisions impact not only you individually, but other people, and also the camp as an organization.

ü  Conflict Resolution – the camp environment is intense in the sense that we are all with each other constantly and living in such a communal manner.  Not only are we responsible for mediating conflicts our campers may have, but being able to successfully resolve staff conflicts is critical to our ability to perform well as a team.  At camp we learn how to give and receive feedback effectively, and confront conflicts rather than simply allowing them to stew.  These are among the most important work skills (and life skills) that you could learn – and something that many professionals struggle with.

ü  Listen to and Learn from Feedback – viewing the performance evaluation process as a learning opportunity will be invaluable to your future success in any workplace.  Employers will recognize that your ability to learn from feedback will greatly increase your potential in their company.

ü  Contribution – you chose to take a position that enabled you to impact campers’ lives and the success of the camp directly.  This demonstrates that you could be trusted with an important responsibility, but also that you have a drive to make a difference to the bottom line of whoever you are working for.   

ü  Initiative – at camp we are expected to take initiative to recognize and solve problems independently, but also to do our part in improving the camp experience for campers.  I am sure that you can come up with an example of a time when you took initiative to solve a problem, develop an activity, improve the way something is done, add a creative twist …   

ü  Flexibility – everything going exactly to plan is definitely more of an exception than a rule in the camp environment!  This means that we learn to be flexible, think on our feet, and mold our actions and responses to fit the intricacies of particular situations.

I think that most of us have always been aware that the skills we work to develop at camp will be extremely important to our future success.  I hope that having read this article, you now feel more prepared to talk about these skills in a way that employers (and parents!) can relate to.