Is your child looking for his first summer job? Has she aged out of camp, but doesn’t want to give it up? Here’s why young adults should consider being a camp counselor.
Is your child looking for a summer job? According to the American Camp Association, New York and New Jersey, there is no better job to prepare them for future employment than being a camp counselor. With President Obama’s announcement in late February about the Summer Opportunity Project, which encourages businesses to employ American youth with their first jobs during the summer months and support them throughout this opportunity, counseling should be a serious consideration for older kids.
As was shown in 2012 by an Economic Impact Report (conducted on behalf of the American Camp Association by Planning Decisions Inc.), 190,000 people were employed by 7,000 camp programs in the Northeast, with the majority of those seasonal jobs being held by people ages 16-24. Young adults in this age group gain valuable skills throughout their experience working as a camp counselor that can translate into the professional world. Counselors learn communication skills and teamwork by working with other camp leaders, leadership skills and responsibility by taking charge of a group of children, time management by making sure the campers arrive promptly for activities, and problem solving when things do not go as planned. These are all skills that future employers will find valuable.
“Forget the summer office jobs and internships,” said Susie Lupert, executive director of the American Camp Association, NY and NJ, “being a camp counselor provides youth with invaluable skills that can’t be learned in any other work environment.”
For more information about finding a summer counseling job, visit aca-nynj.org.
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