How to Get Ready for Your Camp Counselor Job Interview

Our staff are the heart and soul of camp. The adults that make up our community are crucial to having a successful summer. Ask any adult who went to camp about their favorite camp counselor and without hesitation (and a big smile on their face) they will tell you all about them.

So how do we find these amazing people to join us every summer? We want people who care about kids, are interesting and will be a good fit for our culture.

We have a thorough application process that is typically broken down into 3 parts:

An initial application and phone call
An in-depth application and Facetime/Zoom call
Reference checks

Staffing Directors will ask you a lot of questions about you. Some of these will be straightforward questions about your education and work history. Others will be about your character, such as your strengths and weaknesses.

When we speak to a potential staff member, we want to really get to know them and see their personality come out over the course of the conversation. We do not have a cookie cutter counselor because we do not have cookie cutter campers! We look for unique qualities, special interests, and specific personality traits. Below are some of the qualities we look for and some examples of the questions we ask to get there:

We are looking for staff that do the following:

Connect with kids
Creates fun
Builds a positive team and family spirit
Are humble
Are open minded, adventurous and creative
Can build open and honest relationships
Has competence in a specific activity area
Are passionate, determined and adaptable
Has the WOW or IT factor

Here are some questions that help us find the right staff:

Tell us about a child (not a family member) that you have built a strong, caring relationship with?
Why do kids like you?
What are you passionate about (what are your hobbies)?
Tell us about a time you stepped up and helped out even though it wasn’t your responsibility?
How do you take care of yourself? What is your self-care routine?
Tell us about your experience with your freshman year roommate? What did you learn about yourself, living with other people etc.?
What is the best gift you have ever given someone?
How have you improved yourself in the past year?

These questions (and more) give us a lot of insight into a person. As much as a staff member needs to be the right fit for camp, we want them to be sure we are the right fit for them. We spend a lot of time during our conversation talking about camp and the realities of camp life. We want to make sure our staff members understand our culture and what it means to be living and working with kids 24/7.

Being a camp counselor is serious business! It is the opportunity to be a role model and influential adult in a child’s life. We are looking for people who know how to have fun while doing one of the most important jobs they will ever have.

Ready to ace the interview? Apply for a Summer Job or Internship today!