It’s a crazy and exciting time to be graduating especially as a travel and tourism, hospitality or business student from Crown. This is the time to literally spread your wings and zip off over and work at a USA Summer Camp.
How is this done?
Well, Crown has been around for 45 years with plenty of experience with Summer Camp work placement providers.
In this Summer Camp write up, I cover what skills and personal attributes are needed when applying with a Summer Camp provider, how much money you can make when working overseas and finish off with some details on what providers can do to make the transition from new graduate to experience USA Summer Camp Counsellor!
Let’s get into it.
Summer Camp Roles and What Camps are looking for in a counsellor
The camps are looking for counsellors to teach children new skills such as water sports, outdoor sports, performing arts and crafts. You don’t need to be super experienced either just an idea of the basics is generally enough to get accepted.
We know our culture is unique and diverse, so sharing your own culture of being a Kiwi is top of the list that you can offer to the camp. Kiwis are well known around the world as fun loving people that supposedly live in the set of Lord of the Rings (Hobbiton)
No doubt you will need the skills of being a big brother or sister! Don’t worry if you don’t have a sibling to hone your skills with, there is a good chance that you have a niece or nephew that you muck around with!
Children at these camps will look up to you and this is where you can impart your infinite wisdom on topics such as Justin Bieber and Widgets.
Furthermore, to be a great counsellor requires waking up with boundless energy, humour and enthusiasm. Most days will be long but rewarding, full of rich interactive experiences that you can notch up on your CV.
Finally, coming out with a brand new family is not unheard of, quite possibly giving you a lifetime of Facebook and Snapchats
There are two types of Summer Camp counsellors
General Counsellor
This is where most newbies begin their epic adventure at camp. Generally, no experience is required, just good old fashion communication and soft skills! You will be assisting and leading a variety of activities from high ropes to basketball training, making sure the children are well looked after on their breaks and building strong lasting relationships.
Activity Specialist
Are you really good at something that you can teach other people? Well, you could end up being an activity specialist! Your unique skill is taught daily with part of your day being the caregiver for your group of children. Types of skills that go down well at the Summer Camp are water skills such as lifeguarding, waterskiing, waterboarding, motorboats and swimming.
Fees
Like with all good quality programmes, there are fees involved to help you achieve your goals of working overseas. These typically range from 250 to 500 dollars, don’t go for an option because it’s just cheaper, choose because you feel comfortable with the provider and they match your own values, this means shopping around and talking with a few of them! The providers we choose typically have a really good track record with our own graduates, so you may as well start with them first.
Salary
We know you love money! The experience is great, but earning some good coin definitely makes the experience complete. Starting rates are around US$1300 with experienced USA Camp Counsellors getting US$2200 + depending on experience.
Accommodation & Food
This is free. Nothing much else to say really.
Which summer camp should I apply for?
Well, this is a common question. There are currently 12000 camps that you can choose from, so our providers create the time to understand who you are and the values that you hold and use this information to advise on the best camps to apply for.
Applying to become a USA Camp Counsellor
Most providers require that you have some basic qualification and even better if it’s in Hospitality or Travel (not essential though) with our dedicated team of Summer Camp Evangelists, there’s a great chance that you can nail their interview process!
Getting into USA!
All quality providers will help you with the J Visa that is required to work in America. But it’s a good idea to do some of your own research before heading off, just to understand traveller basics when entering their country. Medical insurance is also required and again all quality providers should include this as part of their fees. Ask about this in the interview. Our careers team can also provide some great advice on what is required when travelling as well!
Cheap Flights
Popular providers will have strategic partnerships with travel agencies to provide cheaper flights for applicants, ask for this in the interview and see what they have to say!
So there you go, the secret sauce to working in the USA, potentially the Holy Grail for graduates to get some adventure down them!
The team at Crown Institute of Studies can help you unlock the USA Summer Camp code.
So check out our website and see what we have to offer.
