As staffing continues to be a challenge in the summer camp industry, especially now that it is February, here are four alternative sources of people power to consider or revisit.

Where to Look

55+ Communities and Grandparents

Many folks who are 55 and older find themselves with time on their hands and are seeking community connections. These people may already have hobbies or careers centered around camp activities like arts and crafts, theater, hiking, horseback riding, music, swimming, and nature exploration. In addition, you may find folks who would like to assist in the health care, kitchen, or facilities role.

You can offer people who are 55+ an opportunity for a more active lifestyle and a community that is multigenerational sprinkled with a dash of purpose and youthful joy. Plus, having folks from different generations may also help cut down on some of the typical camp staff drama because there are more voices representing greater perspectives and life experiences.

Family Centers on College Campuses

When considering where to look for potential camp staff, one category of places to consider is people who may need childcare and could be interested in work trade. Check at your local college or university for a family center or a program that serves students who have children. You may find an entire family unit who not only can benefit from receiving childcare but also a parent (or two!) or who may be able to serve at camp in any number of roles.

Consider if the job that parents take on at camp can also be considered an internship for school credit. You may even get help recruiting from the family center if you work with one of their staff to generate the internship criteria.

Workforce Development Programs

There are workforce development programs through local community colleges or nonprofits in most communities. Contact the staff at these programs and learn more about what sort of services are available in your area and how camp may be able to participate in them. For programs run by your state government, there may even be reimbursement options for job training for participants.

Programs can vary widely for who they serve. Consider specifically if you could offer employment opportunities for people with disabilities.

Neighbors and Locals

Often an underutilized source of workers at camp is the direct community surrounding the camp property. To folks who have no connection to you, what happens at camp may feel very mysterious. Is there a way you can invite more members of your community and your neighbors to be on site, see what you do, and even participate in your camp community?

As Raina Baker smartly stated in her blog post, one tactic is to place a “Now Hiring” sign at your camp’s location. That could be a yard sign at your camp entrance or a banner hung on a fence or archway.

Consider if a neighbor wants to work and manage your camp herb garden in exchange for being able to harvest some fruits of their labor for home. Are there young adults who have grown up in close proximity to camp who have never had a chance to come to your camp that can be staff members (and maybe they don’t even have to drive to work!)? If you need drivers, are there responsible adults who are also your neighbors who may be able to help for those special field trip outings?

During the off season, consider offering community workshops teaching folks how to do the basics of some of your most popular activities. A half-day archery workshop or an invitation to an evening campfire shows your community you are grateful for them and interested in being a good neighbor — and you may find some new connections that serve you for years to come.

Unique Scheduling Considerations

Some of your staffing problems may be solved by simply adjusting how staff are scheduled. Here are four ideas to consider that can be applied in day, overnight, and school-year programs.

Flex Staff

In many other industries, there may be employees hired on “as needed” basis and this can be applied to camp too. Especially in a day camp setting or for day staff at an overnight camp, there will certainly be call-outs, requested vacation times, and other reasons that staff can’t come to work on any given day. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a permanent substitute staff list? If you have a large enough staff, you can almost guarantee there will be staff absences so hiring one to five flex staff may be a great addition to your staff team.

Pay for these staff to attend training and consider training these flex staff in specialty areas. These could include aquatics, challenge course, or even kitchen or facility work to fill out the areas of camp where they can pick up shifts of work.

Remote Work

How much of your team’s time is spent doing computer work? How much of that work is on a web-based or cloud server that could be accessed from anywhere?

Within your camp community, you have folks who may be very interested in picking up some part-time work. Consider asking current and former parents of campers or recent college grads who may be looking for some remote work and who already have some knowledge of how camp operates. This could be a year-round or seasonal role and could free up your year-round team from some of the button-clicking and busywork tasks.

Kitchen Internship

There are camps who proudly offer kitchen internships. These are often filled by teenagers and young adults who have some interest in culinary arts. Some camps hire folks to specifically prepare the baked goods at camp and truthfully, if this had been an option I had known about as a teen, I would have been super excited about it! Bonus: camp gets tasty baked goods on a very regular basis.

An internship could also be based around dietary restrictions and food allergies. How comforting for parents to know that there is a dedicated person who will be managing their child’s meals and snacks!

These interns can learn about how commercial kitchens operate, including but not limited to: scaling recipes up and down, managing dietary restrictions, learning about ordering and organizing supplies, and working on a team. Consider offering the opportunity to also take ServSafe classes and earn applicable certifications as part of the internship.

Simplify and Subcontract

If you consistently have activities or program areas that you have difficulty staffing, this may be the time to consider if you can quit offering that activity. Perhaps you can adjust how the activity is run or its focus so you do not need a highly specialized staff member. If that is not possible, is there a local company or guide service that may be able to offer the activity, even if it may look a little differently from how you have previously run it?

For example, perhaps your camp has decided it is too much to try to maintain your own horseback riding program, but you can contract out with local stables that offers lessons or trail rides to do an experience for some or all of your campers. When in doubt, don’t try to be the expert in all activities!

In conclusion

When your staffing is feeling complicated or challenging, consider stepping back and brainstorming unconventional ideas with your team. Look at job descriptions of other industries and explore how folks are solving their staffing problems. Ask your summer staff what staffing models they have seen in other jobs they have held. Don’t be afraid to try something new — you may land on a game changing idea and find yourself as the next Project Real Job blogger.

Photo courtesy of Camp John Marc in Meridian, Texas

This blog was written on behalf of ACA's Project Real Job, whose goal is to support camps in their efforts to recruit, hire, and retain staff. 

Ruby Compton is an outdoor educator, aquatics professional, and former camp director. She is passionate about the biodiversity and beauty of the Blue Ridge mountains where she resides. Ruby is the chief exploration officer for Ruby Outdoors and can be reached at [email protected].