Crafting a User-Friendly Camp Hiring Process

Summer camps face an annual challenge of hiring the right employees to cover camp operations during their busiest season. Whether there are too many applicants or too few – finding the right system to draw them in, review applications, conduct interviews, communicate offers, and begin onboarding – is critical. 

Candidates are likely to submit applications to several camps and other jobs. From the moment the application is submitted, they will be awaiting feedback. Navigating the application process smoothly and being given clear timelines and expectations aren't just courtesies – they’re requirements! After hearing from you, remember the applicant still needs to weigh their options, make travel plans, organize living arrangements, and more. 

Your hiring process should be as user-friendly as possible to attract the best talent and ensure a positive experience and timely response. But how do you do that, exactly? 

Here are some of our recommendations:

• 📣 Post job opportunities in multiple outlets and promote listings via social media. This is the best way to ensure you have enough applicants entering your hiring process to come out the other side with a full staff roster. Try spreading word through summer job listing websites, local college job websites, your own website, and popular job hunt websites like LinkedIn or Indeed.

• 🤔 Write clear job and camp descriptions. When applying for a job, no one wants to play guessing games about what the position entails and whether they are qualified. Be up-front about the tasks required, hard and soft skillsets needed, and any cultural expectations such as appearance or personal habits.

• 👍 Make it easy to apply and interview. Consider the lifestyle of the types of people you are hiring. If your ideal applicants are in their late teens and early twenties, they may be searching for positions and applying from mobile devices. That means choosing technology platforms that are mobile-friendly will be critical in getting them to complete the process.

• ✅ Include hard qualifiers early in the application and interview process. Getting hardline questions out of the way as soon as possible will make the entire process easier for everyone involved. Waiting until the end of the hiring process to ask questions that will immediately qualify or disqualify a candidate is not a good use of anyone’s time.

• 🎯 Create clear guidelines for moving candidates through the hiring process. Set timelines for applying, interviewing, and follow-ups. This allows the hiring team to prioritize tasks and streamline decision-making, so applicants are not left with a wall of silence after clicking submit.

• ⭐ Organize a system to easily identify an applicant’s status. Not only will a clear status help to alleviate the wall of silence some applicants face – it also allows your team to quickly assess the fit and number of candidates in the hiring pipeline versus remaining unfilled positions; enabling you to take down listings or promote specific positions as needed. 

• 🌐 Leverage technology and offer flexible interview processes. Remember, the candidates you’re hiring may not live nearby – so schedule interviewing hours that will be convenient across time zones and weigh the importance of in-person interviews versus virtual meetings accordingly.

• 👄 Take advantage of word of mouth! Working at camp can be more fun with a familiar face around. Give candidates a way to easily share job postings or submit a referral for an acquaintance who may also be looking for a position. 

• ✨ Don’t dismiss potential... It can be tempting to quickly eliminate good candidates for temporary issues, such as scheduling conflicts or candidates with a little less experience than you prefer. Instead, give honest feedback about your reservations and keep their contact info to check back in the next hiring season.

Great news! iCampPro has many built-in tools to help your team set up a user-friendly hiring process – including custom forms for applications and interviews, a staff portal for candidates to apply and check on their hired status, and much more!