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Bridging the gap.

Article Excerpt
On one side, there are the emerging professionals, expressing frustration because they are not getting hired as the camp directors, or upper-level administrators, and not understanding why. On the other side are the owners/operators expressing frustration because they can't find qualified applicants to hire as the camp directors or upper-level managers. What's left in the middle is a gap created by skill-set expectations that have not been clearly and/or consistently communicated.

As an industry, we are very good at communicating the message that "camp is fun." We promote fun, develop fun, and train our staff to deliver fun. Camp staff know how to instruct fun, facilitate fun, and debrief fun. Some staff think camp is so much fun they decide to have professional careers in camp or youth development. With dreams of becoming the amp director or administrator, they return to camp each season, march off to college to get degrees in recreation ... only to suffer from shock when faced with what it really takes to make it in this industry as a director and are not hired.

The problem is that many emerging professionals are lacking the skill sets required to be successful in the job as a camp director. Plus, we as an industry have not always been clear about communicating what the expectations are.

And what we are not telling emerging professionals is that the reality of running a camp is nothing like going to camp or being a seasonal staff member! Just as being a "good" camper does not equate to success as a camp counselor, being a "good" counselor or program staff member does not prepare someone for the demands of running the camp. Skills used for teaching swimming, arts and crafts, ropes course ... have almost nothing to do with skills required for the day-to-day job of being a camp director! Running a camp is running a business (and this includes nonprofits). No matter how warm and fuzzy the mission statement, running a camp requires the same skills needed to run any business, such as knowledge of finance, human resources, marketing, accounting, etc. (As for the fun message? Being the camp director is often the least fun job in camp.)

Bridging the Gap

In order to help emerging professionals make it to the other side of the gap, we have identified skills and areas of professional knowledge that camp directors use every day--and that...

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