Ep. 173 - Hiring Seasonal Staff : 3 Ways to Make Your Summer Successful

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Show Notes:

Your best camp theme and your cutest craft won’t save a summer that’s staffed wrong. In this episode of Learning to Thrive, we dig into what’s really behind a great summer camp experience: seasonal staff who bring energy, manage emotions, and keep kids safe even when the day gets loud and messy.

We walk through our three-part framework for summer camp staffing and staff management. First, we hire personality and teach skill, because a counselor’s attitude shows up in every parent interaction and every kid’s memory of the week. We talk about who to recruit and who to avoid. If someone says they’re not a camp person, we explain why you should take them at their word.

Next, we break down seasonal staff onboarding and training that actually sticks: background checks, CPR certification, required documentation, and mandatory pre-camp meetings that cover expectations plus emergency procedures. Finally, we share how we support counselors all summer with daily camp leads, clear standards on the floor, and short pre-camp check-ins that set the tone, especially on Mondays when first impressions decide everything.

If you want a safer, smoother, more profitable camp season with better staff retention, press play, subscribe, and share with a fellow camp director!

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome back to Learning to Thrive. I'm Courtney. And I'm Michaela. And today we are getting into the people who make the summers happen. Yes. Our seasonal staff. And how you can help make the seasonal staff successful and by default make your summer successful.

Hire the Personality, Teach the Skill

SPEAKER_02 0:26

Yeah. We've got three main points we're going to kind of touch on today and dive into a little bit deeper. But I think I think we just I think we start right off the bat with the first one because I think it's truly what makes or breaks the overall camp experience, the child's experience while they're at camp. I think it makes or breaks most of our businesses. Yeah. Yeah, this is true. This is absolutely true. But especially, especially I think for summer camp, if you have a kid who comes, you know, they're only signed up for one week of camp, or if you're a you know, a company that does camps by the day, they only come to one day, you know, something like that. And it's it's your employees, right? It is the seasonal staff. So it's the idea of hiring the personality and teaching the skill, because ultimately your child's interaction with those employees or with those summer staff members is what is gonna have the biggest impact. Because if there's any other sort of issue or anything along the way, it's gonna come back to well, how did the camp lead handle it? How did we handle it? You know, so and did they have fun? Did they bond with their camp instructor? Were, you know, or were they a Debbie Downer and an Eeyore the whole time? And, you know, the personality of the camp instructor, I think, is I think it's it's huge.

SPEAKER_00 1:50

And I think we've had over the years, we've had a variety of of there's there's a lot of times in a bit in a in a business life where you have to plug in somebody that you know is either doesn't want to do it, right? Or you know isn't that great and you and you're like, oh, well, I'm just gonna have to plug them in anyway. And that can be necessary, but I would say the times that we have done that is when we get other problems that pop up, right? So when you're looking at who's going to staff your camps, and let's say you have a full-time person, you know, who coaches, and you're like, well, well, they can just shift some of their hours because enrollment will drop, and they can shift some of their hours to camp. And they're like, I don't want to do camp. I'm not a campy kind of person. Believe them. Right. Right. So not everybody is meant to entertain kids all day long. Not everybody is meant to go a full four hours of let's make this a great experience. Right? Some people are meant to coach. And in coaching, it's I'm teaching the same kids week after week, and I'm elevating their skills. In a camp situation, you're seeing these kids for a week. Like you said, some camps maybe a day. And so you're giving them what you can in that time, but you're you're not necessarily building lasting relationships with every child in your camp. Right. So it takes a special personality to be able to come amped up all five days of the week or you know, two days a week, depending on how much you work them, and then making sure that for the entire duration of the camp, they stay on their game, full of energy, and they're also watching for safety, plus making sure the kid has a good time. So when we talk about hiring the personality teaching the skill, you need a special kind of person in your in your seasonal positions. It can't just be some random person off the street. It can't just be, oh, I'm desperate. I have one slot to fill. Really, really looking at the personalities and trying to get the right fit for this role.

SPEAKER_02 3:48

So especially because if you're hiring for seasonal staff, there's a whole, you know, there's a whole group of people who are looking for a summer job. Oh my gosh, yeah. And they're a lot of times when they're looking for a summer job, right? You're looking at things that are only available in the summer, right? So you've got this whole influx of people who are like, listen, I just, you know, I'm home for the summer or I'm here. I'm got the time during the summer. I just need to pick up a couple shifts and need to make a little bit of money, and I'm just gonna clock in and clock out. Yeah, those are not your people. Those are not your people, and there are other jobs that they can do that they would be much happier at anyway.

SPEAKER_00 4:33

Rita's. That's for us around here, like that is the summer job where it's like go serve friends, and they do a great job. Yeah, but it's not teaching camp.

SPEAKER_02 4:44

No, it's not having a whole group of children that you're responsible for keeping them safe and entertaining them for to and handling emotions six hours a day, you know? Yeah. So you you want to hire someone who wants to be a camp instructor.

SPEAKER_00 5:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:03

Yep. For those two months.

SPEAKER_00 5:04

Yeah. And they love, yeah. If they love your facility, if they were a camper, if you've been around that long, that makes a great one. If they were a former athlete, if they're your current athletes, but they're their you know, schedules shift, siblings of you know, kids who have been in your program, make great, you know, prospects. Teachers that are out for the summer that want a little extra cash can be great camp counselors or camp directors, depending on your leadership levels in your camp system. So look, look for the people who want to be there. Don't just settle for the person who can work.

SPEAKER_02 5:42

You will pay the price later. Yeah, I promise. Yes. Yeah. So that's that is our first point. And that is, I think, where a lot of this comes down to, right? Because then a lot of this other stuff that we're gonna we're gonna dive into. If you've hired the right personality and you've got someone who's like bought in and ready to go and ready to make camp super fun and exciting, then the rest of this stuff will work. Will work. And it won't be pulling teeth, you know, to to do it.

SPEAKER_00 6:08

If you don't do that, then please see our episode on staff accountability and disciplinary. Ugh. Yeah. Yeah. But that, yeah.

Seasonal Onboarding & Training Process

SPEAKER_02 6:19

Hopefully we don't even have to go there. But so that's that's point number one. Hire the personality, teach the skill. Okay. Point number two, or tip number two, is your onboarding and your training process for your seasonal staff. So obviously there's some HR-related legal stuff that we got to get done, right? They need their background checks done, they need their CPR done. Um, there's a couple of those things that we have to have to make sure get done in the state of Maryland. You have to be, you have to have a license to operate a summer camp, a childcare license. And so with that, there's certain requirements of what your employees have. And they need it needs to be done before camp starts. Before camp starts, right? So again, if you hire someone who is really not super excited, getting them to get these things done might be pulling teeth versus someone who's like excited to work, they're ready to be here, they'll be like, yeah, of course, I gotta get my background check done, no problem, then get it done. So that's part of it. The other piece of it is your camp training meetings. So we have pre-scheduled and mandatory staff training. So if you want to work summer camp, even if you're already an employee, right? Even if you already work one or two days a week during the school years and you've worked class camps for 10 years. And yeah, and you've worked summer camps every year, you have to attend the camp training meetings, or you cannot be scheduled to work camp. That allows you to get everyone on the same page about what your expectations are, both like your normal, like attendance expectations, things like that, but also the expectation that like you are here to make Thrive Summer Camp the best summer camp in the county. So that bring the energy, bring you know the fun. People got up at midnight to be in this camp.

SPEAKER_00 8:17

You got you need to remember that when they show up and make it the experience that they want.

SPEAKER_02 8:21

Yep. Yeah. And we also, those mandatory meetings, they're scheduled way in advance. So also when we're hiring And there's multiple. Yes. There's a couple different options. If you can't make the first one, it's not a deal breaker. You got one or two other options you can go to, but you have to attend one of them. But then when we're hiring these people, before we even talk about, you know, what day you're gonna work or when, you know, your first start date is hey, put these dates on your calendar. You need to be at one. And then obviously we keep track of who attends and who doesn't and make sure that everyone is there.

SPEAKER_00 8:56

And those camp trainings also allow you to go over emergency procedure, which it's helpful to have everybody there for those because in an emergency, you don't ever know who's gonna be, who's gonna be there that day. So knowing that the entire staff has that information and has seen the roles and how to go about doing the different roles, that way they can react appropriately if in that and that has saved us a couple of times. We uh we don't have a ton going on around here in Maryland, but tornado warnings tend to be where we really get to put into practice our emergency procedures. And having everyone on the same page as far as knowing where the different places to go to take the kids, how we communicate with the parents, has really made for a seamless experience for both the kids and the parents, not getting too upset, not getting too emotional. It's just a very well-practice, like, okay, we're all gonna go sit in the bathroom and we're gonna play a game. And they know it, we know it, and it works out very well. So it is worth the investment of your time to host the meetings, preparing for the meeting is your job as a leader. So don't go into that meeting and wing it. That is gonna set the stage for the rest of your summer. Go in fully prepared, know what you want to cover, emergency procedures, expectations, and how things work, what they can expect, what how you're supporting them, all of that stuff needs to be in that meeting. It's really a one-stop shop. And if you miss the moment, you're gonna pay for it in the long run.

SPEAKER_02 10:30

Right.

SPEAKER_00 10:30

With having to deal with either problems or repeat yourself or whatever it happens to be.

SPEAKER_02 10:34

Right. The other thing, too, with getting everyone on the same page in those meetings is at least for us, we've, you know, such a large camp program that we run. There are definitely you will have a group of kids who might have the same instructor all five days out of the week. That might happen, but it's a lot more likely that they're going to be interacting with two or three different instructors over the course of the week. So it's the same group of kids. They're with their little buddies all week. But, you know, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, they might have Coach Josh, and then Tuesday and Wednesday or Tuesday and Thursday, they might have Coach Alice or something like that. Just based off of how the staffing goes and things like that. That also allows them, hopefully, if everyone's on the same page, expectations are clear. We're, you know, we're all going into this with the same mindset that the experience isn't going to vary too much day by day to the kid to the point where they're like, well, I don't want to go back on Thursday because I don't like so-and-so. It it should be seamless. Be seamless no matter what instructor you have for a group, or yeah, or you have an instructor's on vacation. They leave early for vacation, or they you throw a different instructor in there, and it should be, like you said, a seamless transition. And those meanings are great because they allow you to do that.

SPEAKER_00 12:01

That's where you set them. Yes. And then you've and then you've got to continue with your expectations. And what would you say some of our camp, like for our camp staff, what is the expectation?

SPEAKER_02 12:11

Like specific examples?

SPEAKER_00 12:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:14

So no leaning up against walls, body language. So we're not standing there with our arms crossed or our hands in our pockets, facial expressions. We also have cameras throughout the whole gym. So it's a really easy reminder to be like, hey, you're on camera. Yeah. Someone can see you.

SPEAKER_00 12:36

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 12:36

Fix your face.

Ongoing Support of Your Staff

SPEAKER_00 12:37

And I think the energy level too, right? When we when we're first talking to people and and and at the camp meeting and then throughout the time, the energy level of our camp instructors has to be high. Like there's just no room for error. So we'd rather have you find a sub than come in sick, right? We'd rather have you work two days and cover the third versus committing to two days and being tired every time you come in for the third, right? So like knowing setting the expectation that if you have signed up for this shift or the this schedule and you're working three camp days a week, we want the same energy on Friday as we get on Monday. And really, that's the expectation, right? That's not just a nice to have, that's the expectation. We expect that you're aware of all allergies, right? We expect that you are counting your kids and making sure that they're all accounted for at all times during the day. We expect that you are communicating injuries and putting them in the injury log. We expect that you are following the lesson plan, you're rotating on time. So these things, laying these out for people, not just at the camp training meeting, but in all communication multiple times weekly, as needed, giving reminders, all that stuff, can really make or break the team. Because if six out of eight of your people are never leaning against a wall, and two people are constantly leaning against a wall, and that doesn't get corrected, you're gonna then next week have four out of eight. And then the next week you're gonna have six out of eight. So staying on top of, um, which kind of leads into our next point, staying on top of making sure that what your expectations are is showing up on the floor.

SPEAKER_02 14:16

Right. Right. So that is a perfect segue into our third point, our third tip, which is the ongoing support of your summer staff. So it is maintaining those queer expectations throughout the entirety of the summer, day by day, week by week. Um, and the couple of ways that we do that is we have daily camp leads. So every day you've got, I don't know, let's say eight camp staff working. Eight, yep. And then your ninth person is the camp lead. So that is the person who is not assigned to a specific group. They are floating around checking in on every group. They are helping to run the little ones to the restroom if they need to. They are, you know, hey, so-and-so, you know, fell when they were doing their cartwheel and bumped their knee, and now they want a band-aid or they want an ice pack. Okay, that person takes that kid, fills out the injury form, gets them, you know, handles parent communication. They are aware of everything that is going on in the gym for all of the camp kids. And they're also the person who then, if there is, let's say, an instructor leaning against the wall, in the moment they're going over and hey, just a reminder, keep the energy up, let's get off the wall. You know, yep. Do you need anything else? No, okay, awesome, good. Maybe, maybe the person's like, you know what, I I really need to use the restroom. Okay, yeah, no problem. I'll hop in and I'll watch your group for five minutes while you go get a sip of water and you use the restroom. They are they are floating, but they are they are the point person of the day.

SPEAKER_00 16:01

Yeah, and I would say to the to that uh we have seven groups usually, eight instructors, and then the camp lead. So there's so we also staff one over so that if there is a rowdy group, if there is a kid who is struggling, if there is, you know, the different things that kind of pop up that are gonna need somebody to stay with that child or what, or a call out, like you get there in the morning and you're like, where is Susie? She's not here. Okay, well, we had eight people, we have seven groups, eight people scheduled to work. Okay, we got to slide somebody over. So that that piece of it helps you to maintain your expectations because you are overstaffed, hopefully. You're not ever in a desperate situation, which means you can say, your energy today is terrible. I need you to fix it. And if you don't see improvement, you have the ability to send that person home. Or you have the ability to swap out that person for 30 minutes while they go eat. Like it just gives you the ability to do that, which then for the other teachers that are, you know, that are that are working camp and the uh and the whole camp experience, it just is so steady because then it's there's you're not really reacting to anything out of an emergency. It's just okay, we're making this change, we're making that change, and we're holding to our expectations. And if you can do that for the first two weeks and then just keep reinforcing it, then the r most of the summer until the last two weeks. The last two weeks need all the reminders. But we've made it that far.

SPEAKER_02 17:32

We've made it through eight weeks.

SPEAKER_00 17:34

Yeah, it's pretty that that's where you start buying people lunch, you know? You start having coffee runs and whatever just to get through those last two weeks. But that is that daily camp lead is truly the person who's got their eyes on camp. And that frees up your front desk person to handle your customers who are coming in for classes. That frees up your team director to be dealing with team, like you don't really want anybody splitting their hats over it. And it's a great place for your returning college kids or your really outstanding instructors to take a leadership role that's not too high of a risk. Right? It's it's a limited amount of time, it's a very clear job description, and they're not the only person in the building. So they do have support if something goes wrong. They can try out a leadership role like that, and you might find, you know, your next best leader.

SPEAKER_02 18:23

Yeah. So and because we typically do it by shift, so morning and afternoon. Yeah. And some days it's the same person, you know, all day. But then other times, like you said, especially if it's someone who's like, okay, let's let's let them have a little bit more responsibility this year, like, let's see how that goes. Giving them a half half day shift is the perfect opportunity because it's a lower hour commitment. Um, if you put them in like the afternoon when there's less kids in the gym, it's also a really great way they can try out a leadership role. So, one more note with the camp leads and leadership throughout your summer is do you have one person who is in charge of all the seasonal staff? So, you know, this could look like a couple different things. This could be someone who does the majority of the HR work for your business. This could be someone who you hire, a camp director who comes in and just oversees the entirety of the camp program year to year, um, but someone who is kind of the primary touch point for all seasonal staff members throughout the entire week. So you've got your daily people who are handling like in the moment, in the gym, what's happening? But then you also have your person who is your contact for, hey, I'm going on vacation in two weeks. I found coverage, here's who it is. Or, you know, this is also your person who's overseeing. Did those background checks all get done? Did those CPR certifications come through? Is everything documented that way when your camp, your state camp inspector comes through, you know, you've got everything there ready to go. They're they're helping you with the planning process, things like that. So just kind of different levels of leadership and oversight over the course of the summer. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:15

And I'd say if you're a smaller gym and you're like, I don't, I don't have that many people to do that many layers of leading, that's okay. These roles can be combined. They can be added to the the responsibilities of other people on your staff. Each, you know, like you can hand them out as independent roles as well, but somebody touching base and making sure that your seasonal staff is doing well, just checking in with them, making sure they're liking what they're doing, any problems that are coming up, just somebody to make sure that they're taken care of can go a long, long way because they're only there for a short period of time. So you want them to feel invested in and you want them to feel connected to the organization.

Daily Check-Ins

SPEAKER_02 20:50

Right. In the same way that we want the camp experience to be wonderful for the the clients, like the customers, you also want it to be a really good experience for the employees. That way you have those return employees that are super wonderful and help to make your camp so successful. So and then one last thing for the ongoing support of your seasonal staff would be daily check-ins before camp starts. So we do oh, what is it? It's eight, eight, fifteen. Eight a.m. is when everyone gets there. 8.15, I think. 8.10 is when 8.10 is usually when we do our morning check-in. Yeah. So all the camp, right before five, 10 minutes before the kids start coming through the door. Parents are already lined up outside, ready. Yeah, we do a drop-off and we go.

SPEAKER_00 21:40

They can they can pull up, drop their kid their child off, and then go. Which which it goes to that whole experience piece.

SPEAKER_02 21:46

But but this is right before that happens. The gym is quiet, everyone is there. We have our camp lead of the day going through everything. Everyone, okay, every instructor, you guys have your list of kids. Any questions? Nope. Okay, good. Everyone's got their rotation schedule for the day. Okay, great. If there's any super important things that we need to know that are specific to that day about a specific, you know, kid or group or allergies. Allergies, events that are going on, things like that. It it just is one more time to get everyone on the same page and it sets the tone. So if whoever's leading that meeting is like, all right, it's Monday.

SPEAKER_01 22:32

Yeah, we've had we've been there sometimes.

SPEAKER_02 22:35

You know, versus someone who's like, all right, everyone, it's Monday, let's get after it. Right. Everyone got what they need. Does anyone need anything? Does anyone have any questions before we dive into making today as great as possible? Yeah. It sets the tone.

SPEAKER_00 22:51

It sets the- And can I say something about your Monday staff? Okay, so here Monday is the hardest, not the hardest. That's not true. Monday is the most critical day of the week for that getting the kids acclimated, getting them out of the car, making the a great impression on the parents. Like that is, you want your most experienced staff, you want your peppiest staff, you want your Monday people to really be top-notch. Right. Don't put somebody that you're 50-50 about on a Monday because Monday sets the whole tone for the whole week. Every day is important, but Monday, put your best foot forward because those parents might be meeting you for the first time. The kids are trying to figure out if the environment is safe. Is this going to be fun? A lot of decisions made on Monday. So make sure you make it good your Monday. You can't do anything else. Make Monday great. Right.

unknown 23:45

Right.

SPEAKER_02 23:46

All right. So that those are our three, our three things. I think we've got, you know, right off the bat, your camp staff makes or breaks the overall experience. So hire the personality, hire the people who want to be there, who want to make it fun, who want to have a good time. Yep. The rest of it, whether it's a soccer camp, a gymnastics camp, an art camp, whatever it is, you can teach them how to teach that portion of it. You can teach the skills. That is not the issue. The personality you cannot teach. And sometimes people just are who they are. So hire the right ones. Yep. Second is your onboarding and your training. This is what is going to set the tone for the summer. Also gives you the opportunity to feel everyone out and make sure we did, in fact, hire the right people. Because there's a good chance that if it takes you you have to ask someone 15 times to get their background check done, you're going to run into other issues along the way. Agreed.

SPEAKER_00 24:48

They're not going to fill out the band-aid in the injury report. Right. And that's required by state law.

SPEAKER_02 24:53

So yes. And then once we get going, we've got our people. Everyone's on the same page. Summer is here. What are you going to do to continue to support those seasonal employees to make sure that the kids aren't the only ones having a great time? The employees are also having a great time. It is a well-rounded, wonderful experience for everyone involved parents, coaches, students. Um, we do that through our camp leads and through the daily check-ins that set the tone energy and expectations every single day. Yeah. Before camp. Yeah. It can be fun. Yeah. It it is summer camp is a huge. I don't want to call it a beast because that makes it sound deal. It's a huge deal. It's a huge deal. Yeah. But it can be fun. It can be successful. It can be profitable and it can be enjoyable if you put the time and energy into setting it up. And ultimately it comes down to your people.

SPEAKER_00 25:56

So pouring into your people is equally as important as you know, what crafts you pick out for the week or, you know, pro tip on crafts, oriental trading and their pre-made craft packets. Like such a better, such a better thing to take home in the car than the toilet paper rolls and the googly eyes that are glued on to them.

SPEAKER_02 26:21

So that's your pro tip.

SPEAKER_00 26:23

We spent many, many years with the toilet paper rolls, but we we are loving the um pre pre not pre-made crafts, but you know it's it's a little package that each kid gets and it's a kit.

SPEAKER_02 26:35

Yeah, it's a kit, yeah. But yeah, that is those are our three, our three tips to help.

SPEAKER_00 26:41

So a successful camp season starts in March. It starts with your leadership, it starts with your attention to the experience for everyone involved. So be thinking about that this week. What can you move forward on your to-do list or your priority list to start making headway in that direction and start planning out and making sure that your summer is a time where you're thriving and not just surviving?

SPEAKER_01 27:09

Yep.

unknown 27:10

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 27:10

And your staff as well.

SPEAKER_00 27:11

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 27:12

We want a thriving staff. We do. We do. All right, everybody. We'll catch you next time. Keep on thriving.