Staff Job Post

staff-job-post

Write counselor and specialist job posts that bring in the right seasonal staff and screen out the wrong ones. This carries job-description craft with a camp layer on top: the real screening, certifications, and training a camp role requires, and how to sell a hard summer job to a young or international applicant.

It is written for you, the agent. Use camp-voice for the writing, camp-profile for the camp's facts and voice, and camp-overview for how camps are staffed and the J-1 route for international staff. State the real requirements honestly, because the screening is required for child safety and by law, and never write an ad that discriminates.

Ask first

Start from what is known, then ask only for the gaps.

1. Read the camp's context first.

• If a camp profile exists (.agents/camp-profile.md or .claude/camp-profile.md), read it for the camp's facts and voice. Do not re-ask what it answers.
• Use camp-voice for the writing and its avoid-list, and camp-overview for the staffing structure and J-1.
• If no profile exists, offer to capture one with the camp-profile skill, then continue.

2. Ask only the task-specific gaps:

• The role: title, who it reports to, the ages it works with, and what it owns day to day.
• The one thing this person has to be great at.
• The real requirements: minimum age, required certifications, and the camp's screening and training.
• Pay and the practical terms: dates, room and board, time off, transport, and whether the role is open to international (J-1) applicants.
• Where the post will run.

3. How far to go (the depth dial). Match it to the director's goal and how much they want to take on. Default to one strong post, and offer to go deeper.

• Quick wins (low effort): one strong post for one role, with the real requirements and a clear way to apply.
• Solid setup (medium effort): posts for the core roles (counselor, a specialist, a senior role), plus the screening, certification, and equal-opportunity wording the camp can reuse.
• Full build (high effort): the season's roles, a distribution plan, and a reusable template set.

Write the post

1. Start with what a great hire looks like by the end of summer (all tiers)

Before listing tasks, define what success in this role looks like by the last day of camp: a cabin that runs well and feels safe, kids who tried something new, an activity run without an incident. Write the post toward that. It reads truer than a list of duties, and it tells the applicant what the job is really for.

2. Name the one thing they must be great at (Solid setup)

Most roles have one quality that matters most: patience and energy with young kids, sound safety judgment at the waterfront, the skill to run a specific activity. Hire for that, and do not pad the post with a wish-list that asks for everything and finds no one.

3. Lead with the real experience, and be honest about the hard parts (all tiers)

Sell what the job actually gives a young person, and be straight about its demands.

• Frame it as real, career-building work. This is the heart of the ACA's Project Real Job: a summer at camp builds leadership, responsibility, and judgment that employers and colleges value. That wins over hesitant applicants and reassures their parents.
• Lead with belonging and impact. What makes seasonal staff come back is a sense of community and knowing they matter to the kids, more than pay. Say what the team and the work feel like.
• Be honest about the hard parts. It is phones-down, long days, living on site, and being responsible for children. Saying so plainly filters for the people who want exactly that, which is who you want.

4. State the real requirements, the camp way (all tiers)

A camp job post should state the genuine requirements, most of which come from accreditation and law, not preference:

• Age and certifications: the minimum age for the role, and required certifications (Standard First Aid and CPR, lifeguard certification for waterfront roles).
• Screening: that every hire goes through the camp's screening before they start, which for an accredited camp means an application, interview, reference checks, a criminal background check, and for anyone working with children a sex-offender-registry check and a disclosure statement.
• Training: that all staff complete mandatory training before campers arrive (child-abuse prevention and reporting, supervision, behavior management, emergencies).

Saying this plainly does two jobs: it sets honest expectations, and it signals that the camp takes child safety seriously, which attracts good applicants and deters the wrong ones. Frame skill requirements as what the person will do, not as years: "comfortable keeping a group of eight 8-year-olds safe and busy," not "two years of experience."

5. Keep the must-have list tight and lawful (Solid setup)

Every line in the requirements is a reason someone does not apply, so list only what the role and the law genuinely require, and keep the ad non-discriminatory:

• Requirements must be essential and lawful. Do not ask for prior experience by default, and do not use language that screens out a protected group.
• Include a short equal-opportunity statement.
• Some camps have a lawful, bona-fide requirement (an age minimum tied to insurance, or a single-gender cabin role). Treat those as exceptions, and have local employment law checked.

6. Structure the post (Solid setup)

A workable order: who the camp is and the role in a line, what they will do, what they will gain, what the camp needs from them (including screening and certs), the practical terms (dates, pay, room and board, time off), and how to apply. The full template, with a counselor example, the screening-and-certifications checklist, and the inclusive-language list, is in references/post-structure.md.

7. International staff, and where to post (Full build)

Many camps fill seasonal roles internationally through the J-1 Exchange Visitor Program (the Camp Counselor and Summer Work Travel categories), usually via a placement agency. If the role is open to international applicants, say so and note the visa route. Then post where the right people look: the ACA job board, college career centers and job fairs, camp-specific boards, and the J-1 agencies.

8. Write it in the camp's voice, then check it (all tiers)

Draft in camp-voice, then run the self-audit against the avoid-list. A camp job post should sound like the camp, not like a corporate listing.

Deliver the post

• Lay the post out by section in camp-voice, with the real requirements stated, a short equal-opportunity line, and [placeholders] for pay, dates, and anything unconfirmed. Never invent pay or terms.
• Suggest where to post it.
• Flag that compensation and the equal-opportunity and screening wording should get an HR or legal check for the camp's jurisdiction.
• Run the post through camp-voice's avoid-list and self-audit before handing it over.

What this skill will not do

• Write an ad that discriminates, or specify a protected characteristic as a requirement.
• Overstate the pay, hours, or perks, or hide how demanding the job is.
• Invent pay, requirements, or visa terms it has not confirmed for the jurisdiction.
• Run the screening or background checks (the camp does that), or replace legal and HR review.
• Restate the voice rules, which live in camp-voice.

Grounded in

Job-description craft, the ACA's recruitment guidance (notably Project Real Job), the staff-screening and training expected by ACA and the Canadian associations, the J-1 program for international staff, and equal-opportunity law. Pull current pay benchmarks rather than guessing, and follow the employment and visa law for the camp's own jurisdiction.

• American Camp Association: https://www.acacamps.org
• Ontario Camps Association: https://ontariocampsassociation.ca
• US J-1 Exchange Visitor Program: https://j1visa.state.gov
• US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission: https://www.eeoc.gov