TSCS PODCAST 1: We Know We Need to Change How We Staff Camp
1 | Staff Recruitment: We Know We Need to Change How We Staff Camp
In this series of episodes we’re taking a deep dive addressing how staff recruitment is needed more than ever and what the people around the camp community are doing about it.
What do summer camps and musical festivals have in common? Actually quite a bit when you think about it, BUT specifically– they both need staff! On this episode, Jack Schott, Nelson Strickland and Gregg Golf start tossing out ideas for this next season of staff recruitment.
The guys consider how camps optimize their budgets to recruit in the most meaningful way, and question what we are really trying to sell to potential staff. If you’re looking for more than the average recruitment tactics, this is the pod for you.
Producer EmJ’s takeaways:
Staff love the “clout”, give it to them on Instagram
Cool people know cool people, get your staff to help recruit their community
Jack greatly underestimates the sizes of musical festivals
WANT MORE JOKES, IDEAS, AND BANTER?
Become a member of The Summer Camp Society. TBH at $50/month one good idea a year makes your money back. I bet you get more than two great ideas.
Show Notes:
Greg Golf
Greg Golf grew up at Camp Champions, in Marble Falls TX and eventually served as the Boys Camp Director after graduating from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a degree in Business Administration. In late 2019, he left Camp Champions to start Shabang Music Productions, a music festival production company in California.
Unable to let go of his passion for summer camp, Greg still works in the camp world as a consultant, staff trainer, and part-time director. He has developed high school leadership programs, built camper marketing and staff hiring plans, and delivered staff training at various camps across the country.
To get in contact, email gregorywgolf@gmail.com
Nelson Strickland
Nelson Strickland is a camp director, consultant, envelope pusher, and song singer from Camden, New Jersey. Nelson started going to camp at DragonFly Forest at the age of 11 and hasn't missed a summer of camp since. Aiding in the advancement of over 40+ camps, he now uses his diverse background to encourage others to ask themselves “How can we make this more awesome?”. Nelson never aims to give folks “the right answer” and is consistently attempting to engineer innovative ideas from other industries to work in the camp space. He is currently the Director of Operations for TIC Summer Camps in the DC area and Lead Content Creator for an amateur esports organization.
To get in contact, email nelsonstrickland@gmail.com
Jack Schott
Host Jack Schott struggles with bureaucracy, loves fun, and secretly stays up late obsessing over businessy stuff. His unique perspectives come from his varied background. An engineer, Jack took the first few years post-college to travel the country visiting over 200 camps in 47 states. Building on what he saw, he co-founded Stomping Ground, a non-profit sleepaway camp inspiring radical empathy and co-founded The Summer Camp Society. In 2022, Jack trained more than 2000 camp staff at 20+ camps.
To get in contact, email jack@thesummercampsociety.com
The Summer Camp Society Podcast is edited and produced by EmJ Juszczyk.
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