Do these 4 things now and never worry about staff recruiting again 😜

Aug 29th, 2024

Ok... that was a little click baity, but start staff recruiting now and future you will thank you

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YOU DID IT! Summer 2024 is in the BOOKS!

If you are part of the 95% (fake math) of camp pros who have said good bye to your last camper, I bet you maybe cried a little, hope you are sleeping a lot, and are taking some time off.

You just spent your summer season being a rockstar for staff, kids, their families, and probably other people too, and that is so cool. THANK YOU!

As you recover do some fun work to remember the good parts and also lay the groundwork for recruiting.

4 specific tasks you can cross of a list to set yourself up for a badass staff in 2025

Remember your staff stories

Create hiring tiers

Send a thx txt and a pic

Send a sticker of an inside joke

A little action today goes a long way and is way better than not doing the perfect plan tomorrow.

If you’re in the 5% (still fake math) of camp pros still working through your summer season, YOU ARE SO CLOSE!!!! Here is my special message to you!

1) Staff Stories

A few years ago at camp, the power went out in the dining hall right before a meal. One of our staff members at the time took it upon themself to turn the dining hall into a restaurant and organized a group of staff to be “waiters.” They lit candles around the dining hall, played Italian restaurant-y music on a portable speaker, and hosted the meal. It was so fun.

Crisis averted + silly absurd memory created = GREAT STAFF STORY.

So what? Write it down.

Write your staff stories down while the summer is fresh in your memory–the stories, impact, and fun.

I create a Google doc called “Staff Impact Stories 2024.” Maybe you’re a more manual person and you keep a stack of index cards. On one side, write the paragraph long version of the story and on the other write the title.

2) Hiring Tiers

We all have our staff we know we want back, but putting the rest of your staff into categories will be helpful too. It might feel a little mean, and I definitely wouldn’t put this list anywhere they might see it, but create tiers you can organize your staff into.

Mine are:

COOKIE DOUGH - My favorite ice cream! These are my rockstars. I want them back and they know it, I’ve been bothering them about it since midsummer.

Mint Chip! - Stewart’s non-dairy mint chip is good and these are people I want back. They’re reliable and/or fun and I’m generally happy to see them. This isn’t an ad for Stewarts, but they do donate to the camp I started every year so maybe it should be?

Vanilla - I can appreciate that in the right setting, these people can be delightful. Do I want to put in the energy to get them back? No. Will I opt into vanilla when I have cookie dough and mint chip already? Probably not. But I wish them well and we can definitely make it work if we need to.

Firecracker Popsicle - I really hope this isn’t the only option when I get to the ice cream (hiring) truck. If I absolutely have to hire these people back, I will, but that makes me nervous.

Superman Ice Cream - You couldn’t make me choose this. If these people apply again for next summer, I don’t know what I’ll do*.

*stay tuned for next week’s email! It’s all about ice cream and staff tiers (well it will be. I haven’t written it yet)

3) Thank You Texts

Thx, Here’s a pic of you having the most fun you’ve ever had… remember?

One of the worst things we can do to our staff is only reach out when they’re in trouble and when we need them.

I love to send a quick, “Hey, just saw xyz and it made me think of when you did that at camp. I hope your year is going well!” when it comes up.

Set a goal: Send 12 staff members you loved a picture of them at camp with a short thank you. I’m going to prioritize sending these to my cookie doughs and my mint chips.

Note: be specific with the “thank you.” Sending, “Thank you for always having my back when I forgot to bring writing supplies for meetings!” will go a way longer way than a generic, “ Thanks for being a good staff member.”

How I Do This: Scroll through your photos for 15 minutes a day impromptu sending texts when you see great photos of staff.

How Captain Organized Does This: Make a list of all the staff by tier and check off who has gotten photos and texts along the way.

Who is Capt Organized?

4) Send a Sticker

Your staff loved pokemon? Have Alice make an anime inspired silly monster that is inspired by your camp! Maybe your staff kept saying “YES CHEF” and it was a bit throughout the summer. Now you’ve got your most committed staff members walking around with a bizarre YES CHEF sticker on their water bottles.

These weird stickers will elicit questions from their friends who’d otherwise never think to work at camp. A lot of staff don't know how to start talking about camp.

Free advertisement, silly camaraderie, and a little gift from you to your staff to boot.

Why and what of staff stories What to do with hiring tiers Be a believer not an advisor How to make learning really stick for staff NONE OF THESE, YOU DINGUS!