1. Giving YouR Counselors New Reasons to Return
Steve Baskin
LOM Conference
November 7, 2018
WHAT IS THE AGE OF YOUR CHILDREN?

2. A Quick Story
Mighty Mouse

3. Ministry First, But . . .

4. . . . Staff Are Pulled In Many Directions
Increased obsession with internships
Parents
Schools
Employers
Recession made narrative worse
Social media engagement

5. Focus on Two Tools
Culture at Camp
Skills Beyond Camp

6. Culture at Camp
Word of warning – I have strived to be the calm voice of reason. I do not want to be alarming or provocative
But as I have looked at this area, I have real and meaningful concerns

7. Use Every Touch Point Advertisement and applications Interviews
Orientation
Weekly meetings
Closure

8. Orientation Critical Model what you want from them
Make them the campers
Tech free!
Create unique experiences
Drum Café
Man Fire
Midnight star stories
Intentional language

9. Share Stories
Many mini-testimonials
“Ripples through time and space”

10. Sanctity and the “Army of the Willing”
Joe Ehrmann

11. Continual Reinforcement
Stories
Shout-outs – examples of exceptional ministry, counseling
Mini-testimonials
“Ripples through time and space”
Make special (food, song?)

12. Intentional Ending

13. Skills Beyond Camp: Camp Is the Best Internship
Word of warning – I have strived to be the calm voice of reason. I do not want to be alarming or provocative
But as I have looked at this area, I have real and meaningful concerns

14. What Businesses Want

15. 21st Century Skills

16. What Businesses Are Saying:

17. What Google Thinks Being a good coach Communicating and listening well
Possessing insights into others
Having empathy
Being a critical thinker
Being able to make connections across complex ideas
Dead last: STEM

18. Camp is Ideal Practice Communication Leadership Creativity
Critical Thinking and
Collaboration
Creativity
Communication
Collaboration
Leadership

19. Use Orientation to Educate Counselors
“I understand that hiring new college graduates is a challenge. Many recent graduates lack the skills that you require to succeed in your workplace, especially communication, collaboration and leadership skills. When you look at my resume, you will see that I worked at Camp Champions as a counselor. You may be initially inclined to discount this as a light job. Let me suggest that my time at camp is one of the reasons I will be effective for you. As a counselor, I honed my teamwork and communication skills on a daily basis. I was able to practice leadership with a group of 12 boys/girls. These experiences will help me shine at [name of company]. I look forward to talking with you about this.”
Benefits of Working at Camp
Putting Camp on Your Resume
Writing a Compelling Cover Letter
Camp and Job Interviews

20. Counselor Reviews: E21

21. Reconnect with Mission
Young people crave meaning. We simply need to make it easy for them to make the choice to change lives. One of the best ways is to remove the choice.

22. Ben and Craw’s Wedding
The bride got her masters in social work. Almost 100% of her interviews were about camp.
She now is program director for a large not-for-profit. In her interviews, she talked about camp. She has been promoted multiple times (using my camp skills).
After wedding, the bride approached me (misty-eyed) and thanked me for the recommendation for a job. He used his “camp skills” to become the top producer in his company (and we have a house and stability). He told me that he had recently held court in a meeting on Growth Mindset.
Also at that wedding, one of 3 women who got jobs with Teach for America by talking about camp and skills.
A young man whose parents wanted him to be a doctor, found the passion for education (and the courage to hold the space) to commit his life to teaching

23. Thank you!