Camp is raucous fun – days filled with friends, activities, and constant motion.

The stereotype is that camp counselors are shirking “real” jobs and internships to enjoy final summers as kids themselves. Conventional wisdom tells us jobs at offices, behind desks, chasing coffee, offer better preparation for the brutal economy than a summer camp. That is not our experience.

Yes, our counselors spend their summers wearing pajamas and superhero costumes, playing ga-ga and bubbles, swimming and creating magnificent art installations. At that very same time, covered in melted popsicles and glitter, their work is an important element of the growth and independence of the next generation, of our children. Counselors’ jobs – yes, being a counselor is a real job – ensure the safety and well-being of our children. More than that, summer camp jobs provide a unique opportunity to gain valuable skills and knowledge that add credibility to your job history. When properly outlined on your resume, your summer camp job will translate into highly beneficial work experience, develop life skills and help your resume stand out from the crowd.

You will spend your days managing a dozen various personalities, constantly nurturing, teaching, comforting and inspiring. At camp you will practice skills that are heavily in-demand at any workplace:

Communication
Organization
Time management
Collaboration
Problem-solving and conflict resolution
Leadership

Communication

You will successfully navigate communicating with various groups: children, parents, counselors and camp leadership. You will employ listening and directing skills. When a camper feels excluded from a group of friends, you and your empathy skills will figure out how to connect them to the group. And conflict resolution will be necessary when mediating quarrels.

Adaptability/Resiliency

Long days handling emotional emergencies are a part of the day-to-day life of a camp counselor. You will demonstrate strong resiliency skills working hard for long days and juggling many activities and personalities. Hand-in-hand with this resiliency will be the necessity to be adaptable. You can certainly expect the unexpected at summer camp, and it’s likely that more than a few times, you will have to act on your feet when things don’t go to plan. Self-reliance and creativity will become second-nature after a season of working at a summer camp.

Leadership

Eleven weeks of exhaustive fun will be capped off when you hear – and every camp counselor does hear – the positive impact they had on the children they worked hand-in-hand with. The opportunity and ability to instill confidence in those painfully self-conscious, to build independence, and to create a lifetime of memories is unparalleled.

At the end of summer at camp, your resume would be able to proudly boast words like: supervisor, mentor, manager and superhero – all tremendous markers of leadership.

Click here to find out more about being a counselor.