CAMP STAFF IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW
STEP 1:INTRODUCTION
Fact-Finding and Tips
Thanks for talking with me today. During our time together,
I’m going to try to get to know you better, review your
background, and give you a little more information about
being a camp counselor at the YMCA. Getting the right
people hired as camp counselors for our camp is the most
important thing we do. I know this interview is important
to you, too, so I hope you won’t mind if I actually read some
of the questions to make sure you get the best interview
possible? I’ll be taking notes while we talk, too. Will that
be alright?
First, tell me why you applied for the camp counselor
position?
This helps you determine general interest
in the position, attitude, and personal
motivation for work as a camp counselor.
What do you hope to gain by becoming a camp counselor?
Why is
and
important to you?
What would you need to know to determine if this position
meets your criteria?
Repeat what the candidate just
told you.
Asking why determines the candidate’s
true motivation.
MEASURE THE IMPACT OF THE FIRST IMPRESSION
Note your immediate emotional response to the candidate. Do you feel relaxed? Nervous? Neutral?
What is the cause of your reaction? Is it the candidate’s voice? Appearance? Attitude? Put a small plus
or minus sign in your notes to indicate your reaction. At the end of the interview, you’ll measure your
impression again.
If your reaction is positive, be skeptical, prove your assumptions, and obtain examples and facts.
If your reaction is negative, give the candidate the benefit of the doubt.
Again, avoid moving toward a hiring decision in the first 30 minutes of an in-depth interview. It cannot
be done accurately.
HIRINGCAUSE-DRIVEN CAMP COUNSELORS
STEP2: WORK HISTORY AND BACKGROUND
Fact-Finding and Tips
Now let’s review your back ground in more detail.
Review all meaningful experiences but
especially the last two jobs (paid or
volunteer) to determine general
relevance, e.g., experiences with
children, service work, and types of
environment.
Please tell me about some of the work or volunteer
experiences you’ve had. Describe any formal jobs you’ve
held. These may have been after school or summer jobs.
You might need to urge the candidate to
be more talkative.
Now, tell me about some of the informal jobs you’ve held
such as babysitting ,doing chores in the neighborhood,
volunteering, or responsibilities at home. Tell me about
something that shows your ability to work hard and stay
committed to a job or assignment.
Look for a pattern of responsibility
and good work habits. Find out
about:
• The job and responsibilities.
• Why did you work or volunteer?
• What did you like or dislike?
Tell me about your education. Why did you select
your college? Your major? What did you like most?
Least? Do your grades accurately represent your
capabilities?
To learn more about the candidate’s
education and training, ask:
• What appealed to you about the schools
and degrees you chose?
• What kind of additional training have
you pursued? Why?
• How would you rate your academic
success?
To learn about the candidate’s ability
to fulfill key performance objectives
related to your position, ask:
• What do you think you would need to
know to perform this job?
• What would you do first? Why?
• Who else would you involve?
• How would you prepare for this job?
When I call your (manager, coach, etc.) for a reference,
what will he or she say about your dependability, work
habits, and ability to work with others?
HIRINGCAUSE-DRIVEN CAMP COUNSELORS
Explore attendance history and patterns of
tardiness.
STEP3: PASSION FOR CAUSE-DRIVEN WORK
Fact-Finding and Tips
Let’s review one or two examples of your volunteer work.
What did you do? Why did you get involved? What did
you discover about yourself?
• Where did you volunteer?
• What did you like or dislike about it?
• How often do you get involved with
volunteering?
• Describe what you did.
• Why did you do it?
• How did you feel about it?
What does being inclusive mean to you? Describe a situation
when you were intentional about being inclusive.
• How did you feel?
• What did you do?
• Describe your contribution.
• Why did you do what you did?
• Whom did you influence?
• What was the outcome?
WHAT TO LOOK FOR
• Encourages others
• Displays ease and comfort with people
of different backgrounds
• Seeks out and includes others in order
to gather their points of view
STEP4: MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Fact-Finding and Tips
I’d like you to tell me about a project or an accomplishment
you’re very proud of. This could be school-related, a
volunteer activity, or something work-related. Try to select
something that lets me see your ability to work with others,
commit yourself to a task, or something that gives me a
sense of who you are and what you’re capable of doing.
• Describe the project and the
circumstances.
Now select something that is completely different from what
you just told me. This could be with a team if your first
example was as an individual, work if your first example
was volunteer, etc.
• What did you actually do?
• What was the most satisfying part?
• What was the most challenging?
• Why was it significant to you?
• Give me an example of your taking the
initiative as part of this project.
• How did you change/grow?
• Did you receive any recognition?
• What would you do differently?
• When I call your supervisor…
SUGGESTION
Listen carefully to the candidate’s response to ensure you’re able to determine his or her individual
contribution to the accomplishment. Frequent use of the word “we” may indicate the candidate was
part of a team, and that is important; however, probe further with questions such as “What was your
role?” or “What did you learn as a result of that experience?”
HIRINGCAUSE-DRIVEN CAMP COUNSELORS
STEP5: JOB-SPECIFIC SKILLS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Fact-Finding and Tips
An important part of the counselor position is capturing
kids’ attention. We’ve found that the best counselors are
playful. Can you give me a specific example that
demonstrates that you are fun to be with and your ability to
start activities spontaneously?…Can you give me another
specific example?…Another?
• Did you initiate the activity?
Camp can be very stressful. Managing your own stress and
the stress of others is important. Sometimes your patience
with the kids can wear thin, and even the best counselors
can get annoyed. How do you manage stress?…Can you
give me a specific example of the last time you were very
tired, frustrated, or angry?
• What were the circumstances?
• How did you stay involved?
• How do you like to have fun?
• What activities do you really like?
• What activities do you dislike?
• How did you recognize stress?
• What caused you to lose your temper?
• How did you express your
frustration/anger?
• How did you feel about your reaction?
• What did you learn?
• What would you do differently?
NOTE: Watch for candidates who can’t
handle stress. See Abuse Prevention
resources on Exchange.
Camp counselors experience a number of very personal
issues with campers: questions related to character, values,
and family issues. For example, a group of mixed-age boys
are sitting by the pool and one of them is using some very
graphic sex talk to describe a teen camper playing
volleyball. What would you do?
Be aware of candidates who seem overly
excited or disturbed by a “what if” question
related to sex. See Abuse Prevention
resources on Exchange.
Camp counselors often face a difficult schedule of activities:
demanding physical effort, extremely hot or rainy weather,
and long days and nights. Faced with a very difficult day,
how would you take care of yourself to be ready to go at
100 percent the next day?
• What do you need to know to resolve
these issues?
• What resources would you need?
• Who would you involve?
• How would you decide what to do first?
• If at first you didn’t succeed, what would
you do differently?
Do not expect answers that are100
percent consistent with a policy or
procedure that a candidate may not know.
Can you tell me about how you handled a similarly
challenging and stressful situation?
• When did the situation occur? How
long did it take? What were the results?
Be specific.
• What was expected of you? What
were the biggest challenges?
• How did you plan?
• What did you like or dislike?
• What recognition did you receive?
• What did you learn about yourself?
• What would you do differently?
• What skills did you use? What new skills
did you learn?
HIRINGCAUSE-DRIVEN CAMP COUNSELORS
CONSIDER FUNCTIONAL EXPERTISE
Remember also to evaluate the candidate’s skill in the functional and technical requirements of the
work (e.g., archery, games, swimming, etc.).
®
CAUSE-DRIVEN LEADERSHIP COMPETENCY QUESTIONS
Review the leadership competency interview questions you selected as you completed the Interview
Preparation Worksheet. Examples are shown below.
VALUES Ask at least one question.
To learn more about the candidate’s
values, ask:
What does it mean to be “socially responsible”? In what
ways do you express your personal social responsibility?
• Please describe the situation.
• How were your values challenged?
• What happened as a result?
• How did you feel about it?
Can you give me a specific example of when you’ve had to
apply your values in a school, work, home, community, or
social situation?
• What would you have done differently?
RELATIONSHIPS Ask at least one question.
Find out:
• How did others respond?
• Who they helped.
Building strong one-on-one relationships with others is an
important part of the camp counselor position. Can you
describe a specific situation where you’ve done that on a
project, job, volunteer basis, or perhaps just helped
someone out?
• The nature of the relationship.
• Look for patterns of developing
meaningful relationships.
Can you give me an example:
• When you helped someone improve?
Have you undertaken the effort to promote cooperation
among members of a team, even when team members were
negative or uncooperative? What did you do? What were
the results?
• Why and how did you help that person?
• Someone came to you for advice?
• A social situation where you had to meet
and make friends quickly with a group of
strangers?
STEP6: CHILD INVOLVEMENT HISTORY
Fact-Finding and Tips
In this position you will be working with a group of children.
Please tell me about a situation in which you were
responsible for disciplining a child, other than an immediate
family member.
Look for excessive use of force, denigration
of the child, or unrealistic expectations
about children’s needs.
What is it about children that makes you enjoy working with
them?
For more information about interviewing
applicants who seek to work with children,
read the Staff Screening Toolkit by the
Nonprofit Risk Management Center, which
can be found on Exchange.
HIRINGCAUSE-DRIVEN CAMP COUNSELORS
STEP7: CANDIDATE INTEREST
Fact-Finding and Tips
While I’m talking with other candidates, I’m impressed with
some of the work you’ve done. What are your thoughts
now about the camp counselor job? Is this an opportunity
you’d like to consider further?
Only the hiring manager should ask these
questions.
Thank the candidate for their time and explain the next
steps.
• What else would you like to know?
To gauge the candidate’s interest, ask:
• What other jobs are you considering?
• How interested are you in this job on a
scale of 1 to 10? What would get you to
an interest level of 8 or 9?
• Is there anything that would keep you
from accepting this position if it were
offered?
Try to listen more than you talk—don’t
“sell” the job. Be sure, however, to
cover the following points:
• Your interest in the candidate
• How the job links to the Y’s goals and
vision
• Next steps
HIRINGCAUSE-DRIVEN CAMP COUNSELORS