Psssst… psssst… PSSSST Heart LITes, past, present, and future!
Your participation in our Leaders-in-Training program belongs on your résumé! What we do with our free time is a testament to our character, and it is a person’s character that colleges and employers are considering during the application process.
Colleges and employers want to accept people that will successfully contribute to their community. Because The Heart is community driven, your time at camp is a well of experience to draw examples from, especially now that you’re staff!
Volunteering
Since many LITes have not held a job before, volunteering is a great foundation for their résumé. The efforts and skills required to succeed as a LITe are just as necessary in paid positions. Because volunteering is optional and magnanimous, it’s appearance on a résumé is a quick tell-tale of the applicant’s character. Volunteer work demonstrates your commitment to a cause, making you a more appealing applicant.
Whether your LITe work is the entirety of your résumé or supplemental, the presentation of your experience is important.
Keeping Up
Keep up with the exceptional moments of your day. The challenges you faced, regardless if you conquered them, are valuable. Documenting your trials, accomplishments, and selfless moments will serve as a resource for you to pull from when writing your résumé. Also, your log of character defining moments will help strengthen those moments in your memory.
When asked, “Can you tell me about a time when you went above and beyond?”
You can readily answer with a confident and thorough, “Yes, when I worked at a summer camp I got some of my coworkers to help clean the kitchen during our time off so that the cooks could get out early and have a longer break.”
In a sentence, we hear thoughtfulness, teamwork, initiative- qualities that make a good leader and team member.
Transferable Skills
Camp is so fun and the lessons we learn so innate, that we tend to forget just how impressive our daily actions are! What staff members do every summer is no small task, and all of their tools for success at camp are vital outside of camp. Because the social and emotional skills we employ at camp are highly valued in all walks of life, they should be displayed on résumés.
Explaining our instinctual behavior in professional terms can be challenging. Here are some examples of résumés written by counselors! We also have a blog for counselors on how to put camp on a résumé, which LITes may find helpful!
Independence
Working as a Heart LITe exemplifies your independence in a way that few other initial jobs can. While hardwork is anticipated of any student or employee, living on site is uncommon. Living away from home during your (first) stint of employment is something that will set you apart from other employees and volunteers.
Aside from camp’s reputation for developing leaders that are great in teams and effective communicators, camp is an interesting conversation topic! Colleges and employers want candidates that will succeed. Show them on your résumé that you’ve developed necessary professional skills at camp!
Remember, you’re not just the LITes of our lives, you’re Leaders in Training!
Have fun, take it easy, and make good choices. <3 Kimber
About the Author
