Camp Counselor
Cover Letter Example

1. Your skills should be the peanut butter to the camp’s jelly

Not many cover letters require you to reference your arts and crafts, hiking, sports, outdoor cooking, swimming, and canoeing abilities, but these are necessities for your camp counselor cover letter. With so many unique skills to brag about, the hard part is choosing which ones to include on your camp counselor cover letter.

Similar to your superb camp counselor resume, it is necessary to tailor your cover letter to the type of camp you are applying for. After all, you wouldn’t want to take up precious space on your cover letter for “Willy’s Wild Wilderness Outdoor Adventure Camp” boasting about your skills in the chemistry lab, would you?

Browsing the camp’s website and checking out what kind of activities they offer is a great way to get started. Then, you can sift through your impressive experience and skills to decide what to showcase on your cover letter.

Now, you can match up your relevant experience to the focus of the camp and begin crafting your cover letter. For instance, this candidate has done an excellent job of referencing their wilderness expertise in this bullet point featured on their cover letter to Willy’s Wild Wilderness Outdoor Adventure Camp:

• Leading overnight excursions for 10+ children covering a range of activities such as hiking, outdoor cooking, swimming and canoeing

2. Don’t skip out on the soft skills

In order to excel in your camp counselor career, you will need a toolbox filled with soft skills to be used at your disposal. You could have all of the certifications, education, and experience in the world, but they won’t mean anything without the proper soft skills to back them up.

Soft skills can be defined as character traits or interpersonal aptitudes that affect your ability to work and interact with others. As a camp counselor, your soft skills are the traits that allow you to successfully interact and connect with children of all ages. These skills come naturally to you and don’t seem like anything special — but trust us, these are very important skills that not everyone possesses.

It is critical that your camp counselor cover letter highlights your strongest soft skills. The hiring manager should have no doubt about your emotional intelligence and ability to relate to children when they reach the end of your cover letter.

Your camp counselor cover letter should focus on soft skills related to the following:

• Communication
• Teamwork
• Adaptability
• Problem-Solving
• Creativity
• Work Ethic
• Interpersonal Skills
• Leadership

Check out how this candidate easily weaves their impressive soft skills into their cover letter:

In my position as Senior Camp Counselor, I refined my teamwork, leadership, and communication skills allowing me to lead a team of camp counselors committed to fostering an exemplary environment for youth to build memories to last a lifetime.

3. Buddy up with parents, managers, and school counselors

Working as a camp counselor comes easy to you, as kids have always loved you and it has never been hard for you to spend the day entertaining a wide-eyed bunch of youngsters! What’s more is that you love it — you end each day with food in your hair, grass stains on your knees, and a satisfied smile stretched across your face, ready to do it all again tomorrow!

So, you sit down and begin to craft your latest camp counselor cover letter, positive that you’ve got your dream job in the bag. I mean, with your experience, education, and natural soft skills how could you not?

Unfortunately, the camp hiring manager has decided to reject your application. Even though you are almost the perfect candidate, your application has failed to address your ability to interact with any of the other key stakeholders in the camp counselor equation:

• Parents
• Managers
• Other camp counselors

Luckily, the above scenario is easily avoidable. Show the hiring manager that you are the whole package by referencing your successful experience working with parents, managers, and other camp counselors in your cover letter.

For instance, watch how this candidate ties their experience working with managers and staff into program development.

“I worked closely with management and other camp counselors to coordinate programs offering a blend of developmental activities, physical exercise, and entertainment.”

That’s it! You now know everything you need to get started on your camp counselor cover letter. You can head home, break out the costume box, and start sharpening your crayons because you are on your way to landing your dream camp counselor job.