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The most important part of the search
The most important part of hiring starts before you post the job.But wait, isn’t the whole goal of a search to get applicants in the door? Yes, of course, but that’s not where it all starts. I’ve seen too many camps and nonprofits do things backwards. They rush to get a job posting live, blast it across every available platform, and then wonder why they’re sifting through seemingly infinite applications from “candidates” who don’t understand their mission or fit at all in their culture. And then, sometimes, the organization has no choice but to start all over from the beginning. The Rush-to-Post ProblemHere’s what typically happens when a camp is searching for new leadership:
The very predictable result? Floods of generic resumes from people who may (or may not) be qualified on paper, but don’t understand what makes your camp unique. Then the “work” becomes weeks of sorting through prospects who never came close to matching, conducting interviews that go nowhere, and saying to yourself, “Nobody good is applying.” How Camps Get The Right PeopleThe best hiring outcomes start with something that sounds counterintuitive: slowing down. Before writing a single job description, we sit with summer camps to invest time in deep discovery. That means talking with key stakeholders (board members, senior staff, donors, and yes, even their camp families) to understand the real needs. Anyone can make a list of required skills. We want to go well beyond that. Understanding culture, uncovering unspoken concerns, and identifying the temperament and philosophy that will actually succeed in your specific environment. What makes someone thrive at your camp? What’s your organization’s ideal leadership style? What are the real challenges that aren’t obvious from the outside? What comes from these questions and answers (and many more) is a clear, aligned vision of success that everyone can rally behind. It’s Step 1 of our four-step process, and it’s crucial. Why Most Recruiters Skip This StepSome recruiting firms treat hiring like a numbers game. They want to post jobs quickly and present you with a stack of resumes as fast as possible. It looks like progress. It appears as if something is happening. Taking time for stakeholder conversations and cultural discovery doesn’t scale the way they want it to. But camp leadership isn’t a commodity. You can’t capture the true organizational DNA with keywords and algorithms. What This Preparation Actually DeliversWhen you invest in this upfront discovery, everything else becomes easier. The job description attracts the right people. Your interview process is laser-focused. Candidates can tell the difference, which means serious people come in looking for the right fit, not just any job. Oh, and most importantly, your board and stakeholders feel heard and aligned. Instead of months of second-guessing and resume sifting, you have a unified hiring team moving in the same direction. The camps and nonprofits that make the best hires don’t rush to post jobs. They invest time upfront to understand what they actually need. The recruiting is around a shared purpose. Sometimes the best way to speed up your hiring is to slow down at the beginning. Sincerely, Senior Consultant at Immersive1st Learn more about Immersive1st's Approach |
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Subscribe to the Immersive1st newsletter for new openings and smart job search tips. Hiring? The next issue will show how your organization can reach the right candidates.
A director in his ninth summer at a camp gets a phone call in the middle of July. It’s about the investors and the ownership structure. It’s about a possible sale nobody saw coming. The call ends. He has 600 campers on the property who are expecting a great summer. You probably already know which situation I am talking about. It has been about as close to national camp news as anything in the space gets. I am not naming names here. The specifics matter less than the leadership question...
Let’s take a look at some numbers from the summer: 15 states 5,120 miles behind the wheel 10,000+ air miles across three round trips to Wisconsin, Georgia, and Arizona 80+ meal stops at Chipotle, Starbucks, and mom-and-pop taco places This wasn’t one planned mega-trip or anything like that. It wasn’t even family vacation! It was visiting camps all over the map. And yes, I catch some flack from my accountant who looks at my expense reports every quarter and says something along the lines of:...
Visit and consult with enough camps, and you learn to pay attention to the small stuff. At Camp Turner in the Buffalo area, two small things told me almost everything about their culture. An archery shed. A bulletin board in every cabin. Walk into the archery shed and you’ll see the bows labeled and the arrows stored properly. If you were just passing it, I doubt it would stand out compared to so many other great facilities. But whoever set that shed up cared about it. Whoever uses it every...