"It’s not over yet.. Final CD Fair!" by Liverpool Brand Managers

By Camp America on 07/02/2016

Camp America has had another groundbreaking year at the recruitment fairs and with our last one of the season approaching in London on 20th February...

Camp America has had another groundbreaking year at the recruitment fairs and with our last one of the season approaching in London on 20th February, I thought I would share with you some advice from our awesome Liverpool Brand Managers. Be sure to take a selfie with our crazy BMs outside whilst you wait!

First of all, congratulations to all of you who have already been placed at the fairs, you’re going to camp!! But for those of you who have not been placed, please read on and don’t lose faith!

When I was an applicant I went to the London recruitment fair. After waiting outside for three hours in the queues (despite arriving an hour before they were due to let people in), I had high hopes for when I finally got inside the conference centre; only to be repeatedly told either I was too young (some camps at the fairs like over 21s) or I did not have the right skills, a lot of the CDs at the fairs are looking for specific skills such as equestrians or qualified surf instructors. Finally, many of the camps had already filled their places by the time I got inside. I came out feeling completely deflated and I thought that was it for me. I was so wrong! Go home, pick yourself up, perhaps even perk up your profile, get everything perfect and go for a private interview.

This is exactly what I did, and I left the interview feeling reassured that I still had a chance to be placed. I am not saying this to discourage anybody from the recruitment fairs. I have been on both sides of the fair, first as an applicant and again last year working as a Brand Manager. The fairs are immensely successful, hence why we have a second round in February. However it is not the only option and you just have to persevere as a lot of our hiring happens online as well, which is how the magic happened for our Liverpool BMs Brad and Emily.

Rachel says: ‘I wasn’t placed at the Manchester fair and threw in the towel for a couple of weeks and decided I wasn’t going to be placed. Then I went to London and was placed within half an hour!’

Remember, if you did not succeed at one of our recruitment fairs, go to our last one in London on the 20th February! It worked for Rachel! Perhaps take a step back and think why you may not have been hired at the last fair.

A few tips:

Don’t let nerves get the better of you. Camp Directors can come across as intimidating people, but they’re really not that scary! They’re lovely people and remember they devote their entire summer to the magic of camp, as my Camp Director used to say. From their point of view, camp is all about the people and they only want to make sure that they have the best people behind them for nine weeks. So go in there and show them that’s you!
Get your interview done before the fair to get in to the fast track queue. (Trust me, I learned the hard way!). Get there early! The earlier you are, the sooner you will get in… simples.

Make yourself known to us! I was constantly tweeting @CampAmerica69 to get myself known to Camp America and to anybody who was looking. Or even taking photos of me gathering my camp T-shirts and various objects I couldn’t go to camp without and tagging @CampAmerica69 on Instagram. Even just a simple tweet about how excited you are to go to camp shows your commitment to getting hired and how much you really want it!

‘Be flexible you might have to go for a position you weren’t aiming for’ – Adam

‘Bring a hockey stick. One guy with a hockey stick got 4 offers in Manchester. They don’t even play field hockey in America’ – Huw

…so okay perhaps don’t all of you go out and buy a hockey stick, but appreciate the enthusiasm there!

And most importantly, be open-minded, never lose faith and make those camps take a chance on you!

And remember, we are only a tweet away if you need us!

If you have any questions about anything Camp America related, remember to tweet @CampAmerica69 or myself @lauraraaa_95.

We hope to see as many of you at our last fair in London on the 20th February!

GOOD LUCK!