SUMMER STAFF=SUMMER INTERNSHIP
“Sorry I have to do an internship this summer.”
Have you ever been told this when you are talking to a college student about Summer Staff? Me too. It seems like unpaid internships (free labor for companies) have been increasing each year. These prevent more and more sharp students from serving on Summer Staff. Instead, they file papers, answer phones, and go get coffee when they could be growing in leadership and faith through Young Life Camp.
What if instead we could answer: “I’m so glad you said that. I have the perfect internship for you.”
More often than not, the Summer Staff experience has all the required components of an internship. And so much more! We know how special this experience is. It is unique and better than almost all other classic internships and offers discipleship, sacrificial service, leadership growth, supervisory skills, a front row seat to many kids deciding to follow Jesus, hard work, teamwork and team building, community, and much more.
Summer Staff can most likely count as an internship for an employer, university, program, etc.
[Guide to describing Summer Staff as an internship]
We need to be flexible. Creative. Innovative. And take the initiative. So here’s the plan (special thanks to Tami Ostlund for her input):
STEP 1: Have your potential student find out exactly what is required by your student’s internship. Requirements vary greatly from school to school, job to job, and program to program. Some have almost no requirements and some have stringent standards.
STEP 2: Send your student this guide [link to guide—Build your own mini internship] and see if you (together with integrity) can craft the Summer Staff experience and description to fulfill the requirements of the internship.
STEP 3: If there is a specific job that would help with the internship requirements, request that job for your student by calling the camp. (No promises or guarantees, but make sure that the camp knows that this is a factor)
STEP 4: Look at this short Summer Staff recruiting best practices list and rally your best students. [linked best practices doc]
Thank you for having a vision for who kids could be.
Thank you for going the extra mile to help kids have the experience of a lifetime on Summer Staff.
Thank you for making that extra phone call, sending that extra text, and going after those “internship” kids.
Helpful Resources
Written by Pete Hardesty (petehardesty@gmail.com)