Job description

About us

Jen's Camp is a small women owned business located in the heart of Chicago's Lincoln Park.
We run Spring Break and Summer Camp for youth aged 5 - 12. Spring Break runs April 3 - 7, 2023. Summer Camp runs from June 12 - August 4, 2023.

Jen’s Camp believes in giving kids experiences that empower them and build their confidence - by giving them the power to choose from offered activities based on their own interests. Camp is set up for ages 5-12 with multiple activities happening simultaneously. The activities are all self-guided and campers can work at their own pace. Even the youngest of campers can typically approach an activity and figure out how to get started on their own. We have trained staff standing by to help guide campers. Our biggest reward is watching camper’s confidence in themselves grow as they successfully navigate tasks and learn processes independently. The daily camp schedule allows for social/emotional check-ins between staff and campers. We prioritize making things easy on the families and having strong communication with our families.

The Spring Break and Summer Director works together with the Director to run all areas of Camp. Directors rotate opening/closing shifts with a few hours of overlap each day. Each Director owns specific roles/tasks so staff have clarity on who to go to for what and so everything runs smoothly. They are also cross trained so that they can manage all of camp during their solo part of their opening/closing shift. At Jen’s Camp, you’ll help train, manage, lead and inspire a team; and you’ll oversee the day-to-day operations to keep things running smoothly and safely.

At Jen’s Camp, we believe in relationships with our camper’s family. We communicate well about what happens at camp so caregivers can go home and have knowledge of their camper’s day while they unwind their day together. We collaborate, we strive to make things easier on our families because we know how much they have to juggle and we focus on helping their kid(s) thrive. We literally try to build our structure and systems to ease some of the pressure on families.

We give our campers experiences that empower them to build their confidence - by empowering them to choose from offered activities based on their own interests.

Camp is for youth aged 5-12 with multiple activities happening simultaneously. Camp activities include engineering, music, crochet, games, our igloo room (where they can recuperate energy), outdoor recreation and more! Three days a week we have special activities: art/science, cooking and foam party; these are in addition to our regular program.

The activities are mostly self-guided and campers can work at their own pace. Even the youngest of campers can typically approach an activity and figure out how to get started on their own. We want creative thinkers, innovators, people who are driven to make systems better while gaining broader understanding. Ie: If staff notice a way for our activities to be better we want to hear about it right away, we will share if there are any safety, inventory or other reasons to factor in and be honest if a change cannot be implemented or needs tweaking by sharing the why, and then and if there are no reasons why we cannot implement the suggested changes, we will plan to start implementing them immediately. We have trained staff standing by to help guide campers. Our biggest reward is watching camper’s confidence in themselves grow as they successfully navigate tasks and learn skills and processes independently.

We are looking for the passionate, the organized, the multi-taskers, the strong leaders who are ready to rock the prep work and plan ahead to give the kids, staff and caregivers at our spring break and summer programs an awesome environment where they can thrive.

That all sounds great, but how do you know if you’re the right candidate?

If you are nodding your head yes as you read the following, let's talk!

● Do you admire and agree with our set-up, structure and philosophical layout of programming for campers and caregivers?

● Do you love managing schedules, inventory and constantly planning for the future all while keeping your demeanor cool enough to stop to help a camper with a bandaid on the fly without missing a beat?

● Would chatting with staff, school staff, campers and caregivers fit in your comfort zone? Are you comfortable and capable of navigating challenging and sometimes sensitive interactions?

● Are you the type of person who can’t rest until you’ve done everything possible to make someone feel cared for? So, say it's lunchtime and a camper walks by you, and they have that look, you know the one, they're here going through the motions but they're feeling lost. Would your antenna go up if something was up? Would you do something about it even if you were juggling an arm full of clipboards while on the phone with a vendor? Would you recognize you still need to complete the conversation with the vendor and get those clipboards where they need to be while deciding to also help that child? Would doing something about it absolutely fill your heart with joy? Not because you're responsible for making sure every kid is smiling 24/7. It's ok and natural for them to have feelings, but because that kid needed someone to care and you made sure they felt cared for?

● Can you multitask all while keeping calm, level headed and kind?

● Does quitting your gym membership this summer because you can lift up to 60lbs at work, on a normal day, sound good? (You don’t actually have to quit your gym membership!)

• Our program areas are set up to be intuitive, meaning the campers can walk in and figure out how to get started.
• Our Director team helps the counselor team in facilitating the social/emotional check in with campers everyday at lunch. This helps us get to know some campers on a deeper level and enables us to make their day.
• Directors will follow- up on any social emotional ratings 3 and below and ensure parent/guardian notes are put into the system before the end of the day. We also sometimes put the 5’s in our communication system so at check-out our staff can let the caregivers know about something awesome that happened as well.

Compensation

Staff are paid at their hourly rate for training, staff meetings, move-in/out and camp time worked. We follow state and federal requirements and staff are compensated at their agreed upon hourly rate stated in their offer letter.

Spring Break and Summer Director positions are temporary, seasonally non-benefited positions and do not include paid vacation time.

Required Availability

Spring Break Training: Up to 9 hours during the after school hours the week of March 20, 2023

Spring Break Move-In/Out: March 30 - April 2, 2023 + April 7-8, 2023 (Approx 7.5 hours a day)

Spring Break Camp: April 3-7, 2023 (8 hour shifts)

Additional: The evenings leading up to move-out, we schedule staff to clock-out and take a break and then clock back in to help prep for move-out for 1-3 hours (in addition to regular 8 hour shifts) depending on scheduled needs. This will likely be Friday, April 7 only.

Summer Training: Staff Virtual Training + In-person May 28, 2022 + up to 5 hours in-person with the Director prior to Move-In and potential meet the camper event

Summer Move-In/Out: June 7 - 11, 2022 + August 4 - 6, 2023

Summer Camp: June 12 - Aug 4, 2023

Additional: 3-4 evening staff meetings. The evenings leading up to move-out, we may schedule staff to clock-out and take a break and then clock back in to help prep for move-out for 1-3 hours depending on scheduled needs.

Job Type: Temporary

Pay: $18.00 - $22.00 per hour

Schedule:

• Monday to Friday

Ability to commute/relocate:

• Chicago, IL 60614: Reliably commute or planning to relocate before starting work (Required)

Experience:

• staff management: 1 year (Preferred)

License/Certification:

• CPR Certification (Required)

Shift availability:

• Day Shift (Required)

Work Location: In person

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