Friday, April 10, 2009

Camp cook job search on the ACA website

I used four websites in my search for a summer camp job. These sites helped me locate camps, especially camps within my target area of Northern California. I also learned what camps were looking for a chef or head cook.

Although I didn't limit my job search to the four websites, I relied on these four sites:
  1. American Camp Association
  2. Christian Camp and Conference Association
  3. SummerCampJobs.com
  4. CampStaff.com
While three of the sites generated job leads, I included the first on the list because it provided much information over the past two years. Email job alerts from the American Camp Association Employment Center proved valuable in the 2007 and 2008. Although I wasn't looking for summer work at the time, the alerts gave me an idea the type of camps out there.

I initially posted my resume to the Employment Center during the week that I retired. After posting my employment objective and work experience in August, I went back over the next two or three weeks and refined my information and added additional information.

Unfortunately, the ACA Employment Center didn't generate and contacts for the 2009 summer camp season. The economy could be to blame as I saw several interesting job openings in 2007 and 2008. The first (and only to date) job alert didn't arrive in my inbox until the end of March.

I went to the site every week between December and March to search for food service jobs. Until mid-March, all advertised job were located east of the Mississippi River. As of today, a search for food service jobs only brought up 23 openings, with over two-thirds located in the East and Midwest.

I plan to use the search service next year when I start my search for the 2010 camp season. I may've selected an off year to use the ACA website.

However, if all goes well this summer, I won't need to search for a job next year. One of my goals this year was to locate a camp with which I could establish a long-term relationship.

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