From mid-November onwards we will send suitable applications, specially selected for your camp, for you to review via your online account, or by email or fax, as you prefer. As always, we will do our best to find the 'right' people for your camp.

You will be the only director to receive each application so we ask that you make your decisions as quickly as possible. Delays can affect an applicant's chances of placement. Information on the people you have hired, including returners, will be available during the year by logging on to your Summer Camp USA account.

When you accept someone, you send two copies of your standard counselor contract and a copy of your camp brochure and any other counselor literature (including medical forms if necessary) to the BUNAC London office, or to IEP in Melbourne, Australia, or Auckland, NZ (as applicable). BUNAC/ IEP sends all materials, plus visa, flight and insurance information to the applicant, who signs the contracts and returns one copy to you.

As previously stated, Canadian camps do have some extra form-filling. We will give full guidance on the process to both camp and counselor when applicants are placed.

That’s all there is to it. You pay us for the counselors in June and provide assistance in obtaining Social Security cards. You will also be asked to help us in the SEVIS Validation process.

Don’t forget that our New York office is there to help you, as well as the staff, during the summer season.

For further information about hiring counselor staff through Summer Camp USA and to request a brochure, please call 1-800-462-8622 or email: scusa@bunacusa.org.

Can-Camp

BUNAC offers a special program, called Can-Camp, for camp staff hired in Canada to work on a camp in the USA. You can download the Can-Camp information and counselor/support staff applications here.

Looking after your overseas staff

• Before they arrive, your international staff will be eager to hear from you about camp life, their role on camp, the children, the camp location, the activities, their daily routine and absolutely anything else you think would be useful information.
• The necessity of communicating with participants once you have contracted them cannot be overstated. They will have many questions for you and it is disheartening if such letters and emails go unanswered. Generally speaking it is not sufficient to send a copy of the standard camper brochure. This brochure can give a misleading impression to an overseas staff member who has never been to a US camp before.
• You may find that you need to supplement your pre-camp orientation with an extra session for overseas staff. Some camps have found it helpful to arrange for international staff to arrive a day or two before the American staff. This gives them a chance to recover from the long flight and find their way about before camp gets underway.
• We ask you to provide such things as sheets and blankets for overseas staff as they are not really able to bring such bulky items with them on the flight.
• Participants will also appreciate as much help from you as possible in arranging transportation out of camp on evenings and days off. Inability to get out of camp in time off is a major source of frustration for overseas staff.
• Your overseas staff will thank you for the provision of internet and email facilities for them. Email is especially important since it enables them to easily and instantly stay in touch with friends and family.
• Counselors expect to share something of their own culture with their campers and fellow counselors. British nights (or Irish, Scottish, Australian, etc.), staff soccer or cricket games and the like are all standard fare on camps with BUNAC counselors.

Fees and Salaries

For information on the 2009 Summer Camp USA and KAMP USA programs click here.