NYQUEST Camp Canada is really excited to be in the UK and Ireland for our Camp Canada Job Fairs! With our merry Canadian crew of camp professionals, we’re ready to see the sights, meet the attendees and make some amazing hires for their Summer Camp staff teams!

As a prospective Camp Canada Job Fairs goer, you might be feeling all the feels right now – somewhere between nervousness and excitement is totally normal! This is a big deal – you walk in with no idea where you’ll end up this summer, and potentially walk out with a confirmed summer camp job, dates to book your flight and a new toque (Canadian for “wooly hat”) from your new camp director! However, it’s important to consider the reality – that there are only so many camps attending, hiring for specific positions, and it’s entirely possible that you might not match what they are looking for. This is perfectly, 100% ok! Here at NYQUEST Camp Canada, we want to figure out the best placement possible FOR YOU. Whilst the Camp Canada Job Fairs are a great opportunity to get a feel for different camps in person and take that placement process into your own hands a little bit, the vast majority of participants get placed the good old fashioned way – we learn about you, your skill set, your strengths and your personality type, and then we figure out where we think you will do well. Sometimes this is in a certain role, and sometimes it is at a specific type of summer camp, but either way, we use this as our starting point to pass your application on to our camps.

Here is a list of our tips to get the most out of the UK & Ireland Camp Canada Job Fairs, and hopefully leave happy and satisfied with your decision to attend:

1. Have Your Camp Canada Application Ready

This means that you can head right into the fair and start talking to directors straight off! It also is a familiar form of presentation for our camp directors. Having the first section of your application with the first application payment completed makes things easier on all ends, you will get express entry to the fair and we highly recommend it. Without this payment, you will have to complete the forms on the day, take part of an introductory presentation and waste precious time that you could be spending talking with camp directors! If you haven’t yet started this, submit a pre-application and we’ll send you everything you need. Also, make sure to log-in to your portal and print out your application, we will ask for this when you arrive to the venue.

2. Have Your Top Three Summer Camps Prepared

If you’re signed up for the Job Fairs and have paid your application fee, you will receive an email in the week prior to the fairs with a list of which camps are attending – do your research, but try not to get stuck on the idea of only attending one particular camp! Each camp has their own staffing needs and they just might already have an excellent Canadian filling the role that you’d otherwise be perfect for. Try your best to formulate a top three, and talk to these camps first to get a feel for their program, philosophy, etc, as well as whether they might have a position for you. If none of them suit you, or if you don’t suit them, talk to the other camps in attendance! You never know which conversation might end up being the winning one, and which camp might be the perfect one for you.

3. Show Us Your Best Self!

Get yourself a good nights sleep, show up early, or at least not in the last hour of the fair when everyone’s getting a little crusty, and give yourself a pep talk – or let any of the NYQUEST Camp Canada crew do one for you! Camp directors love the enthusiasm, and they need to know exactly what you can do before they make a hiring decision – so be honest and descriptive in explaining your skill set. If you’re not the right fit, just move on! The most important thing is that you end up at a camp that you’re comfortable with, doing a job that you are capable of doing. On the same note, if you’re bringing your mum/dad/partner/BFF/rabbit along for moral support, that’s great for you but please make sure that they don’t try and find the placement for you! Camp directors want to talk to YOU, not your significant other who may not even want to come to Canada. Whilst you might like your parents to ‘check’ your potential employer, this is not something we’d recommend. Remember, you are doing this experience as an independent human. You’ll be travelling to Canada on your own and we need to see that you’re capable of that from the outset.

Prepare yourself for a possibly overwhelming but ultimately exciting day at our Camp Canada Job Fairs, filled with potential. Know that whilst we wish EVERYONE could get placed on the day, that’s just not how these things work. If you need a bit of a boost on the day, please talk to one of the NYQUEST staff (we’ll be wearing snazzy t-shirts) – we can give you a realistic idea of your placement chances, and we can even suggest which alternative camps back in Canada that you’d be really suitable for. We’re so pumped to be in the UK and Ireland, and we can’t wait to meet you!