Former CK Campers & CILTs
Ready to Grow into a New Role
Welcome back to camp! You’ve spent your summers at Kinneret as a camper and/or a CILT, and now you might feel ready to take the leap and join our staff! During your previous summers at Kinneret, you may have explored how to lead an activity, learned how to take initiative, or practiced how to talk to younger campers. Now as a staff member, you are ready to combine the skills you have already developed with a summer of fast-paced leadership training. We invite you to discover how Kinneret can help you grow as a young leader while making an impact on many campers’ lives.
Why Work at Camp Kinneret?
We’re Committed to Camper Growth (How We Help You Help Campers)
- Camp is a valuable opportunity to coach campers on critical life skills. Here at Kinneret, we strive to nurture five themes of life skills through our program: Independence, Teamwork, Creativity, Friendship, and Community. When you work with campers, you will try to maximize opportunities for your kids to practice these five Kinneret Roots.
- We keep our camp groups small on purpose. You will have 10 – 15 campers a day, and at least one high schooler in training or a co-counselor with you and your group throughout the summer. Our small group sizes and teams of counselors and high schoolers ensure that each of our staff members finds the moment to connect with their campers on a deeper level.
- We want you to spend quality time with your campers. Our 4- and 5- week session structure allows you to get to know campers over an extended, consistent period of time, which gives you more room to facilitate growth within your campers.
We’re Committed to Staff Development (How We Help You Grow)
- Staff attend 4 days of orientation, receiving training in: team building, conflict resolution, group management, creative problem-solving, and much more. We believe in active learning, and provide our staff with multiple hands-on opportunities to practice what they learn throughout the orientation program.
- Our staff attend weekly meetings to receive on-the-job training and ongoing education.
- Staff receive friendly one-on-one support from a Leadership Team member, who’s there to guide you as you set goals, overcome challenges, and develop skills. We emphasize this relationship as a partnership – Leadership Team members are there to help you in any way you need.
Build a 21st Century Resume by Working at Camp
The Partnership for 21st-Century Learning has identified the 4 skills (or the 4 Cs) that today’s employers believe are most crucial to success in the workforce: Communication, Critical Thinking, Creativity, and Collaboration. Camp work requires you to use and hone each of these skills every single day, all while enjoying a job that gets you outside, gets you laughing and playing, and turns you into a role model for children.
Here is just a sampling of the roles you’ll practice this summer that will help you develop your 4 Cs:
- Good communicator – Our staff members interact with people aged 4 – 400, which means that they must learn how to connect with people across all age ranges.
- Life-long learner – Our staff members embrace a growth mindset. They know that there’s always room to learn more and improve, and are prepared for any challenges that come their way.
- Community player – Sometimes our staff members are bombarded with what feels like a million challenges all at once. Staff and the Leadership Team members work together daily to overcome problems, develop new ideas, and best support our campers. But that’s okay, our staff members use their resources like Leadership Team members and fellow staff members to problem solve together and come out stronger.
- Creative thinker – Our staff members love to add twists to old games and activities to make them new, fresh, and engaging. They learn how to think on the fly!
- Detail-oriented worker – Our staff members are often in charge of more than one camper at once, so they learn how to always have eyes on everyone. Details are important!
- Leader – Our staff members are responsible for little people, which means that they must practice being responsible leaders that their campers can always lean on.
- Problem solver – Staff members are always problem solving how to help their campers grow. Everybody wants to go first at archery? Our staff members strategize a fair system of choosing who goes when. A camper struggles with losing honorably? Our staff members invent a game that focuses on good sportsmanship rather than winning. Staff members develop the skills they need to efficiently resolve problems and challenges. And if you are feeling stuck, our Leadership Team members will assist you in finding a solution that fits your goal and approach!
Kinneret Staff Positions
At Kinneret, we have two broad themes of staff members: group counselors and specialists. Group counselors spend their whole summer with one group of campers, lead the day and facilitate activities for their group, and work with their Leadership Team member to create a memorable summer for their campers. Specialists spend their summer at an activity (like ponies or arts and crafts), get to spend time with multiple different groups every day, and introduce campers to new projects and programs at their activity. You can learn more about Kinneret’s staff positions here!
How to Apply
Tips and Tricks for Submitting a Successful Application – Click to Scroll Through!




FAQs
All staff members attend a mandatory staff training from June 6 – 9. Kinneret’s 5-week session runs from June 13 – July 15, and then our 4-week session runs from July 18 – August 12. Check out the staff calendar here for more details!
Camp is a full ten-week commitment. Missing time is difficult to accommodate, and must be approved in advance. Contact us today if you are concerned about potential schedule conflicts.
If you join our bus staff team (and most staff members do), then a part of your job would be to ride the bus to and from camp every day, making the bus experience fun and engaging for all. So your camp day will actually start much closer to home and your commute will be part of your work day!
Click “Join Our Staff” at the bottom of the page to start working on your application.
Looking for a part-time position working with children during the school year? Growing Outdoors & Developing Outdoors are currently operating before and after-school programs in the Agoura Hills, Oak Park, Westlake, and Thousand Oaks areas. Click below to find out more.