From: EA1981GLE@aol.com
Date: Wed Sep 18 2002 - 23:25:23 CDT
I spent two great summers working in the ranger department. My first year
was as a ranger, the second summer I worked as a Training Ranger. I really
wish I would not have given in to the temptation of earning more money. The
window of opportunity to work at Philmont is much smaller than the window of
working for a living. But that subject is another thread.
After leaving Philmont I became a Summer Camp Mercenary, used my camp
experiences to travel and went to camps that paid the best. I served as a
Scoutcraft Director, COPE Director, and as Program Director. All of my old
ideas were new to those camps and all of their old ideas were new to me.
One of the lessons I learned from a particularly good Camp Director was to
hire your staff early. This camp director had a policy of offering contracts
to the key staff he wanted back the next year before they left for the
season.
This accomplished a lot of good things. First, you left camp feeling
especially good about the job you did and you got excited about the next
year. Second, since you knew what you were going to make salary-wise you
could plan your budget out so that you could take care of college expenses.
Finally, and maybe most importantly, it kept key staff "off the market."
When I became a Camp Director I adopted this concept. I had six years as a
successful camp director in 2 different councils. I always was able to
announce my next year's program director and together we would offer
contracts for the next year. In most cases, we would get them back signed
before we left camp. Perhaps Philmont should consider something like this.
When I worked out at the ranch in 86 & 87 they had an extensive staff
evaluation process. My .02 worth would to suggest that the Chief Ranger be
hired and announced officially, the last week of operation. That would allow
him/her to figure out who their ACR's and whatever they now call TR's before
everyone heads back to "the real world."
Yes, you will have some who back out of their contracts because of unforeseen
circumstances, but that is the nature of the beast. The positives far
outweigh any negatives. This same thing should be done with other
departments throughout the ranch including the back country camps.
Would it be easy to implement, maybe. Are there challenges to be overcome,
yes. Will it pay dividends in the future? Yes.
One other thing that the pro staff at Philmont may want to consider is using
ScoutNet to pull together a database of Scouters in the 17-20 age range and
send out a promotion piece inviting them to apply to Philmont, the Sea Base,
and the Canoe Base. Sending out a 250,000-400,000 bulk mail would surely give
them a lot more qualified Scouts to chose from.
Just my .02 worth, your mileage may vary.
Alex in LA
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