The Matching Process

Once your camp has been enrolled for the current hiring season, you will have access to the InterExchange Matching System. You will also have a dedicated InterExchange representative for your camp. If you are unsure who this is, please contact us at [email protected] and they will reach out to you directly. 

There are three primary ways that matching takes place. 

1. Browse our available participants yourself – There is a search page available to you once you have enrolled. All available Camp Placement participants will be shown on this page for you to connect with. If there are any applicants you are interested in speaking with, you can connect them with your camp. If you are not yet ready to interview and hire, you can also Favorite an applicant, making it easier for you to find them later if they are still available.
2. Participants browse active camps – As part of your application, a Host Profile is created. Accepted Camp Placement participants are able to browse through the list of camps who have made their profile visible and connect their application with your camp. You are able to enable or disable your profile visibility at any point during the matching season. We recommend leaving your profile visible so that the most motivated participants are able to find your camp!
3. Share your hiring needs with your InterExchange representative – Your InterExchange representative can keep an eye on the incoming participants and connect them with your camp as they become available. Your representative will also notify you as any Returning Placements become available for you to review and confirm.

Connections

The Connections list will show the participants that you are currently connected with for review This will include both Camp Placements and Returning Placements. Your Returning Placements will remain in this list until you confirm their job offers. Camp Placement participants will typically remain in this list for five days. You can extend that period as needed by using the “Need More Time?” feature. You can also disconnect from participants as needed, and they can disconnect from your camp as well.

Camp Placement participants can be connected with multiple camps at a time. We recommend contacting them for an interview as soon as possible. Although they can be connected with multiple camps at a time, they can only receive one job offer at a time! This means that participants you have connected with may also be interviewing for other roles. It’s important to act quickly!

If you decide that you are no longer interested in an applicant you are connected with, please disconnect them and include a reason for doing so. InterExchange representatives will be able to see the reason, and we can use it to assist the participant in finding a better fit – and to ensure we know precisely what you’re looking for!

Confirmation and Job Offers

Once you have decided to hire a participant, you will be able to send them a Job Offer from the Connections list. You will enter the proposed position title, arrival date, contract start date, contract end date, and total compensation amount. Please note that this amount (and benefits) should be commensurate with a similarly situated American counterpart. The amount entered on this line is the amount paid to the participant. It should not include any additional benefits or deductions (i.e fee from InterExchange). The amount you enter here is what the counselor will expect to be paid, pre-tax, during their time at camp.

There is a minimum required stipend for Camp Placement participants. If the contract is for  longer than 63 days of work, the participant will need to earn additional pay on top of the minimum stipend. This information is up to date on our costs page. You can calculate that amount or any additional amount the camp will be paying the counselor and include it in the Total Compensation line. 

You’ll see a basic camp counselor description on the job offer, and you may also include an additional description for anything specific about the role you would like to note in the offer. Here’s an example of helpful additional information: “the role of lifeguard also includes evening duties and responsibilities of a general counselor”. There is also a Typical Camp Counselor Work Hours section that you may edit as needed. The more information you put in the job offer, the more prepared your staff member will be, and the easier it is for InterExchange to help mediate any discrepancies.

Once you confirm the offer, your InterExchange representative will review it and then send it out to the participant to review and sign. 

If you are unable to offer a job to a participant on your Connections list, this most likely means they have a pending offer at a different camp. Please contact your InterExchange representative for more information.

Roles that are Suitable for the Camp Counselor Program

It is important to note that the J-1 Camp Counselor Program is a cultural exchange program by nature. Per Section Section 22 CFR 62.30(a) of the regulations, these participants should be:

…serving as counselors per se, that is, having direct responsibility for supervision of groups of American youth and of activities that bring them into interaction with their charges. While it is recognized that some non-counseling chores are an essential part of camp life for all counselors, this program is not intended to assist American camps in bringing in foreign nationals to serve as administrative personnel, cooks, or menial laborers, such as dishwashers or janitors.

Your InterExchange representative will be reviewing your job offers to ensure the roles fall within these guidelines and will reach out with any clarifying questions.