How To Become A Summer Counselor: What It Is and Career Path

What is a summer counselor and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted expert

Dr. Tommy Casarez Ph.D.

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a summer counselor. For example, did you know that they make an average of $12.1 an hour? That's $25,176 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 10% and produce 28,100 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a summer counselor?

Dr. Tommy Casarez Ph.D.

Dr., Assistant Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology, Vanguard University

Opportunities come in many different shapes and sizes, but they are still out there. Whether you are seeking to land a job in education or the non-profit sector, you will need to familiarize yourself and get used to all things digital, for the sake of communicating effectively. The younger your student or service partner's mindset, the more digitally savvy you will need to be, especially in the classroom and in the non-profit world.

ScoreSummer CounselorUS Average

Salary

2.0

Avg. Salary $25,176

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

9.1

Growth rate 10%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

9.9

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.67%

Asian 4.93%

Black or African American 13.69%

Hispanic or Latino 14.06%

Unknown 5.57%

White 61.09%

Gender

female 56.68%

male 43.32%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress level

9.1

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.9

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

7.5

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a summer counselor

Explore summer counselor education requirements

Most common summer counselor degrees

Bachelor's

65.0 %

High School Diploma

14.4 %

Associate

10.1 %

Start to develop specific summer counselor skills

Skills	Percentages
Child Care	29.87%
Kids	28.18%
Leadership	10.67%
Youth Ages	10.38%
CPR	4.38%

Complete relevant summer counselor training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New summer counselors learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a summer counselor based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real summer counselor resumes.

Research summer counselor duties and responsibilities

Educate campers to manage their diabetes independently bypracticing in team excercises.
Help teachers with daily activities and make sure everything run smoothly as each day proceed.
Coordinate with other counselors to maintain camp cleanliness, and make sure that the campers have a safe and enjoyable experience.
Maintain general cleanliness of facilities and campground.

Prepare your summer counselor resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your summer counselor resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a summer counselor resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable summer counselor resume templates

Build a professional summer counselor resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your summer counselor resume.