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 review. If there are any you are interested in speaking with, you can put them On Review with your camp. 
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. 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 send them to your review list as they become available. Your representative will also notify you as any Self or Returning Placements become available for you to review and confirm.

Review Periods

The On Review list will show the participants that you have on review. This will include both Camp Placement and your Self or Returning Placements. Any Camp Placement participants that you, InterExchange, or the participants themselves put on review with you will be there for a period of seven days. During this time, you will be the only camp who can access and view the application. 

We recommend contacting them for an interview as soon as possible. If anyone is on this list you know you will not be moving forward with, please decline 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! 

You also have the ability to extend review periods if needed. Please use this sparingly, as we want to be sure participants and other camps have plenty of time to match if needed.

Once your Self and Returning Placements are on your review list, they will remain there until you create an offer.

Confirmation and Job Offers

Once you have decided to hire a participant, you will be able to send them a Job Offer from the On Review 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. 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. 

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.