The Next Step
Now that I had passed my interview the real work began. It was time to find my three references and create my video and what a nightmare these would turn out to be for me. Let’s talk about my references first shall we!?
References
The references had to be someone who had known you for a minimum of 6 months and had seen you working with children or seen you participate with one of your three skills. Unfortunately I no longer have any form of communication with my dance or backpacking teacher so these were immediately out of the running. Fortunately as I had spent the last two years working in children’s hospital I was able to ask a couple of my supervisors to be my referrees. Then came the dreaded third reference. Thinking it had to be someone with authority I was stuck but after a quick conversation with the AmeriCamp team I realised I could use the people I used to babysit for as my final one.
Usually after your initial interview we were told we had 10 days to get all three references and video sent in, but luckily for me, being a VIP applicant, I had a little extra time to complete it all.
Video
I’d done my three references and now it was time to record my video. Let me tell you, this for me was much easier said than actually completing. As I work full time and long hours, I was struggling to find the time to sit and record the speaking parts in natural daylight.
In your video you have to introduce yourself, say why you want to take part in AmeriCamp (Tip: do not mention rival Camp America or the fact you want to travel), your experience with children and then explain your three skills with some photo/video proof of you doing them. Oh did I mention your video can only be roughly 2minutes long!? Yeah, it was difficult to squeeze everything in.
Anyway, I eventually found an hour or so to be able to sit and record myself chatting and unless your a professional blogger or YouTuber this is so much more corny than you think!
Overall, once the recording was complete, it only takes a couple of hours to edit and put everything together. Remember this video will be sent to the camps in America and is going to be the first impression they receive of you. Be confident in what you have to say but be natural too.
Video tips
- Be confident
- Act natural
- Don’t mention Camp America or other rival companies
- Don’t mention how much you want to travel
- Talk about your experience with children
- Give specific and correct terminology for your skills to show your expertise
- Better to use natural daylight
During this time I also had to go through my original application and update it with the things Holly and I discussed. I was asked to go into further detail in all areas which is something I have always been told so for me that was no surprise. The biggest change I had to make to my application was my third skill which I I totally put down as Theatre Management, however Holly thought as I had completed DofE, backpacking would be a better and more attractive to camps.
So that was it, I’d completed Stage Two. Now the waiting game began again. This time I wasn’t sure what the next stage I was waiting for would be, but only time would tell.
