Staff FAQs

Most people we hire each year work as camp counselors. Additional positions exist, including support staff, kitchen staff, leadership staff, and health staff. See positions we are currently hiring for on this page.

At Friends Camp, counselors work with kids of all ages! The sessions are divided by age: the first session is the youngest kids ages 7-12, the second session is middle schoolers (10-13), and the last two sessions are high schoolers (13-17). During each of these sessions, campers throughout the age range do activities together. In most sessions, cabin groups are roughly determined by age, though it is likely that you will have a spread of ages in your cabin. For example, in a teenage session a cabin might have 13-15 year olds, or 15-17 year olds.

Friends Campers hail primarily from New England, with almost half of our campers coming to camp from Maine. About 20% of Friends Campers are Quakers (or Friends), and we welcome campers from all religious backgrounds or no religious background. Campers are diverse in their socioeconomic backgrounds, races, ethnicities, genders, abilities, and interests. Our goal as a camp is to provide a welcoming and inclusive space to all campers.

Counselors are responsible for different groups of campers during the day, from their cabin, to the kids in their activities, to groups of kids at meals and during free time. Generally, you will not be singularly responsible for a group larger than 7 or 8 campers, and you will almost always be paired with a co-counselor in your cabin. There are between 6 and 10 campers in a cabin, depending on cabin size.

The dates for all staff for 2025 are June 13th at noon to August 16th at noon. Some staff members may arrive early for lifeguard, health hut, or boating orientation.

Working at camp in any capacity allows you to participate in community-building, to take on a leadership role, and to build your skills of communication, problem solving, and thinking on the fly. A summer at camp requires you to be open and communicative with the other people you are working with, and to step in when you see issues arising. Friends you make as a camp counselor are often friends for life, and you will probably laugh harder in this job than any other job.

Friends Camp requires staff members to have experience working with kids (or comparable family experience), an openness to Quaker values and living, and the ability to lead fun activities. Each summer, we also look to hire a certain number of lifeguards and staff proficient in boating, as well as staff who are excellent kitchen helpers, and staff who are trained in Wilderness First Aid. Your specific skills– magic tricks, volleyball, or accordion– may have a place here. Make sure to tell us about them on your application!

A typical day as a counselor at Friends Camp includes leading activities for various sizes of groups, supervising campers in your cabin and outside of it, and doing “jobs” (cleaning chores) with campers. Each day brings new moments of laughter, curiosity, challenges, and fun for both campers and staff.

A summer at camp can be taxing, emotionally and physically, because the days are long and spent mainly moving around. Caring for other people as your main job can be draining. But don’t let that scare you! First and foremost, your well-being is always a priority. The rest of the staff is there for you when there is an issue, and it is always ok to ask for help when you need it. Furthermore, it is important to know what you need, and what helps you de-stress. Knowing yourself and making sure you get the rest you need is important to having the best summer you can! Many staff find that the routine of camp, including regular sleep hours, healthy food, and active time outdoors, contributes to their well-being.

Staff training is one week long, and an important time to get to know the other staff, to learn more about how Friends Camp operates, and to participate in training activities that prepare you for caring for kids. Orientation topics include learning the daily schedule, camper safety, diversity and inclusion, team-building, and much more. We usually take a staff camping trip in Acadia National Park for a night as well!

The starting salary for all staff in 2025 is $420 per week. Depending on your position and your experience, you can expect to be paid $420- $475 per week to work at camp for most positions. An additional $250 bonus will be given to staff who are lifeguards. Returning cabin counselors also get a bonus at the end of the summer if they work the entire season. Salaries are paid once per session (4 times a summer) via check or direct deposit. Working at camp also covers your cost of food, housing, and laundry for the summer! Additional benefits include dietary accommodation and providing small stipends for staff seeking assistance with travel costs, as well as free training in lifeguarding or CPR/First Aid.

All staff get one day off every week, as well as more than a full day off between the 2-week sessions. There are also down times during the day for staff, including rest hour or time at night, as well as distinct slots of time off for counselors during a few typical days in a session. Staff have the option to leave camp on their weekly day off as well as in between sessions and explore beautiful Maine.

During staff time off, common activities include swimming in nearby lakes, driving to the coast for the day, hiking in the Camden Hills area, and exploring nearby towns like Waterville, Augusta, and Portland.

Though many of our first time staff are often former campers, we also intentionally seek to hire people who have never been to Friends Camp before. We highly value bringing in fresh perspectives to our community, and some of our strongest counselors are those who are entirely new to camp. We feel that having staff who are new to camp allows us to continue to bring new, fun activities for our campers, and to continue to improve our community.

Every year we hire a small number of staff from outside of the US. We find the perspective and contributions to our community that come from non-US cultures invaluable! If you are not a US citizen and interested in applying to work at Friends Camp, you can do so through the regular staff application. To help international staff with the process of coming to work in the US, we partner with organizations like IENA and CIEE that help coordinate appointments for candidates with embassies in their home nation.