"Best Western Inn" Desk Clerk in City of Beaver Dam, WI

http://madison.craigslist.org/csr/2873750724.html

"Job Title: Front Desk Clerk

Accepting applications for part time front desk clerk having smart personality with excellent customer care skills. Candidate must be able to work flexible shifts including weekends and most holidays.

Apply in person at:

Best Western Campus Inn

815 Park Avenue

Beaver Dam,WI

Compensation: part-time"

Considering how many job seekers inquire at hotel desks in a given week, it speaks volumes about management’s distaste for existing applicants. I suppose the Beaver Dam manager tired of the same chronically unemployed applicants month after month and hence decided to advertise as far away as Madison (about 40 miles away), a city which has plenty more hotels to hire front-desk workers before they contemplate an hour commute to Beaver Dam.

I understand the requirement of a top-shelf attitude towards helping the customer because when did admitting to having only “great customer service skills” ever suffice, outside of pizza places having a minimum wait time of 20 minutes? However, the job poster asks for not only the typical “excellent customer care skills” but also for a “smart personality.” There are clearer phrases to communicate the intent of the job poster such as “intuitive sense of decorum” or “readily notices customers before they try to get your attention.”

As worded, the job vacancy might be interpreted as being intended for “smarty pants” or otherwise sarcastic individuals. I believe this is what most people think of when hearing or reading the phrase “smart personality.” A requirement of above-average intelligence would be a waste of human capital because there isn’t much for a desk worker to learn once he or she has memorized hotel policies, which should nonetheless be written in an easily accessible manual and tend to change anyway. I hence believe that “common sense” is the meaning intended by use of the phrase “smart personality.”

Irrespective of descriptive semantics, the job poster and many other human resources staff believe they can accurately assess applicant adequacy (alliteration aside) via a snap judgment or once-over of an in-person applicant. (It’s a good thing those HR folks aren’t court judges!) The requirement to apply in person is supposed to be a behavioral interview in itself. The hiring manager would do well to act like an angry customer when someone requests a job application because how someone responds to people who act like jerks is a fairly accurate measure of how the applicant will act behind your back when hired.

To truly test for whether the applicant embodies savoir faire, esprit de corps, and a bunch of other personality concepts clichéd into French terms to sound more sophisticated than they are, it would be wise for the manager to act out some scenarios in real time to see the responses and composure of the applicant. While typically only luxury hotel managers actually use the aforementioned French terms, I apply them to this job vacancy because many hiring managers of economy chains such as Best Western Inn hold the same cavalier attitude, as evinced by including the obnoxious term “smart personality” in the job description for a doormat position such as desk clerk.

I know that hotel maids are technically below desk clerk in terms of authority, but those workers have the privilege of requesting the room occupant to leave for a room cleaning or to skip a room until the occupants leave. Hence, the desk clerk is least sheltered from customer demands and hence should not have a “smart” or skeptical attitude but instead believe the customer and kowtow to whatever extent necessary.

Wanna-Be Economic Stimulator for Layton Boulevard in City of Milwaukee, WI

http://epic.cuir.uwm.edu/entech/jobs/index.php?cmd=viewposting&id=7535

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"Job Title: Economic Development Manager
Posted by: Layton Boulevard West Neighbors, Inc.
Date Posted: 02/21/12
Deadline to Apply: March 5, 2012

Job Description:
The Economic Development Manager’s responsibilities include a broad range of activities and strategies. The Economic Development Manager must be creative, entrepreneurial and adaptable to the changing needs of the neighborhood.
Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Position Type: Full-time
Compensation: Based on experience.
Type of Employment: Direct Hire

Responsibilities:
Restructure the Economics in the Neighborhood:
•Create jobs by providing technical assistance to individual businesses.
•Identify retail recruitment and retention strategies for immediate implementation.
•Maintain inventories on business vacancies and properties for sale.
•Create and promote resources to potential business owners to establish or expand their business in district.
•Recruit new businesses to the district.
•Identify, secure, and promote resources and incentives such as grants, loans, permits, general contractors, architects, and graffiti removal.
•Establish relationships with landlords and property owners to encourage lease ups of viable retail businesses.
•Approach economic restructuring as a means to retain existing businesses and to attract new or expanding businesses to the neighborhood.
•Manage proposals with business consultants and third party vendors.

Improve Design Aspects of Commercial Corridors:

• Establish and implement milestones for commercial district design improvements.

• Promote design improvements and resources to business owners, including streetscape and façade improvements.

• Meet individually with business owners to identify individual design needs.

• Provide one-on-one technical assistance to businesses to improve their building and commercial corridor.

• Cultivate partnerships with institutions of higher education and others to provide design concepts and incentives for improvements.

Promote the Commercial Corridors and Neighborhood:

• Promote the commercial districts, with special events and retail promotions, such as Sounds of Summer concerts and Trick-or-Treat Street.

• Provide individual technical assistance to businesses and clusters of like businesses to promote them.

• Work with media and Internet outlets to promote the district.

• Create and implement marketing initiatives to generate excitement and awareness of the business corridors.

Organize and Empower Business Owners:

• Work with economic development committee to oversee the implementation of the economic development aspects of the Quality of Life Plan.

• Leverage other Quality of Life Plan strategies as opportunities to maximize impact.

•Recruit, train, coordinate, and manage the volunteers of the various project committees.
•Serve as a central point of communication for all committees, volunteers, staff, Board, and outside contacts.
•Facilitate the process of setting goals and benchmarks, identifying strategies to accomplish them, and monitoring the progress toward meeting the program’s goals.

Other:
•Prepare all reports required by the Community Development Grant Administration, LBWN, and other partners.
•Participate in staff and board meetings.

• Participate in other economic development meetings and panels regarding commercial revitalization.

• Assist in the development of LBWN’s and the Economic Development portion of the newsletter, website, marketing videos, facebook, and others media tools.

• Prepare and monitor the program’s budget.

• Supervise interns as needed.

• Write grants and reports and make presentations to investors and board.

• Work with media outlets to promote projects.

• Build partnerships with elected officials, city departments, realtors, brokers, and others.

Qualifications:

• Minimum Bachelor’s Degree in Real Estate, Urban Planning, or a related field with community development and/or economic development experience

• Experience working with diverse populations

• Excellent problem solving skills

• Bookkeeping skills

• Strong ability to think on your feet

• Team player

• Excellent oral and written communication skills

• Experience working with public officials and media

• Ability to multi-task with a strong sense of meeting deadlines and follow-up

• High degree of professionalism, flexibility and initiative

• Exceptional organizational and time management skills

• Desire to make a difference in a south side Milwaukee neighborhood

• Ability to work evenings and weekends, as events necessitate

• Bilingual in English and Spanish preferred

Benefits and other compensation:

Attractive Benefit Package."

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We interrupt this post for a word from our sponsor:

Thank you for visiting our sponsor!

For compensation which lists “depending on experience” in lieu of an actual minimum and maximum, the Economic Development Manager combines many functions of a Chamber of Commerce, grant writer, property manager, urban planner, event planner, and public relations director. I imagine the backlog on these activities is already at a bottleneck due to the vacancy and due to the difficulty of finding someone to fulfill interim duties, considering how the neighborhood association known as “Layton Boulevard West Neighbors” (LBWN) assigns each director the work of three.

If the scope creep of the position isn’t enough to discourage most applicants, the neighborhood’s preference for someone who speaks both English and Spanish fluently hints at the myriad opportunities for miscommunication in this public relations-oriented position. Homonyms are one of the most insidious language phenomena because a well-intentioned translation may sound like an insult due to improper context or intonation. I suppose that if identification with the community and actual development expertise prove to be inversely correlated among applicants, then familiarity with the neighborhood would be a stronger factor due to the whole concept of “community empowerment” or “buy-in.” This mentality sometimes closes the community to outside expertise which it really needs, but thankfully this is a fairly technical position which is accordingly shielded from the direct control of a democracy.

Some of the job requirements obviously favor remodeling and landscape contractors, e.g. “Promote design improvements and resources to business owners, including streetscape and façade improvements.” How are local businesses supposed to afford those improvements except by raising the price? Although LBWN promotes its business district much like a downtown district would, e.g. with summer concerts outside retail establishments, Layton Boulevard is too close to the Old Third World District to really have a comparable identity outside the neighborhood proper.

And so with most customers being neighbors, one must be careful to keep overhead low, lest your customers ride the bus to Aldi or TJ Maxx instead of purchasing from your grocer or boutique. I know that business district assessments make rents around 20% higher than what they would be in an outlying office park. The stringent parking regulations and tendency for streets to merge southerly (such as near Layton Boulevard) also makes it a hassle for suburban motorists to go downtown; most go to the mall because it is more accessible to vehicular traffic. Hence, the primary benefit of downtown-style districts is the increased pedestrian traffic, but the Malls at Mayfair and Grand Avenue leach away many bus-riding customers, thereby leaving local residents and the occasional day tripper who wants to see what all the LBWN-generated hype is about.

One final strike against the LBWN district is that it is half a mile west of General Mitchel International Airport. While in theory this might sound advantageous, most airport patrons purchase goods and services either inside the airport or at their intended destination, not in an unfamiliar neighborhood some four or five blocks away. The noise generated by air traffic can also discourage some shoppers. In summary, whoever becomes LBWN’s next Economic Developer Director is almost certainly doomed to failure, and hence only masochists wishing to commit career suicide need apply.

P*ss & Moan Hotline Operator at WI Dept. of Revenue

http://wisc.jobs/public/job_view.asp?annoid=57473&jobid=56988

"Job Title: Lottery Customer Service Specialist (Telemarketer)

Job Announcement Code(s): 12-00492

Agency: Wisconsin Department of Revenue

County(ies): Dane

Classification Title: / JAC:

Job Working Title: LOTTERY CUSTOMER SERVICE SPECIALIST 12-00492

Lottery Customer Service Specialist - Telemarketer

Type of Employment: Full Time (40 hrs/week)

Salary: Pay will not be less than the minimum of the pay schedule/pay range 07-04, $16.902 per hour. A six month probationary period will be required.

Bargaining Unit: Non-Represented

Area of Competition: Open

Deadline to Apply: 2/29/2012 by 4:30 p.m.

Exam Information: 07001 - 001 LOTTERY CUSTOMER SERVICE SPECIALIST

This position is located in Madison, at the Department of Revenue, in the Division of Lottery.

Job Duties:

Under the general supervision of the Telemarketing Supervisor within the Retailer Management Section this position is responsible for providing services to assist over 3700 retailers and non-profit organizations throughout the state in the sale of instant, pull-tab and on-line tickets. Responsibilities include: providing personalized retailer information regarding individual retailer and area game sales, winning tickets sold by the retailer, new games, products and lottery services available, and the types of games that individual and area retailers have had success. Work is performed under general supervision and requires emphasis on increasing ticket sales, providing customer service and problem resolution.

Special Notes: A comprehensive background check and a tax non-filer check will be conducted on the most qualified candidates.

Job Knowledge, Skills and Abilities: Knowledge of business practices and customer service principles and techniques. Ability to: develop and maintain effective working relationships with staff with in the division, in other divisions, departments and the public, to communicate effectively both in person and over the phone with customers. Skills in: Microsoft Office products (excel, word-processing, e-mail), effective written and oral communication skills with both internal and external customers the use of Contact management Software (Goldmine, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Salesforce.com)."

Policy analysts are in for a treat, as in this post I perform some policy analysis of my own while incorporating citations from extant program evaluations. One of the things I learned in college is that a university is one of the least effective ways to learn policy analysis. Rather, one should scour the public records to find data to crunch and then see what patterns you can find. Doing this on your own time is preferable because you not only save tuition and the opportunity cost of lost employment hours spent in class, but you also are free of research deadlines and hence can be as thorough as you have the patience to be. I enjoy true academic freedom to write original, practical research when I want on whatever subjects I want without some professor imposing deadlines or scope constraints.

The above job vacancy might not seem absurd until you see that the State of Wisconsin pays people almost $17 an hour as the starting wage to shill the lottery to retailers! The preview for the civil service exam reveals the applicant must describe his/her experience in sales, customer relations databases, and automatic dialers. While there are relatively few people who have experience in all three areas, the same may be said of applicants for similarly specialized positions in the private sector paying $8 to $10 per hour. The state is just encouraging a deluge of unqualified applicants to waste HR’s time sifting through by setting the starting wage that high.

The full-time schedule mandates benefits which are typically avoided by private-sector employers by capping weekly work hours below 35 to minimize the likelihood that weekly hours will total 40 or greater, in which overtime pay would be mandated by statute. Although neither statutes nor agency rules mandate the payment of time off or vacations, it is customary in Wisconsin to offer those benefits to employees who average over 35 hours of work weekly. State benefits alone, including unemployment insurance tax paid by the employer, are about a third of the wage, and so the minimum hourly cost for the position is around $22.50. To truly grasp the magnitude of the compensation for a single Department of Revenue telemarketer, we need to multiply the compensation by the number of hours worked annually:

40 hours/week X 52 weeks = 2,080 hours

2080 hours – (10 furloughs and state holidays occurring on weekdays X 8 hours/day) = 2,000 hours

2,000 hours X $22.50 = $45,000 paid to Department of Revenue telemarketer (w/out commission)

Let us compare this to the typical private-sector telemarketer compensation:

34.49 hours/week X 52 weeks = 1,793.48 hours, rounded down to 1,793 hours

Because time off is unpaid for part-time employees, let us presume the employee does not request vacation but may have to use several sick days (while being certain to get someone to cover the shift). Let us presume a base wage of $8 but with the employer paying an additional $2 per hour to the state for unemployment insurance tax:

1,793 hours – 3 unpaid sick days = 1,790 hours

1,790 hours X $10 = $17,900 paid to private-sector telemarketer (w/out commission)

It is thus clear that the Department of Revenue pays over 2.5 times as much for a telemarketer as the private sector does. Wisconsin could reduce compensation expenses by paying some of that wage in commission and by capping weekly hours to 34.49 weekly. I know the University of Wisconsin System does the latter to prevent student workers from being scheduled full-time for the very same reason of cost control, so it’s not like the state can claim some moral high ground as the reason for overpaying its non-student workers, at least not without coming across as very hypocritical.

A worker who has been doing that job for a decade will garner $27.50 or so in hourly compensation when calculated at an annual average raise of 50 cents with benefits remaining a third of total compensation. This would earn the state telemarketer $55,000 annually in total compensation, or more than three times the base pay of the typical private-sector telemarketer. This is in addition to the multimillion-dollar contracts which Wisconsin has with advertising agencies to promote the lottery, with the most recent being an unevaluated five-year contract with the Milwaukee firm “York Hoffman,” which in turn faced no penalties or other consequences for the lack of oversight:

http://legis.wisconsin.gov/lab/reports/08-13highlights.htm

If the high pay given to such a clerical worker (paid by the hour, not by sales volume) isn’t outrageous enough, then one need only consider that Wisconsin is paying someone to promote gambling. “But problem gamblers have themselves to blame.” So do problem drinkers, but Wisconsin does not sell alcohol. Whether this is due to stiff competition from private alcohol retailers rather than due to some moral objection, the fact is that Wisconsin and other states promote gambling despite it traditionally being considered a vice and even outlawed in some cities.

Besides exacerbating gambling problems, the telemarketer is paid to ultimately gather tax credits for homeowners but not for any renters, although both purchase tickets. The net proceeds after administrative costs go towards property tax relief. This means that gambling addicts may rationalize their destructive behavior if at least some of their purchases are from the Wisconsin lottery. Many of these gamblers are renters who never benefit from that property tax subsidy because they do not own real estate. While I’m certain that gamblers will purchase lottery tickets no matter whether the proceeds are used to support causes dear to them (such as paying a few hundred dollars less on their next property tax bill), Wisconsin’s active marketing of a program which panders to people’s weaknesses seems incongruous with the otherwise moralist, patronizing stance of Wisconsin (which has banned public smoking and attempted to ban the sale of unpasteurized goat milk, among other things).

Custodian at "Palooka University" UW-Milwaukee; To Be Hired via Random Number Generator

http://wisc.jobs/public/job_view.asp?annoid=23049&jobid=22564

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Job Title: UW-Milwaukee Custodian

Job Announcement Code(s): 07-01844
County(ies): Milwaukee
Classification Title/JAC: Job
Working Title: CUSTODIAN 07-01844
Type of Employment: Full Time (40 hrs/week)
Part Time (less than 40 hrs/week)
Evening 2nd Shift (3pm to 11pm or similar hours)
Evening 3rd Shift (11pm to 7am or similar hours)
Seasonal (minimum of 600 hrs/year but less than 1828 hrs/year)
Salary: The starting pay rate is $11.284 per hour (schedule/range 03/08), including an excellent benefits package. A 6-month probationary period is required.

Special Qualifications:
Must be able to lift up to 60 pounds and push/pull up to 100 pounds; must be able to bend, twist, stoop, push, pull and climb ladders.

Contact the UWM Human Resources Department for further information and application procedures:
Phone: 414-229-4463 Fax: 414-229-4102

Bargaining Unit: Non-Represented
Area of Competition: Open
Deadline to Apply: Open
Exam Information: 89161-010 CUSTODIAN
Preview Exam: http://wisc.jobs/public/ExamApplicantPreview.asp?txtExamID=5732
WARNING: Question not assigned

The University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee is currently accepting applications to fill custodian vacancies on campus. UWM, a doctoral/research intensive university, is Wisconsin's premier public urban university and offers a comprehensive liberal arts and professional education at the undergraduate and graduate level to its 30,500 students. UWM takes pride in being a student-centered institution that is deeply committed to diversity in its student body, faculty, staff, and programs. UWM's 103-acre campus is located on Milwaukee's upper east side, one of the city's most attractive residential areas and home to many faculty, staff, and students. For more information, please visit our Web site at http://www.uwm.edu/.

We interrupt this post for a word from our sponsor:

Thank you for visiting our sponsor!

Job Duties:

Provide general cleaning and maintenance in offices, classrooms, restrooms and all similar areas at the University. Sweep, vacuum, mop and wax floors, scrub walls and fixtures; dust, move furniture and equipment; replace light bulbs, empty waste receptacles, replenish supplies, shovel snow and perform miscellaneous related household duties. Working Conditions: Work inside State-owned/leased space in a variety of environments. Dust, chemical odors and noise commonly encountered on job. Occasional outside work, including extreme weather conditions during snow and ice control. Equipment used to perform essential functions: Brooms, mops, buffers, scrubbers, shampooers, vacuum cleaners, measuring tools, shovels, scrapers and snowblowers.

Special Notes:
This position will require a criminal records review. A pending charge or conviction will not necessarily disqualify an applicant. In compliance with the Wisconsin Fair Employment Act, the University does not discriminate on the basis of arrest or conviction record. For information relating to the campus security report for UWM, please visit the following: http://www.cleryact.uwm.edu/.

Job Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
Qualified candidates will have the ability to move furniture, operate floor and carpet equipment, and work an 8 hour shift; the ability to use professional cleaning products; the ability to read and understand work instructions and schedules, warning signs and instruction manuals for equipment operation; and the ability to communicate effectively with supervisors, co-workers and building users. This position requires material handling up to 60 lbs. and pushing/pulling up to 100 lbs.

How To Apply:
Complete the Application for State Employment form, which is available online at http://oser.state.wi.us/application.asp or by calling the UW-Milwaukee Department of Human Resources at (414) 229-4463. List Job Announcement Code 0701844, check employment area (AREA 40) and send to UW-Milwaukee; Department of Human Resources; P.O. Box 413; Milwaukee, WI 53201-0413. There is no deadline as this is a continuous recruitment. A computer-generated, random numbering process will assign rankings. Applicants will remain eligible for three months. For additional information contact the UWM Human Resources Department at (414) 229-4463.

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The employment application asks for contact information, EEO characteristics, and availability of both time and geography. It does not ask for employment history or criminal records. Why? A random number generator determines applicant ranking! UW-Milwaukee uses the meritless, socialist method of selecting job applicants via raffle.

One cannot earn multiple drawings per period, either; it is purely luck of the draw and not influenced by any KSAs you may have developed. An institute of higher education, built upon the premise that education is necessary and good for advancement in life, posts a job vacancy which explicitly states that skills, experience, and education (such as vocational college) will not be considered towards the employability of an applicant!

Fortunately, a semblance of merit comes into play when the applicant needs to renew his/her application, which expires every three months. Those with the perseverance to re-submit an application up to four times annually will have better chances than those who let their application expire without resubmission.

Nonetheless, it is employment practices such as these random drawings for new hires which give Wisconsin government a bad reputation as a haven for those who are unemployable in any other organization. To be fair, the qualifications for high-level state positions such as budget analyst and program evaluator are pretty stringent in that you need at least five years of relevant experience. (I recently placed 4^th out of all applicants on the civil service exam for budget analyst, but the results did not show specific item scores or the total number of applicants.)

The lack of union representation keeps the starting wage of $11.28 per hour lower than what state employees are known for, but the lack of prior experience or even any requirement of “excellent interpersonal skills” or “friendly demeanor” justifies an even lower wage. This is without considering the benefits, which bring total hourly compensation to a minimum of $13.50. I witnessed many custodians at work while I toiled at my student jobs, and they were never in a hurry. They each had a half-hour lunch break during which they could watch television in the break room, as I would see this while busing tables to collect trays whenever I had cleaned all dish carts in UWM Restaurant Operations.

The custodial work at UWM is nothing compared to the frantic pace of Pizza Hut and its demanding customers. The floors don’t complain when they haven’t been adequately waxed. Custodians need not please members of the public but rather only need to tape off their work area and post “wet floor” placards to keep people from walking over wet surfaces. The custodians I saw at UWM never smiled unless to each other. In short, they would do horribly in customer service. I suppose misanthropes who need some legal income can always become a university custodian. Why enroll at UWM when you can win its employment lottery and be set for life working as a custodian?

Dec. 7, 2013 Update: As of this writing, no one has responded as to why anyone earning a decent wage and benefits as custodian would ever spend money on a university education. While for some it might be a "hey, I'm middle class now in THEORY" kind of deal when you enroll and eventually graduate, the economic motive is severely lacking.

I'll say that if you're that Hell-bent intent on getting some "higher education," then go to trade school, get some hands-on job placement through a formal apprentice program, and earn some money instead of competing in the surplus labor pool of fellow over-educated higher education rubes university graduates.

Patronize your library and reliable information sources on the Internet. THEN, if you STILL believe you somehow need a university degree to validate your own personal and professional competence, then by all means blow $30,000 or whatever for a chance to network with people who won't care.
"Here's your &!##@^%^&# education!"

Junkyard Attendant for City of Appleton, WI Dump w/ Ability to Smile and Make Eye Contact

https://www.governmentjobs.com/view_job.cfm?JobID=401661&hit_count=Yes&Agency=0

“Job Title: Seasonal - Laborer - Public Works

Salary: $7.79 Hourly

Job Type: Seasonal

Location: Municipal Services Building, Appleton, Wisconsin

Department: Public Works

Examples of Duties:

• Performs functions required of the Yard Waste Site Attendant: monitors what is brought into yard waste sites, cleans up yard waste site.

• Performs customer service functions required of the Yard Waste Site Attendant: answers questions for the public, assists customers with the disposal of their yard waste if necessary.

• Performs building clean-up.

• Cleans auto containers.

• Assembles auto containers.

Typical Qualifications:

• Ability to use a broom and a shovel.

• Ability to work with little supervision.

• Good public relations.

• Valid drivers (sic) license.

• Must be at least eighteen years of age.

Supplemental Information:

EMPLOYMENT PERIOD: May – September”

Have you seen any surly scrap yard workers lately? Not if the City of Appleton can help it! Behold the requirement that yard waste worker have “good public relations.” Does one need to be an icon beloved throughout the city? Or can the successful applicant be a self-effacing neurotic who merely keeps his radical/reactionary/off-center views to himself? Would the incumbent need to be cleanly shaven and wear a tie to appear professional while spending all work hours handling oily, rancid waste? Or would appearing not too similar to a horror monster suffice?

I actually called Appleton HR to find out exactly what that entails, and “Kim” told me that it means politely enforcing regulations. I asked, “So that means the employee would need to ask for proof of residence before letting someone use the city dump, and yet not come across as a jerk?” Kim confirmed this. Type A personalities and shoe-gazing introverts need not apply! Also, the omission of an apostrophe in the possessive adjective “driver’s,” which modifies the noun “license,” indicates that proper English mechanics need not pertain to “good public relations.”

Summer Camp Instructor for City of Appleton, WI

https://www.governmentjobs.com/view_job.cfm?JobID=400562&hit_count=Yes&Agency=0

“Job Title: Seasonal - Camp APRD Supervisor

Salary: $7.79 Hourly

Job Type: Seasonal

Location: City Hall, Appleton, Wisconsin

Department: Parks and Recreation

Examples of Duties:

• Supervises program participants

• Assists in the planning of weekly activities and trips

• Completes necessary paperwork (attendance forms, accident reports, etc.)

• Supervises and interacts with participants, leads participants in activities

• Supervises weekly activities and trips

• Maintains a safe play environment

• Maintains inventory of supplies and equipment

• Communicates with parents or participants

• Maintains storage cleanliness throughout playground program

• Attends staff meetings

• Shall wear Parks and Recreation staff uniform per the City of Appleton dress code

• Sign own name on the results/pay sheet for hours worked

• Work closely with the Parks & Recreation Department staff and volunteers to ensure all department rules and policies are observed

Typical Qualifications:

• CPR/First Aid Certification

• Ability to instruct and demonstrate games and sport techniques

• Ability to instruct and demonstrate arts and crafts activities

• Ability to effectively supervise and maintain control of a group

• Ability to understand and effectively carry out oral and written instructions

• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with fellow staff members and the public in a courteous and tactful manner

• Ability to effectively carry out oral and written instructions

• Strong oral and written communication skills

• Ability to operate computer and software used by the Department

• Experience working with school aged children.

• Adhere to City of Appleton and Departmental policies and procedures

Supplemental Information:

Education Level Required: High School Graduate/GED”

Much like other recreation jobs dominated by teenagers, Appleton’s camp supervisor must know first aid. Unlike most other rec jobs, the camp supervisor must have prior experience instructing children. The position apparently entails planning recreation activities and related logistics, but most employers dismiss that experience as irrelevant or insufficient due to the low wage and the seasonal nature of the job. This might help someone’s career if he/she did it for five consecutive years, but I wouldn’t bet on it because it’s not full-time or “professional.” A lot of these entry-level jobs have a de facto cut-off age of 16 to get your foot in the door, or else the employer thinks you’re too lazy to hire if you waited any longer to join the workforce. Thankfully, the vacancy description informs us that a high school diploma or GED is required, so rest assured that the teenage camp counselors will be held accountable by a camp supervisor who is at least several years older.

The job duties and qualifications make it seem that a physical education teacher would be an ideal candidate, but the hourly pay of $7.79 almost guarantees that no matter who applies, someone under 20 years of age will be selected despite having less real-world experience than the college graduate tying to find a post-graduation “management internship” or a laid-off line worker. I suppose neither of those would be able to “effectively supervise and maintain control over a group,” having never managed anyone other than their own selves, which in turn they have not managed too well if they are so desperate as to apply for this job. Parenthood by itself wouldn’t really help an applicant because the camp supervisor would manage other people’s children, so leave your heavy-handed “because I told you so” tactics at home, lest offended parents of participants sue the City of Appleton for their child’s emotional distress. Chances are that you’re overqualified if you’re old enough to have school-aged children.

Finally, ask yourself whether your chances of getting this job are worth it to pay the $45 to $75 (depending on training provider) to be certified that you indeed know CPR and didn’t learn it from Hollywood films, television, or the Internet. (The Internet does have some accurate information, but the certification is pretty much a notarization that you have performed the technique properly. An anecdote from a family member or friend doesn’t count, even if you did save his/her life.)