How do outdoor education centers pick their staff? Well-informed parents want to know who will be interacting with their kids while they’re away from home. We got an opportunity to sit down with Pali Institute’s HR Director to learn more about how the Institute finds and selects its staff.
Do you do a criminal reference check on your staff?
Yes, we do on all staff; more than one check is completed.
What additional screening do you do before hiring your Institute staff?
- We do interviews via phone and/or zoom.
- We cover situational questions pertaining to child interactions and job-related skills. Resumes/cover letter review.
- Reference checks and pre-interview scenario questions during the application process. Background checks (after an offer of employment is accepted as allowed by law).
Do the girls and boys units have Unit Heads that are the same sex as the students so they can approach their Unit Heads with sensitive issues?
Students are separated by schools, some of which share the same cluster of cabins, and those cabins are separated by gender; all students have access to multiple counselors/leadership of the same sex during their stay, this includes during their daytime activities.
Have you changed your policy around non-binary counselors and their assigned cabins?
We place non-binary counselors in non-gendered cabins when requested by schools. Otherwise, non-binary instructors are assigned to cabins based on their sex assigned at birth.
