Our Outdoor Career Fair Is Back
FREE. One party. Inviting every outdoor program!
Outdoor camp is a small world. For one season it's you, your fantastic crew, and adventure ready kids. Meanwhile across our region, at every other camp and outdoor program in Portland, someone just like you was doing the same incredible work. On August 13 you finally get to meet everyone. Free pizza, cold drinks (adult beverages too, 21+ with ID), axe throwing, archery, fire by friction, blacksmithing demos, and a tournament with an actual crown. The employers who want to hire you for fall will be there. Mostly outdoor education, plus parks and rec, nonprofits, ski areas, guiding outfits, gear shops, bus companies, and a few from beyond the field, all of them glad you spent your summer honing your craft and working outside. Get your passport stamped at every booth, drop it in the raffle, and stay for new friends and professional connections.
What's Happening
This is the late-summer celebration and career fair for the people who made a Portland outdoor summer happen. Everything below is free.
Outdoor Skills & Crafts
Spin a bow drill fire by friction. Twist blackberry canes into real rope. Learn how the pros teach knife carving to kids. Watch pottery and blacksmithing up close, or take the CDL primer in a full-size school bus.
Axe, Archery & The Tournament
Open lanes all evening with our expert range masters. You spent the summer teaching this stuff. Then the bracket begins, and one champion gets crowned in front of every outdoor camp in Portland.
Elevate the Craft
Trackers hosts conversation tables for educators from every program: kid behavior, teaching healthy risk, and elevating our adventures. Bring your subject expertise and what you know.
Free Pizza & Beverages
Free pizza thi afternoon on Trackers and friends. Regular beverages for all, adult beverages for the 21+ crowd with ID checks. Connect with fellow educators while feasting on food and beverages.
The Passport Raffle
Grab your outdoor career passport at the door and get at sticker from every exhibitor booth and skills demo. Eight stickers enters the prize pool featuring exhibitor swag. A full card enters the grand prize drawing.
Find Your Job
Every table is hiring for fall and beyond. No online portals, no waiting weeks to hear back. Talk to the person who actually does the hiring. Some might even make you an offer that afternoon.
One Field. Every Doorway.
Every summer this region trains hundreds of incredible outdoor educators. Every September, many of them move into work unconnected to the field. The best outdoor educators grow with the field when the field offers them opportunities to grow. This afternoon and evening is meant to help that happen.
Outdoor programs train so many talented staff for intensive summers while our fall programs are often smaller. We want that training and talent to uplift the entire field, and we invite every program in the region to do the same. Oregon needs many strong outdoor education organizations. It needs every doorway open: public agencies, outdoor schools, nonprofits, camps, parks districts, guiding outfits, gear shops. When skilled summer staff develop fall work and careers that keep their skills in outdoor work, kids and everyone across the region win.
If you run a program: bring your crew, and come recruit ours and others! An educator who has worked across diverse programs carries the best of each one to the next. Every supportive hire between organizations makes the field better and our outdoor community stronger.
Who's Recruiting
Mostly outdoor education, because that's who we are: outdoor schools, camps, parks and rec, environmental nonprofits, guiding, gear. And some good employers from beyond the field who know what a summer of camp work proves about a person. Each booth runs its own skill demo or attraction, and some interview onsite. More confirming weekly.
Details & How-To
Free to attend, free to table. One RSVP form for everyone. It asks whether you're partying, recruiting, or both. RSVP below.
For Staff & Crews
- 5:00 PM: Doors open. Pizza and beverages availabe, passports handed out, skill demos begin, conversation tables launch, and axe and archery lanes open.
- 6:15 PM: Tournament finale announced.
- 7:00 PM: Exhibitors and community help cleanup.
Beverages Regular beverages for everyone. Adult beverages for 21+ only (bring ID).
Onsite Interviews Exhibitors can interview on the spot. Look for the note on their tile.
Bring Your Crew The RSVP asks how many you're bringing. Whole crews welcome. The bigger the crew, the better the night. Possible dance off between programs.
For Employers & Program Directors
Free Table, Real Face Time No fee. Two hours with our region's proven summer staff. Every attendee's passport gets a sticker at your booth, so every attendee is encouraged to stop at your table. We host 20 tables. First confirmed, first in.
Bring a Skill Demo Every booth can optionally offer a demo or attraction: a skill or a sample of your program.
Interview Onsite Opt in on the form and we feture it on your tile.
Donate a Raffle Prize Prize donors get announced from the stage in with the whole room.
Program Directors Not hiring? Bring your crew anyway, and come yourself. Your educators are our field's future. Reserve your table →
RSVP
One form for everyone. First question sorts you: attending, recruiting, or both.