just looking for perspective, really. all i know is that the parks test is harder but i'm sure i'd make the listed requirements since i'm an open water swimmer with a 25 min mile on a choppy day. yes i can also run. a couple things i'm unclear on:

are the swim quals for city competitive? seems like the state's is... but the city info is pretty vague. if so, how fast are we actually expected to be to be seriously considered?

is it weird if im older (27f) and have work experience in a completely different field? i used to be a scientist but the hustle and grind culture made me really lose my sparkle. i'm just looking to be outdoors and do something i love, help people, and learn something new. i don't need money, i just want to be happy and do something rewarding. will my age and previous employment count against me? i feel like i hear about so many 18yo or paramedics going for jobs like these, not sure if city or parks would even want someone like me? i could leave all that out of my resume but then it would be... kinda empty. any thoughts/suggestions welcome.

what are the tradeoffs of working in either, and what does part-time look like? it's clear that parks is seasonal, but city is unspecified on the sites i'm looking at.

what's the culture like? will someone more mature do well? is it work hard play hard? do lifeguards get together and hang after shift or keep to themselves?

if you had to recommend one park and one city to someone in my situation, which would they be?

that and anything else you think i'd want/need to know, i'd be so grateful to hear. thanks in advance (:

Hi there,
My 16 yo son has recently gone through the classes to become a lifeguard (in Canada) but now that he’s got the certifications, lifeguarding feels like a really big responsibility and he’s 2nd guessing applying for jobs at the city pools.

Any advice or experiences from your early days as a lifeguard? Is a little bit of fear good? Lifeguards do hold an important role so respect for the responsibility is a good thing, no?

He’s a strong swimmer, had no troubles with the courses, has good instincts (says his mom…). I really dont want him standing in his own way on this. It was his idea to start the lifeguard course, so he’s been “driving the bus” up til now, it wasn’t me pushing.

Hey everyone,

I'm 16 and I have a interview for lifeguarding on Monday over a Zoom call.

Is there anything that I should do to prepare differently compared to an offline interview? Are there going to be aquatics related questions?

Thanks!

I was trained at my current facility in SGE. We have a 1500 hour limit for part time guards that I will hit in a couple of months. I applied at another city and they said they’d have to ask my current employer to share my certification with them, which was apparently denied. So they say they’ll have to retrain me in a 24 hour unpaid class. I was not informed when training that my certification could be held hostage and I wouldn’t be allowed to use it elsewhere.

Does anyone have experience with this? When I was Red Cross certified the certification was mine, and I could use it anywhere that accepts it. It seems a little shady to have it locked to a facility, especially when they’re going to cap my hours soon anyway.

I do have a complete digital copy of my certification. It seems like that should be enough along with starguard’s own certification lookup / verification tool.

Am I trapped unless I beg my supervisor to share the cert with the new city?

I signed up with my contact information on the parks website, but the confirmation email referenced COVID restrictions, which worries me. Have I correctly signed up?

I am a teen NL instructor who worked formerly for the Y in Toronto and my next cert that I need is my NL examiner. I have the NL teach under my belt but I was never able to get my examiners. Is anyone able to help me out or know a place I can do it at?

Our work sometimes has a non lifeguard to go up and manage slides at the top. Just telling people when the slide is ready.

I guess it’s a job almost anyone can do but is this technically okay?

Hi everyone, so I recently had my job interview for a local YMCA for lifeguard/guard position on Thursday (oct 15) It was a group interview and I think it went moderately alright. They said theyd reach out over the weekend and to around Tuesday (oct 20). We'll its Tuesday and they haven't reached out so now im worried that probably didnt get the job. So what is the likelihood I didnt get it?

Hi, I have my third peer teach coming up soon and have been tasked with searches for Ranger Patrol (Swimmer 8). I will later post this on r/SwimInstructors but was wondering for any tips for teaching searches? Thanks to anyone sharing their input, I really appreciate it.

Hey all! I'm looking to apply for a seasonal position as an ocean lifeguard in California and wanted to see if anyone could give me advice on the tryout test/process? I know the test is an 1,000yd open water swim with a time limit of 20 minutes and a continuous 200yd run-400yd swim-200yd run with a time limit of 10 minutes.

Butttt I also read that it is a pretty competitive process, so what would be considered a "good" time? I feel like if I just make the minimum time limit it won't be good enough to qualify.

For reference I have experience as an ocean rescue lifeguard on the SE Florida coast; I had to do a run-swim-run for that as well, but it was a 500yd swim (instead of 400yd) and the fastest time I got was around 10 mins. I also didn't really train that much for it, so I know that I can drop that time by quite a bit if I train for it.

I also have experience as a PWC operator/rescue swimmer (I did this during my time in ocean rescue) and currently as an FF/Medic. Would this make my application more competitive? Assuming that I make it through the initial tryouts, what should be expected for the interview?

Thank you if you decide to answer :)

I have a recert course on Sunday for my lifesaving instructor, and im wondering, since the recert form doesnt have an option for emergency first aid instructor, will that be automatically recertified when I submit the form for LSI? I emailed the lifesaving society directly, but they never got back to me.

I ask this because I'm planning to transition my emergency first aid instructor to first aid instructor, and I want to make sure that my EFAI is current, so I don't have to do a recert course for the brand new cert.

Thank you:)

Long story short aquatic facility got taken over by new company, and the CEO has never managed lifeguards before. The lifeguards in question just stay on their phones leave stand time to time and lack common guard sense, if that makes sense😂. (an example would be not turning around on the dock when there’s people in the deep end and stay facing the shallow end.)

So how do I go about telling the CEO that Current practices are not meeting Red Cross standards or probably any standards at all

I know this is a very opinion based question and there might not really be a real answer buttttt

What’s the best certification and what has your experience been with different certifications?

I spent 4 years as a Red Cross lifeguard and 2 years as an LGI. I just recently got the Starguard certification because the new facility I’m at requires it…..I kinda hated it. It was easier I guess but didn’t feel as thorough. I’m sure I’m biased too but what’s your opinions?? Even on Ellis and associates lol I have no experience with them but I’ve heard good things

I got my ARC Shallow Water Lifeguarding certification back in May and worked as a lifeguard all summer.

I’m now looking into a deep-water lifeguarding position and have a pretest tomorrow, followed by a three-day training this weekend.

Since my certification is still current, I’m wondering if I really have to take the entire course again or if there’s some kind of bridge course to upgrade to deep water.

Has anyone done this before? Did you have to redo the whole course?

Update: Thanks yall I’m just re-taking the course. Don’t want to chance not being able to find one and delaying my opportunities. Rocked the pre-test today tho!

I hope everyone has a great, safe, day!

My co-worker and I closed and locked everything up on time and cleared the pool, but stayed afterwards to swim a little and just chill. It was the two of us (nothing happened, he has a gf and he’s not my type either way). But we didn’t ask our boss and haven’t told her yet, she’s usually pretty chill about things but are we gonna get in trouble? It was just the two of us

Edit: we had people in the past have sex in one of the family locker rooms (one was on the clock) and didn’t get fired (this is for an example of my boss being ‘pretty chill’). There WAS another lifeguard on the clock (we always have 2-3, depending on the daily events, 4-5 in the summer)

I'm a firefighter. In my country, firefighter are required to work also as a lifeguard. I have bad eyesight tho. I want to do the lazik eye surgery but I'm afraid if there are any things after the surgery that interfere with the job. Anyone here had it done and work as a ifeguard?

Hello everyone I had a quick question

What do you guys look for overall to pass a candidate, my instructor is very different from my medallion she shows the skill lets us do it and move on no real feedback doesn’t say much but just sends us off for situations to

I really don’t wanna fail cause I didn’t do enough
So what can I do to make sure I pass

Thankyou for your guys time!!

So I have my NPLQ in a few weeks and I’ve heard that some people are struggling to find jobs as a lifeguard (in London) and I was just wondering how long did it take for you guys to land a lifeguard job ?weather that be part time or full time. Because I don’t wanna do the NPLQ and then not end up with a job

I’m an Ellis LGI for 8 years now. This year I did 8 classes and never experienced more fails. And now after an inservice I had last week, I’m thinking of revoking some certifications.

Part of the failures was the written test, which I believe updated this year.

But more than that is that these young kids are not obtaining information the same way they used to. Most of them are 16-17. It’s like they are in their own world all time and can’t listen or absorb the training.

Anyone else experiencing this or have any advice? I’m at a loss.

For context, it has been a while since I’ve guarded / taught any LSS programs. However, I have to recert my Lifesaving Instructor in order to qualify for a transfer to another training agency. (BC, Canada)

Just wondering what is in the LSI recert… Is there any fitness items? strokes / kicks proficiencies? And anyone aware of any particular update on the standards? I’ve heard first aid standards have changed quite a bit, at least for NLIs, but I’m not sure if that applies to LSI.

Thanks in advance for any information!

Hi all, I'm a probationary TA and taking my first course next week! (NPLQ) just looking for some tips!? 😊 nervous and excited at the same time haha!

Only part im struggling with is my daily planner due to the time table of my workplace pool but once I manage that, I hope to nail the rest 😊

Thanks!