Summer is coming up and you may be thinking about picking up a part-time summer job. While some teens may be considering working retail or food service for an easy way to make money, consider applying to become a lifeguard.
Lifeguarding is a rewarding summer job with flexible hours, allowing you the freedom to enjoy your summer vacation with friends when you don’t work and get paid to hang out by the pool all day when you do!
Here are some of the best benefits of becoming a lifeguard.
1. Become Part of a Fun Team
As a lifeguard, you’re never alone. Lifeguards work together all the time, posted at different stations and rotating often to ensure every zone of the pool is covered. You’ll learn to work together with every member of the lifeguarding team and help each other out from everyday routines to life-threatening emergencies.
Through all this teamwork and camaraderie, you’ll probably make some of your closest friends.
2. Stay Fit
Don’t spend your summer sitting on the couch all day!
When you become a lifeguard, you’re signing up for a day of activity and movement, rather than standing around in a retail or fast food store. While you may only see lifeguards sitting at their station and watching the pool, they have to participate in daily drills and exercises to maintain their skills and endurance. In addition, most lifeguarding positions offer facility access so you can use the pools or fitness equipment during your time off.
Being a lifeguard means you get to kill two birds with one stone; making money while staying in shape!
3. Make a Difference
When you work as a lifeguard, you get the satisfaction of going into work every day knowing that you will actively make an impact.
Even just guarding your station, you’re keeping an eye on the pool and ensuring that everyone is behaving safely. While you may have a situation where you need to jump into the water and rescue a swimmer, often times the lifesaving happens preventatively. You notice a dangerous situation on the deck and have to use problems solving and interpersonal skills to prevent an accident. Every shift is spent monitoring the pool and ensuring that all patrons are safe from any potential life-threatening situations.
You also get the opportunity to provide education to pool-goers. From teaching parents how to properly fit a lifejacket to monitoring children during swim lessons, lifeguards are almost always busy providing assistance to someone in the pool.
Most first jobs don’t give you that kind of fulfillment and a sense of accomplishment.
4. Challenge Yourself
You don’t just fill out an application and become a lifeguard like you would any other part-time job. You have to take a lifeguarding course and pass a rigorous certification test in order to even be qualified to apply as a lifeguard.
You’ll be trained in CPR, First Aid, and water rescue, plus consistently participate in water drills with other lifeguards. Being a lifeguard isn’t for everyone, so take on the challenge to better yourself and reach this goal.
5. Learn Lifelong Skills
Lifeguarding gives you a lot of transferable skills that are important in many other jobs as well as in everyday life. Lifeguards must be responsible and alert, plus able to assert themselves in situations where people’s lives are at risk. As a lifeguard, you’ll interact with people multiple times a day, so you’ll naturally build your communication and interpersonal skills. In an emergency situation, you’ll be trained to make quick decisions and stay calm under pressure, which is applicable in any job.
Do you think you’re ready to become a lifeguard at the Findlay YMCA? Take a lifeguard certification course at the YMCA to get all your qualifications and apply to work at the Y. You’ll get a rewarding summer job experience and lifelong benefits like friends and important skills. If you’re thinking about getting a summer job, become a lifeguard!