INDUSTRY STATS
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Lifeguard positions are at a 16% growth rate, which is much faster than average. With that said, there are currently 354,100 jobs in the market right now. The total number of jobs is expected to increase by 57,800 to 411,900 in the period of 2020-30.
What’s more, the median annual wage for the Lifeguard jobs was $28,440 in May 2020. The lowest 10% earned less than $19,510, and the highest 10% more than $46,510.
Our conclusion? The Lifeguard job market is wide open for candidates.
Top Lifeguard sections that make the best resume
- Header
- Professional summary
- Experience (with numbers and results)
- Relevant skills
- Education
- Certifications
How to write a Lifeguard resume experience section
Lifeguard Resume’s Job Experience Checklist:
- Use 4-6 bullet points per job title;
- Don’t go further than a decade behind when describing your job history, unless you’re applying for an executive position;
- Combine job responsibilities as well as achievements with numbers in results when you describe your past work;
- Start each sentence with a power verb and avoid overused buzzwords;
- Use either C-A-R or S-T-A-R methodology, when describing your experience.
The work experience samples below come from real Lifeguard resumes that got people hired at top companies. You can use them as an inspiration to build your own resume:
- Have started like a lifeguard/ full time job
- In 3 months i was promoted to pool manager
- after 7 months i have the opportunity to be Front desk assistant manager
- Upped the professionalism of employees
- Controlled chemicals, temperature, pump room and cleanliness
- Mentored new employees and managed staff, continuing education into the summer months
- As a Lifeguard Instructor, I teach American Red Cross Lifeguarding, including CPR, AED, Oxygen, and First Aid (Spring Valley, Ambler and Phoenixville Branches).
- As an ASHI Instructor, I conduct skills training and evaluation of ASHI CPR, First Aid and Oxygen courses (Spring Valley & Ambler).
- As a Pool Supervisor I oversee a group of Head Lifeguards that organize the Lifeguard coverage of both the indoor and outdoor pools during the summer months. (Spring Valley)
- As a Head Lifeguard I oversee a group of junior lifeguards that provide safety coverage for patrons using the aquatic facilities. (Spring Valley)
- Monitors activities in swimming areas to prevent, recognize and manage accidents in and around the swimming pool.
- Ensures a positive experience for patrons.
- Maintains pool facility including water quality.
- Keeps aquatic facilities clean.
- Supervise swimmers to ensure that they are swimming within the safety protocols;
- Perform rescues in the event of drowning or swimming accidents;
- Maintain accurate records of pool use and chemical levels;
- Continuously scanned pool and deck in order to provide rapid response in emergency situations
- Taught ages 8-13 swimming strokes, kicking techniques, diving, saving techniques and games
- Interacted with members regarding pool policy, procedures and general YMCA info
- Responsibilities included opening the facility and pool at 5:30 am
- Addressed members' concerns and communicated regularly with Aquatics Department Head.
- Ensured lifeguards were focused and on task.
- Performed regular safety and cleanliness checks.
- Ensured Aquatics Team members provided a safe and friendly environment for the members.
- Responsible for up to 10 children at once
- Specialize in swimming levels 1,2,3
- Answer questions and provide guidance
- Fully ensure the safety of adults and children
- Supervised/served on a team of 7-10 guards on rotation
- Enforced rules inside and outside to provide a safe environment for all members
- Attended monthly inservices to practice and maintain critical lifesaving skills
- Performed and managed pool daily responsibilities (activities/maintenance)
- Established personal relationships with members to ensure they are well taken care of
- Performed training for new co-workers
- Swim instructor for new to Intermediate swimmers
- Schools Instructor, teaching kayaking, rock climbing, snorkeling, water safety, sports & team building
- Holiday programme, planning, implementation, programme development and management
- Training and development of new staff and coaches
- Exceptional customer service and communication
- Executed marketing campaigns for the AUT Millennium Gym
- Upped the professionalism of employees
- Controlled chemicals, temperature, pump room and cleanliness
- Mentored new employees and managed staff, continuing education into the summer months
- Successfully taught swimming lessons to a variety of age groups resulting in a high amount of personal requests
- Catered the lessons to the students personal learning needs
- Created relationships with frequent members at the facility
- Manage over fifteen lifeguards a day
- Change communication styles to fit the needs of the members
- Maintain a fun, but safe atmosphere for all members and guests
- Lead groups on projects to maintain safety regulations
- Maintained continuous surveillance of people in indoor/outdoor swimming pools and water park
- Performed 3 rescues in the event of drowning accidents
- Taught swimming techniques and safety education to new swimmers
- Maintain constant surveillance of patrons in the facility.
- Act immediately and properly to secure the safety of the patrons in an event of an emergency.
- Provide emergency treatment until the arrival of emergency medical services.
- Present a professional appearance and attitude at all times.
- Maintain a high standard of customer service.
- Served as subject matter expert with facility knowledge and swimming techniques by answering patrons’ questions in a timely and efficient manner
- Ensured the safety of all (40+) patrons in and around pool area
- Taught swimming lessons to patrons of various skill levels
- Registered new members and renewed memberships for patrons in facility database
- Filed patron information and registration into facility's record-keeping system
- Sold membership packages to potential and returning patrons
- Acted as facility lifeguard and first aid provider
PRO TIP
Don't make the same mistake everyone else does. What we mean is, don't list your Lifeguard job responsibilities instead of your achievements. Recruiters know what you do. They want to know what kind of difference you can bring to their company. Focus on what you've accomplished.
Action Verbs for your Lifeguard Resume
Recommended reads:
Lifeguard Resume Skills’ Tips & Tricks to Impress Recruiters
Resume Skills Section Checklist:
- Ensure your hard skills section (including technologies) are exactly matching the job description.
- Don’t simply list your soft skills. Apply the “show, don’t tell” principle - let your job achievements speak for themselves.
- Find a way to showcase your skills beyond the skills section.
- Your resume’s skill section is important to ATS systems - so don’t skip it.
Top Skills for your Lifeguard resume
- Swimming
- Physical Strength
- Speed
- CPR
- Basic Medical Care
- Stamina
- Mobility
- Communication
- Self confidence
- Persistence
- Planning
- Time management
- Patience
- Tolerance
PRO TIP
When describing your experience, don’t go too far from its terminology. Recruiters use ATS systems to filter resumes based on them having certain keywords, so make sure you use at least a few keywords mentioned in the job description.
Recommended reads:
Lifeguard Resume Header: Tips, Red Flags, and Best Practices
CHECKLIST For Your Lifeguard Resume Header
- Your name and surname in a legible and larger resume font
- The job title you’re applying for or your current job title as a subheading to your name
- Link to your portfolio or online profile, such as LinkedIn
- Address (City and State for the US; just your city for rest of the world)
- Email address
- Headshot (required or welcomed in the EU; not required and sometimes frowned upon in the US)
Stick to popular email providers such as Gmail or Outlook. And use these professional formats to create your username:
- first.last@gmail.com
- last.first@gmail.com
- firstlast@gmail.com
- f.last@gmail.com
- first.l@gmail.com
Recommended reads:
PRO TIP
Some companies, states, and countries have policies about identifying information like photos on your Lifeguard resume. Be sure to check all the relevant rules before submitting yours. If you’re in doubt, you can always try contacting the company’s HR department to ask for their policy.
Lifeguard Resume Summary Best Practices
Checklist: What to include in your Lifeguard resume summary:
- Years of experience;
- Highlight top 3 skills and proficiencies;
- One big professional accomplishment you’re most proud of, that you can tie with the aforementioned skills;
- Use short, direct sentences - but no more than three - to keep the HRs interested.
Resume Summary Formula:
PRO TIP
Your summary section should act as a brief but informative introduction to your experience section. In this section you should go into more depth about what you have done, and how you did it.
Recommended reads:
Listing Your Education, Certifications and Courses
Resume Education Section Checklist:
- Ensure your hard skills section (including technologies) are exactly matching the job description.
- Don’t simply list your soft skills. Apply the “show, don’t tell” principle - let your job achievements speak for themselves.
- Find a way to showcase your skills beyond the skills section.
- Your resume’s skill section is important to ATS systems - so don’t skip it.
Top Certifications for your Lifeguard resume
Recommended reads:
PRO TIP
If you hold a certain major and a minor, your majors should be mentioned first.
Lifeguard Resume: Additional Writing & Formatting Tips
There are three basic resume formats you can choose from:
- Reverse-chronological resume format;
- Functional resume format;
- Hybrid (or Combination) resume format;
The most optimal format for your particular case will depend on your years of experience, as well as whether you’re switching industries or not.
Reverse chronological resumes are best suited for experienced individuals who are sticking to their industry. The experience section takes a central place, and its bullets contain your responsibilities and achievements, coupled with numbers and results.
Functional resumes are used by less experienced jobseekers or career changers. Note that it’s not a format that recruiters prefer, as most are used to the classic chronological alignment. Instead of a list of job titles, functional resumes focus on your skills, and through what experiences you gained them.
Hybrid resumes are great for both experienced and entry-level candidates, as well as career changers. They combine the best of both worlds - most often in a double column format, where one side of the content is focused on your experience, whereas the other - on your skills, strengths, and proudest moments.
Lifeguard Resume Summary best practices
Here are more resume tips regarding your layout and style:
- Clear and legible 12p resume font size;
- Use 10’’ resume margins - that’s default for a great resume design;
- Use a one-page template resume length if you’ve got less than 10 years of experience; otherwise, opt for a two-page resume;
- Save your resume as PDF before sending it to the recruiter.
To take it a step further, check out how your resume can stand out without leaning too much on the creative side.
Recommended reads:
PRO TIP
Sometimes you’ll want to go after a job which requires more experience than you have. Instead of using a typical Lifeguard resume layout, you can use a creative layout. Getting noticed is the most important challenge and a creative resume layout might help you get invited for an interview as most of other accountants have boring resume designs.
Other sections to include in your resume
Depending on the type of company (corporation or start-up; innovative or traditional), job seniority level and your location, you may want to include more sections to your Lifeguard resume:
Lifeguard Resume: How to Make Yours More Creative & Stand Out
When you send your resume to a potential employer, chances are it's the fiftieth one they've seen that day. That's why you need to make your Lifeguard resume stand out for the right reasons. That means showing your personality, not just your professional experience. Employers are far more likely to remember a candidate who seems like a genuine person and not a robot. Do this by including your passions (which is also a great place to demonstrate skills on a resume), share your favorite books, or even what your usual day looks like.
What Makes a Great Lifeguard Resume: Key Takeaways
- Choose a resume layout that sends the right message across and fits your current career situation;
- Create a resume header that shows your desired job title, and easy to find contact numbers;
- Be specific about your experience, accomplishments and future goals in your summary;
- Feature detailed metrics and specific examples that show the impact you made in your previous roles when describing your experience;
- List soft skills backed by examples;
- Add all of your technical skills and certifications that you have and match the job description;
- Show off a dash of personality in your resume that will demonstrate your culture fit and the right mix of hard and soft skills.
