Philly Hiring Lifeguards For 2022 Pool Season

PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia's Parks and Recreation Department has launched its push to hire lifeguards for the 2022 pool season.

The city opened recruitment and training to fill the 400 lifeguard positions necessary to open all municipal pools this summer.

Interested applicants can begin training this week.

The lifeguard position pays a competitive wage of $15.25 to $17.24 an hour, and candidates do not need to live in the city to work as a lifeguard at a city pool.

"Lifeguards are Philly’s hometown heroes," said Philadelphia Parks & Recreation Commissioner Kathryn Ott Lovell. "From teens and college students to retirees and school teachers, lifeguards come from all walks of life but have one thing in common - a passion for our City and giving our kids the safe summer fun they so deserve."

Free training and swim lessons are available to anyone interested in building the swimming skills necessary to get certified to work as a lifeguard this summer.

Red Cross certification classes are free for anyone ages 16 to 24 who commits to working at a city pool. The Red Cross lifeguard certification course fee is $110 for all other candidates.

The first step for interested candidates is to brush up on swimming skills and prepare for the lifeguard screening, which includes:

• swimming 300 meters nonstop;
• treading water for two minutes;
• and retrieving a 10-pound brick from the bottom of the deep end.

The screening test is required for all new and returning lifeguards. Certified candidates who pass the screening test will be ready to complete the job application and go to work this summer. New lifeguard candidates who pass the screening test will be enrolled in a Red Cross certification course. Red Cross certification lasts for two years, and is a basic requirement of most lifeguarding jobs.

Candidates can book their training or screening test online here.

Email Parks and Recreation Aquatics at lifeguard@phila.gov with questions.

The Parks and Recreation Department operates about 70 outdoor pools each summer, which open from mid-to-late June through mid-to-late August.