Lifeguards

I got hired at Geauga Lake to be a lifeguard this summer and i have questions for those who have already lifeguarded at CP or even GL.

1) I've heard many horror stories from other people who have life guarded at GL. Is it really that bad or are they just exaggerating it.

2) Is your life guard certification they make you do hard or is it pretty easy. I know that I will do fine i just get nervous before hand. What all does it involve. When I was told the swimming requirement i basically laughed at them because I am a very strong swimmer since i am on my high schools swim team.

3) Do you have to make many rescues while guarding, or are the rescues pretty limited?

4) Are you stuck at one location for the whole summer (like wavepool, waterslide, etc.) or do you get moved around alot without any assigned location for the summer?

Any answers would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks!

GL...

Right, Geauga Lake's Wildwater Kingdom. The only part of the park still open.

Anyone who has lifeguarded at Cedar Point is welcome to answer too, since Im would assume both waterparks are ran similarly.

I didn't lifeguard but knew plenty of them. I never heard anyone complain about the test being hard. I know the cp guards had rotations they did do they weren't stuck at the same position all day. I don't think there were tons of rescues, at least not many where the victim required serious medical attention. sometimes you'll get tested wheb a confederate drops a dummy in the water and you have to rescue it within a certain amount of time.

One more question:

Are lifeguards given schedules that are as demanding as other employees (6 days a week 60/70 hours a week), or are they giving less hours because they need to be more alert as they have to rescue people. I know that you can get pretty demanding schedules I worked the games at GL when it was still the amusement park.

I think no matter where you work in the park, hours are mostly determined by how big the crew is and what the budget calls for. I know at RipCord last year we had a huge crew (a bit overstaffed), and our hours suffered as a result. I'm not sure how it goes for the lifeguards, but as far as I understand, that's mostly how it's determined.