City hopes higher pay, more intense recruiting will spur lifeguard applicants

LACONIA — The signs of winter are all around, and Ice Out on Lake Winnipesaukee is weeks away, but the city Parks and Recreation Department is already thinking ahead to summer when the city’s beaches will be bustling with swimmers and those just soaking up the sun.

The department is recruiting to fill positions for lifeguards, summer day camp workers, and other seasonal jobs.

Matt Mansur, the assistant parks and recreation director, is putting up fliers around the area advertising the summer positions. He has also been in contact with area high schools and has posted information on message board associated with Lake Region Community College in hopes of attracting prospective applicants.

Filling the lifeguard positions could be particularly challenging, considering the city was unable to hire a single lifeguard last year.

Mansur, who joined the department after Amy Lovisek became director, hopes to hire between 10 and 15 lifeguards to provide coverage between late June and the Labor Day weekend.

In order to attract applicants, the department will pay lifeguards $13 an hour, a $2 increase from last year. In addition, the department is again offering to pay the $400 cost of the Red Cross lifeguard certification for those who are hired and work through the summer season.

Mansur said the plan is first to fill lifeguards positions at Weirs Beach — the city’s largest, and Opechee Point and Bond Beach — both on Lake Opechee. He said if the city can hire between 11 and 15 lifeguards, the department would then seek to staff Opechee Cove and Bartlett Beach on Lake Winnisquam.

The department will work to accommodate lifeguards who want to work either a full- or part-time schedule, Mansur said.

Although lifeguards are typically in their mid-to-late teens or early 20s, Mansur said he is interested in applicants from ages “16 to 116.”

“More and more retired folks are applying for lifeguarding jobs, and are doing quite well,” he said.

Qualified candidates need to be team players, good communicators, and able to work under pressure, Mansur explained.

Last year the city was unable to hire any lifeguards, although other area communities were able to fill some or all of their positions.

Mansur, who has worked at youth camps and has taught school, believes his experience in working with young people – coupled with the more intense recruiting effort – will result in a better outcome than last year.

“The more effort we put in now, the greater the percentage in having success,” he said.

In addition to lifeguards, the department is also looking to hire three or four counselors for its Opechee Day Camp.

The camp is scheduled to run weekdays from June 24 to Aug. 21, from 7:30 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. It is open to children kindergarten age through seventh grade. The cost for a child is $100 per week. There will be a wide range of activities — rain or shine — including a field trip every week, Mansur explained.

The department will also be hiring people for parking enforcement at the lot at Endicott Rock Park in Weirs Beach and also at Bond Beach. Parking at both places is restricted to vehicles that have a city sticker.