How To Become A Counselor/Lifeguard: What It Is and Career Path

What is a counselor/lifeguard and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a counselor/lifeguard. For example, did you know that they make an average of $13.39 an hour? That's $27,859 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 10% and produce 28,100 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreCounselor/LifeguardUS Average

Salary

2.2

Avg. Salary $27,859

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.2

Growth rate 10%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

2.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.32%

Asian 4.36%

Black or African American 5.86%

Hispanic or Latino 13.90%

Unknown 7.65%

White 67.92%

Gender

female 57.04%

male 42.96%

Age - 21

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 21

Stress level

8.2

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

3.7

Complexity level is basic

7 - challenging

Work life balance

10.0

Work life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a counselor/lifeguard

Explore counselor/lifeguard education requirements

Most common counselor/lifeguard degrees

Bachelor's

72.5 %

High School Diploma

12.8 %

Associate

7.4 %

Start to develop specific counselor/lifeguard skills

Skills	Percentages
Canoe	23.59%
AED	11.82%
Role Model	11.48%
Water Safety	10.31%
RAN	8.37%

Complete relevant counselor/lifeguard training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New counselor/lifeguards learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a counselor/lifeguard based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real counselor/lifeguard resumes.

Research counselor/lifeguard duties and responsibilities

Educate campers to manage their diabetes independently bypracticing in team excercises.
Learned and understand any special medical conditions and/or relevant medication needs and allergies.
Maintain and ensure cleanliness of areas to uphold USPH and Disney standards.

Prepare your counselor/lifeguard resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your counselor/lifeguard resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a counselor/lifeguard resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable counselor/lifeguard resume templates

Build a professional counselor/lifeguard resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your counselor/lifeguard resume.