Josh Herbert, Manager of the Aquatics Division, gave a heads-up to the Department City of Albuquerque on Apr. 10 that pool hours may change.
According to KRQE News, since summer is around the corner the city reported they may close pools closed due to a lack of lifeguards.
“There’s the possibility if we don’t meet our lifeguard quota, to have schedule adjustments that are gonna have to be made at our pools," Herbert said.
The city would need to staff a total of 100 lifeguards in order to open all of the pools this summer. Typically, the outdoor pools are open during early May. However, due to being significantly understaffed, there will only be a small number of pools opened on Memorial Day weekend.
Currently, the city of Albuquerque is eager to get more young people to become lifeguards. The Aquatics Division Manager encourages students to join as lifeguards due to its flexibility.
"I think lifeguarding is a really great job to start off, especially in high school, and then continuing through college, you know, I was able to adjust my college schedule around work and then vice versa,” Herbert said.
Herbert, among his colleagues, has been working with the city since their youth. His career began at 16 years old when he started his career as a lifeguard. In addition, the Parks and Rec Associate Director, Shay Armijo shared that she began her career early in life.
“You know, we start our careers really young, which means that we actually retire really young," Armijo said. "I’ll be retired before I’m 50 in my first career, and then I’ll go pick up a second career somewhere else."
The duo shared their experiences with hopes to inspire others to become lifeguards. There are numerous incentives made for teens who are interested in hopping on board for a position as a lifeguard.
A few of these entail the flexibility of working with the teens' schedules, lifeguard courses paid for by the city if they work for the city and helping to open a bank account including a sign-on bonus.
“So, if they average 25 hours a week, through the end of May, and the beginning of September, then they get $500 on their paycheck," Herbert said.
For more information or to sign up to be a lifeguard, click here.