By MADDY VITALE
Summer is around the corner and the Ocean City Beach Patrol (OCBP) wants to make sure it is well-prepared for another busy season. That means hiring highly skilled, athletic lifeguards to keep bathers safe.
In fact, the OCBP is starting earlier than ever before to recruit top athletes to join the team. Tryouts are Saturday, June 3. Candidates must be 16 by July 15, 2023.
“We just wanted to get a jump on recruiting because we know bodies are in short supply these days,” OCBP Director Allan Karas said Monday. “We want to put out there that we are looking for athletic, good character, intelligent men and women. We will teach them the lifeguard skills they need.”
The candidates will also be paid during rookie school, Karas noted.
The OCBP leadership has broadened its ways to bring more talent on board in the upcoming season that also marks the 125th anniversary of lifesaving in the resort.
“We expanded the geography to include people with summer homes down at the beach,” Karas said of the recruiting pool. “We have done a lot through social media to get the word out and we have had job fairs. We are trying to do different things to recruit good people. We are recruiting EMTs as well.”
During the height of the summer in 2022 there were 170 lifeguards, which was down about 10 guards from previous years. Karas said he hopes that number will increase to 190 this summer.
One of the issues was the starting wage of $12.80 per hour for lifeguards. Some residents went to City Council to ask the city if the salary could be increased, especially since some seasonal workers on the Boardwalk were receiving $15 and $16 an hour.
Karas said he believes that the hourly pay will be increased for this season.
“I am hoping that the negotiations between the lifeguard associations and the city work out to everybody’s benefit,” he said. “Higher pay helps reward the good work the lifeguards do, as well as with recruiting.”
Last summer lifeguards had their share of rescues due to rough surf, as well as incidents with bathers swimming after hours.
On June 30, lifeguards from the Beach Patrol’s Rapid Response Team and fire and police personnel all responded to the Fifth Street beach to rescue a father and son. And the saves continued throughout the summer.
Karas, who is a retired agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, was an Atlantic City lifeguard when he was growing up.
He was hired for the summer of 2021 to oversee the lifeguards and work with Beach Patrol Chief Mark Jamieson and the rest of the patrol to ensure that everyone is doing what they need to do.
Karas recalled the connections he made being a lifeguard in Atlantic City many years ago.
“You have people like me, guards when we were young, and we all talk about how close we were and how it was the greatest job we ever had,” he recalled.
After his law enforcement career, returning to help out at the helm of a beach patrol has been a great experience, he said.
“I love running the Ocean City Beach Patrol. We have great, high-character people who work for the beach patrol,” Karas said. “Being associated with the Ocean City Beach Patrol is just awesome.”
To register for lifeguard tryouts, visit: www.ocnj.us/ocbp
