There are a lot of hassles which a person has to face in their jobs and jobs which require constant evaluation of your performance after a certain period of time are particularly the ones which demand more physical and mental labor from you. One such job is that of a lifeguard as they have to constantly prove that they are capable enough to serve their duties every now and then, but what happens when a lifeguard’s certification expires? The following points shed light upon that in an elaborate manner, so please keep reading.
1. CHECK THE EXPIRY DATE THOROUGHLY
It is quite normal for a certificate to expire, most of them have an expiry date while some are issued for a lifelong period. But the thing with lifeguarding certificates is that they all come with an expiration date and once that date comes to pass, a lifeguard recertification process has to be completed which would further decide the tenure of a person as a lifeguard. So it would be very wise on your part to check your certificate’s validity every now and then so that you would know when you have to undergo a recertification process.
2. SEE IF THE GRACE PERIOD IS STILL GOING ON
Let’s suppose that you failed to check the expiry date of your certificate because you already had a lot of things to take care of and now that the expiry date has already gone by, you are worried about the recertification process as you have not prepared yourself for that. Well, one thing which might provide some relief to you is the fact that there is a grace period for every certificate and in most of the cases that grace period is of thirty days. Now, you would have at least thirty days to apply, prepare and qualify the recertification test.
3. GET RECERTIFIED WITHIN THE GRACE PERIOD
It has been made very clear that you should always check and remember the expiration date of your lifeguarding certificate in order to apply for the recertification process on time, if you fail to do so then your career as a lifeguard would be jeopardized. It would be a smart step to get recertified while the grace period is going on so that you can rejoin the community before you miss out on anything.
4. KNOW THE PREREQUISITES
Apparently, there are some prerequisites that one must be aware of if they want to apply for the recertification process. The set of information and guidelines which every individual should know before participating in the recertification process are as follows –
- You must partake in a small course called the American Red Cross lifeguarding review course.
- First Aid Application.
- CPR
- AED
- Fifteen years or above.
- Should be an efficient swimmer.
- Can lift at least ten pounds of weight at a depth of seven to eight feet.
One should know and have the above-mentioned qualifications or have undergone first aid and cpr training classes to apply for the renewal of their lifeguard certificates.
5. AMERICAN RED CROSS LIFEGUARDING REVIEW COURSE
This course has already been mentioned once here and it is such a crucial part of the procedure to apply for the renewal of your lifeguarding certificates that it deserves a separate spot on our list. At the risk of sounding repetitive, we are again emphasizing on the importance of this review course which is about ten hours long. So whenever your lifeguard certificate expires, you must apply for this course. The best part of this course is that it is easy and convenient for lifeguards to pass this because they already know a lot of things which this course has to offer.
6. GET RECERTIFIED AFTER COMPLETION OF THE COURSE
Once you have followed all the above-mentioned points, you would have completed the process to get recertified as a lifeguard and rejoin your job. It is recommended that you keep that lifeguard discipline intact throughout the entire journey as it will help you get through this more easily. After you have received the recertified version of your authority as a lifeguard, you can be relaxed for some time and if the recertified papers also meet their expiry after some time, then you already know what to do.
The need for constant evaluation is understandable, but that does not mean that a dutiful person has to watch lifeguard classes just because their superiors printed a date on a piece of paper which would define the time they are efficient for. But since the protocols have already been set, it is important for you to follow them as a lifeguard in order to save your job. Once you pass the recertification process, you will get your job back. So do not panic if your lifeguard certificate is no longer valid, instead follow the above-mentioned steps and get certified again!
