GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — It’s only March, and the City of Green Bay is already talking about summer job opportunities. Last year, the city had trouble filling jobs that have been, generally speaking, popular to have, like lifeguarding.
Joannes Aquatic Center didn’t see its usual crowd last summer. The pool was closed because the City of Green Bay couldn’t find enough lifeguards.
“It was a really competitive job. It isn’t as competitive, just so many places are hiring right now, and there’s so many opportunities for those high school and college aged students,” said Ann Moeller, Recreation Supervisor for the city of Green Bay.
Moeller says they need to hire over 40 positions in order to open the three city pools.
Right now, they have close to 20 confirmed staff members for the summer.
Moeller says hopefully, the new lifeguard bonus program will help fill the rest of the positions.
“So they can earn an additional $350 for just committing to be a lifeguard for us this summer,” said Moeller.
Britney Burkart -LaBar is the faculty supervisor at Bay Beach Amusement Park. She says the park also went through staffing ups and downs.
“Then we would have one or two rides. We usually try to rotate the rides, or we’d have at least one kiddy ride closed a day,” said Burkart-LaBar.
Burkart-LaBar says without adequate staffing, Bay Beach favorites like the Granny Bugs will be closed for another season.
Bay Beach is also offering employee incentives. Workers can earn bonuses up to $200 and extra pay to work evenings.
The park wants to hire between 200 and 250 employees to operate all rides.
Currently, 50 staff members will return this year.
“We usually do hiring right about now. We get spring breaks in there, so we reach out to the colleges and get them to sign up for an interview while they’re home from school,” said Burkart-LaBar.
Burkart-LaBar and Moeller hope the bonus programs will help fill the positions so people can continue to enjoy summer spots in Green Bay.
