Renton Parks & Recreation hiring more staff for the summer
RENTON, Wash. - With warmer weather on the mind, many cities and towns around Puget Sound are already looking to hire seasonal employees to staff community parks, pools and play places.
Last year, positions like lifeguards were going unfilled because of such low unemployment and COVID’s effects on training. Cities like Renton are hoping to turn that trend around this year.
Cailín Hunsaker with the Renton Parks & Recreation Department said the city is making a major push to find new hires with the summer budgets getting back to pre-pandemic levels.
"We are starting to build back up again to normal or even more than normal," she said.
She said a boat launch attendant or lifeguard can expect to make $20 an hour or more.
"We are recruiting for that increase attendance, increased programming," Hunsaker explained.
It’s not just Renton that has the ‘help wanted’ signs out. Coming up on April 5, the University of Washington is hosting a summer job fair with 21 different seasonal employers signed up so far, representing everything from skateboard clinics to summer camps.