Pros
Experience, Tips, lots of opportunities to get a job, in my neighborhood, met my boyfriend here, sometimes provided food, certain pools have shorter hours, some guards are friendly, pretty good pay but hours to get your next raise are super competitive.
Cons
Heat it gets really hot and you will get dark/ sunburn if the pool has no shade went from pale to tan in one week, bugs: didn't know biting gnats were a thing, drama, if you are planning to work as a life guard prepare yourself mentally to deal with all kinds of people: personally I got hit on I would say relatively pretty often in 3 or 4 months from other guards and residents , you encounter all types of residents some are creeps and some are just really hard to deal with, one manager would talk sexually about the female life guards to the other male life guards, a lot of vaping, stoners, and underage drinking, senior guards would leave most of the work to the newer guards, hr is either powerless or unwilling to listen to requests, older guard stands really need to be looked at because they are unstable, minorities are kinda secluded, supervisors don't care about your issues and aren't willing to help you. Personally I think that training should be free