Well up here indoor lifefuards pay is better, I've just passed my NPLQ (National Pool Lifeguard Qualification) a few months ago, and could be on £7.18 per hour, but ain't been able to because I wrecked my knee playing rugby. It costs £220 for a 5 day crash course with a pool exam and theory exam on the last day. It involves timed swims, one is 2 lengths/50m clothed in under 60 seconds, then a 20m swim to a body, and 20m tow back to the wall in 60 seconds, then a 20m swim out to a body, turn the body onto it's back, and tow 10m in 45 seconds, fromwhat i can remember. You also need to be able to reach the floor of the pool and recover a body fist time. You will be tested on this at any pool you apply to, unless it is shallower than the one that you have on your qualification sheet. There is quite a bit of lee-way on this bit, you can be a bit bad at some of the points in it, but you need to be perfect on the spinal work that you do, as it is life or death stuff. In the theory part you are tested on primary first aid, as in bandagnig up people, what to do with certain breaks etc. Again, theres is lee-way here, but you also do CPR, which must be done perfectly. It's a relatively easy course to pass, providing you are a half decent level swimmer. However, for being a beach lifeguard up here, you tend to get less pay (around £5.15), and the course is more intense, due to the sea being unpredictable etc, and it's called the NBLQ, National Beach Lifeguard Qualification. Don't know much about that one to be honest. Also, you need to keep up the training throughout the duration of the qualification, which lasts 2 years. You need to have 20 hours of training in the 24 months that is lasts, and employers expect you to do an hour per month, just to make sure that you are kept up to date. So yeah, it's a canny job like, just wish i could actually sime at the minute so I could do it/ do training, bloody knee Hope that's been of some help mate Tom