Too bad it has nothing to do with 'Baywatch'

On the beaches of Los Angeles County, at least. Too bad you have to pass a grueling swim test. From the L.A. Times:

As the recession drags on and white-collar jobs vanish, adult professionals and retirees with depleted savings are applying for jobs typically reserved for the adolescent set — parking cars, serving food or keeping an eye on swimmers from a lifeguard tower.

Huntington Beach’s grueling physical test — a roughly 1,000-yard swim around the pier and a 500-yard ocean sprint, followed by a nearly mile-long run-swim-run — is one of the earlier lifeguard tryouts across the region. “Traditionally, we used to get a lot of the high school kids and college kids,” said Claude Panis, a marine safety officer for the city, where lifeguards star in their own reality show. “We may be getting some people that are older, out of work.”

“Employment opportunities are not what they were,” said Huntington Beach Marine Safety Lt. Mike Baumgartner. As a result, the city will pay lifeguards during training, now scheduled on weekends for convenience.

On Sunday, lifeguards in wetsuits and neon yellow shirts cruised the surf on wave runners to rescue stragglers. A record 156 applicants — more than twice last year’s number — signed up to compete for 25 summer lifeguard slots, said Lt. Mike Beuerlein, with the city’s Marine Safety Division. Eighty-seven people finished all three events.

Among those panting and shivering on the beach as onlookers watched from the pier above were a former Air Force underwater search specialist, a struggling photographer, an out-of-work mechanic, surfers, All-American swimmers and a retired Olympic water polo player, all several years older than the legions of high school and college swim team members.