The city of South Haven is planning a job fair to find candidates for as many as 60 seasonal positions it will need to fill come spring.
South Haven City Human Resources Director Kim Wise tells us it can be a challenge to find enough people to fill all of the available posts.
“This year, we’re looking to fill bridge tenders, so the folks that will raise and lower the bascule bridge,” Wise said. “Beach enforcement attendants, they enforce our city ordinances on the beaches. Marina, we’re looking for customer service folks to help with scheduling boats in our marinas, dock hands to assist those boaters when they come in.”
They’re also looking for parks staff, cemetery workers, and candidates for something new this year: lifeguards.
“We’re doing a phased approach with this, so we’re starting with the South Beach. We’re going to be interviewing as many people that will apply, and we’re going to kind of take it from there. If we could get 10 this year, I think we’d be very happy with that.”
Wise says younger people often qualify for these seasonal jobs.
“For the marina positions, anybody over the age of 15 can apply for that. We do have some high school students that come in, and they work as dock hands. The majority of our other positions are 18 and older. For the lifeguards this year, we’re going to say you need to be at least a high school graduate who’s graduating in 2026. So if you’re a senior this year, you’re getting ready to graduate this year, we can hire you. Before you actually graduate, we’ll start training you, but in order to put you on the beaches, then you will need to be a high school graduate at that time.”
The job fair will be February 28 from noon to 2 p.m. at South Haven City Hall. Wise says interested workers can apply for positions in advance online, and then city staff will be ready for them on the day of the fair.
This is the event’s fourth year, and Wise says finding candidates for the city’s many seasonal positions has gotten a lot easier since it was started.
