The Instructor Training Conundrum

Last updated on

October 17, 2017

So, you have chosen to take the first steps to become a qualified Instructor. Great! You have chosen an exciting and rewarding industry that your friends and family will be super jealous of!

Ahhh snow. My ultimate happy place!

Starting the next part can be daunting, to say the least though. Options, options, options! For example:

1. Where will be the best country to go to?

2. Does it matter if I get qualified through this instructing certification system or that one?

3. And what if I struggle to use the qualification to get a job after investing all that time and money?

The ski and snowboard instructing industry is a competitive place. However more than ever people are finding it harder to get a job as an instructor. But why?

The reality is that all snow schools around the globe want the best staff for their paying guests. The truth is they can afford to be very selective these days; and with the increasing number of people getting qualified around the globe, this makes the process particularly tricky. As more than ever, School Directors want to know if the person can be relied upon through past teaching experience.

Here is where we face the instructing world conundrum. The snow schools are clearly wanting those that are internationally certified and have teaching experience over those that don’t, but to get the experience you need a resort to hire you in the first place!

EA Ski and Snowboard was founded in 2006 to address this problem that seemed to face an ever-increasing number of people. Combining training and internationally recognised certifications with a guaranteed job offer, all before leaving home!

“It’s an extremely competitive industry with courses running all around the world. There are a lot of Instructors getting qualified each year and a lot of them don’t have experience so it is very difficult to get a job. Qualifications and experience, if you don’t have those two it can be very hard to get to the front of the queue”

NZSki General Manager of Snow Sports Toby Arnott

“When I hire people that I don’t know or haven’t come through the program I am looking at recommendations from Instructors that have worked for me, or people that I know in the industry that can say this person is going to work well for you. It’s like any industry, a recommendation is going to go a long, long way”

Hakuba Snow Sports School Director / Owner