Many Dive Instructors and Divemasters complain that it is hard to find jobs as a Diving Instructor or Divemaster. There are in fact many Divemaster and Dive Instructor jobs out there, but just as in any other job search, you’ll want to get the best Divemaster and Diving Instructor work available.
Most Diving Instructors are eager to work, but sometimes expect Diving Instructor work to come to them instead of trying to find it. Finding a good Divemaster job or Diving Instructor job can get a lot easier using the following tips.
Attitude and Career
I remember it as clear as yesterday, a few weeks ago I helped one of my PADI IDC candidates to find work in the Maldives, after a few hours working on his CV and a few emails and phone calls he got a job interview. When I finished work I went to have a sunset drink at the resort bar, where I met this Diving Instructor complaining that he could not find any work in diving, and he was blaming it on everyone else and the dive industry in general. I moved away from his negativity and started chatting to another person who happened to be a Dive Centre owner. He was complaining how it was so hard to find good Divemasters or Diving Instructors to work for him, and he was desperate for new employees.
How do you find the best dive instructor jobs worldwide?
Then it hit me! So many Divemasters or Diving Instructors complain there is no work while they are drinking in a bar, and at the same time there are many dive shop owners that are looking for good staff but can’t find them. Why can’t those owners find any good staff? It’s because the best Diving Instructors (those with a great attitude who treat this job as a proper career) are in most cases already employed leaving those complainers (with a bad attitude) left looking for work or moaning about the lack of opportunities.
Having the right attitude is key in scoring and keeping a job as a dive professional.
You should try and see this Diving Instructor job as a proper career. Same as back home you should look presentable, have a great attitude, smile, make a killer diving CV, do great job interviews, don’t give up, follow standards, try to look for more opportunities to increase your salary, etc.
“Shopping” for Dive Instructor work
The best way to get a Divemaster or Dive Instructor job is to be on location and “shop” around looking for a nice dive shop. This way you have a chance to check out the local dive centres and see which one is the right fit for you, but even more importantly the dive shop owner and/or dive centre manager has a chance to meet you.
Going to the location you want to work in the world can be expensive, depending where you come from. For this reason it is very important, that you do a bit of research before packing your bags and go somewhere on good faith. Go online and check the different dive centres/schools, check TripAdvisor, chat with people on Facebook that live and work there, find out how expensive it is to live there, whether there is a risk of natural disasters, ask about the political state of the country, ask how people enjoy life besides diving. Try to set your mind on 3 locations if possible, do the research and then pick the best diving location for YOU to work.
I recommend to try to always talk to the dive school owner first, if he or she is not available then ask to speak to the manager and if he or she is not available try any other staff. Dive Centre owners are usually more likely to hire someone they like, if they tell you they will think about it and contact you, then still come back the first time 3 days later and then the next time 5 days later, this shows a lot of respect without being pushy. After that try to focus on another dive shop.
Creating the best Diving Instructor CV Resume
Even when you visit dive shops on location in person, you should still present a Diving Instructor CV. But if you are applying for the best Diving Instructor job online then you defiantly need a diving CV.
Again many Dive Instructors complain that they try hard to find work with their diving resumes and can’t get any work. This is in my opinion because everyone makes and uses kinda the same instructor CV. If you want to succeed in getting a great Diving Instructor job then you need to make not just a good CV, but the best Dive Instructor CV that instantly makes any dive shop owner or manager go: Wow!
Here are my tips to make the best Diving Instructor CV:
First try to get all your CV information onto 1 or 2 pages. I personally think that if you have something important to include in your diving CV you should add it, even if that means that you might get a third page. Most dive shop owners and managers still prefer 1 or 2 pages so the solution is to play with the layout of the CV to fit in all your diving experience and dive education.
Make sure your CV reflects your skills and person with clear contact details.
Also including a personal picture or two is very important so the dive centre owner or manager can see who they are about to hire. I know that this is against the law in some countries for discrimination reasons, but trust me on this that it can be the decisive factor on you getting the job or not. Some Dive Instructors now say that only pretty or handsome Dive Instructors get jobs, but this is simply just not true! It’s not about how pretty or handsome you are on a picture, but how professional you look. For this reason I highly advise you to not go cheap. Really, you should ask/hire a professional photographer to take 1, 2 or 3 pictures of you and maybe a shot of you teaching with real students and integrate that in your Diving Instructor CV. Anyone who has done this and spent a bit of money on professional pictures, has a much better chance of getting a job.
Try to take a picture of you in Scuba Diving Equipment at the pool or on the boat. Avoid underwater pictures as you can’t see your face, equally avoid crazy pictures, pictures in normal cloths or even worse a suit.
Try to put your most relevant information at the top and always write a CV in a way that an owner or manager would like to read it. Picture yourself as a Dive Centre owner or manager and then ask yourself what will be the best CV that you want to read? Then write the CV like that.
You can use Malte Birkner’s service to make you a professional looking CV.
But if you want to make your life a bit easier, then I recommend one of the Best Divemaster and Diving Instructor CV builders in the world: Malte Birker. For only 10 to 25 US dollar he will create one of the best diving CVs you can get. I highly recommend contacting him to make you one.
Choosing a small or big dive shop
Sometimes I hear people say that it is best to choose a big dive shop to have a better chance of a good career, but I disagree with this. I believe to get the best dive job it really depends on how comfortable you will be working for that dive shop. If you are comfortable you will work better and harder, if you are unhappy you won’t succeed well in this industry.
It is true that a bigger dive shop can offer more students for you to teach, with possible big course experiences, more people to meet and sometimes a bit more money depending on the shop. The downside is that you might have to deal with a lot of politics because there are many other Dive Instructors all trying to get more students. This can be very different depending on the dive centre and location of course.
It is easier to get noticed and rewarded for your hard work in a medium sized dive shop.
A small shop will have less politics and most of the time a more relaxing working environment. However, sometimes they lack the excitement you get from having many staff at a big dive centre. Every dive shop has to start somewhere and any small dive shop can become big, especially if you work hard on marketing. I have seen many Diving Instructors start in small dive shops and their enthusiasm has turned the business into a medium to big dive centre in only a few years. These Diving Instructors are now very respected and successful in their diving careers.
Diving Instructor work, where to go?
Location, location, location… Choosing the right location for you to work in the world is incredibly important. Like I said before it can be expensive to try out different places and countries in the world.
First you should choose 2 or 3 of your favourite countries to work in. Then start selecting a few areas you prefer in that country and then narrow it down by finding some great dive centres in that area. Try to Google these dive centres to get better information or go on social media and get in contact with local people for advice. Nothing is worse than you applying and being accepted for a Diving Instructor job only to find out that the location is bad.
Koh Tao is one of the best place to find work as a Diving Instructor
I advise checking the political state of the country and researching how easy it is to get work permits. More questions you might ask are: is the electricity reliable? Are there any local supermarkets, bars and restaurants? How would you get to the nearest hospital? How far are the dive sites from the dive school, etc. Some people love to live and work in remote and quiet areas with amazing marine life, while other Diving Instructors prefer to work in a place that has some more excitement besides diving and to work in more busy areas. Also don’t forget there are also many jobs available actually on the sea like on a Liveaboard or as a Dive Instructor on a Cruise ship.
Use the internet to find your perfect Dive Instructor job
The internet is a great tool for finding a good Dive Instructor job. My first advice is to check out the employment board on the PADI website for professionals. To access the PADI employment board you need to create an account, which you can do after you completed the PADI Divemaster course or PADI IDC course. This employment board will have hundreds of available Diving Instructor jobs and many people find their dream job though this website. Other great Diving Instructor job websites are: Scuba Diving Tips, 200bar, Dive Zone, Indeed and YaCrew.
Facebook can be an amazing tool to find work in the Dive Industry
Beside finding your dream job on a normal website you can also use social network websites, especially Facebook which is an amazing tool for finding the best Diving Instructor or Dive Professional jobs. On Facebook try search for job placement groups. The most popular are: Dive Jobs Worldwide, Divemaster Jobs Scuba Diving and PADI Pro Jobs.
Extend your dive training
I understand that you have already paid to become a Divemaster or Diving Instructor and your budget can be low. You can definitely find some great jobs now, save some money, get some experience and then maybe get more dive teaching training later.
But if you do have a chance to get more training then I highly recommend it. It will always look better on your diving resume (CV) if you have higher qualifications than another person trying to get the same job. A Diving Instructor is higher than a Divemaster, a Master Scuba Diver Trainer is higher than a Diving Instructor, an IDC Staff Instructor is higher than a MSDT and of course a Master Instructor will increase his or her chances of getting a scuba diving job.
Besides getting a higher ranking as a Diving Instructor, you can also increase your expertise and include Tech Diving, Free Diving, Dive Equipment Technician, Underwater Videographer, Super-Yacht Deckhand and Compressor Specialist on your diving CV to get better diving job opportunities. This not only makes you a better dive professional, but it also broadens the job placement market as you can do dive jobs in different fields.
Conclusion
I really hope that this article will help you a towards finding a good Divemaster or Diving Instructor job. Just remember that in the end finding a job in the dive industry is pretty much the same as any other industry. You might find the perfect dive job instantly or it might take some time and a few tries. Most important is not to give up and stay positive.
There are so many great dive centres offering amazing jobs for Diving Instructors. You just need to have a bit of patience, know where to find them and work hard getting the job. Don’t forget in the end that once you got the job you try to excel and work hard to make the company better It won’t be long before you get promotion and a better scuba diving instructor salary.
At Sairee Cottage Diving on Koh Tao we add extra job placement training in our PADI Divemaster, PADI IDC and PADI MSDT courses to help our candidates get a better chance of finding a good job as a Divemaster or Dive Instructor. If you would like more information about our Divemaster and PADI IDC Courses at Sairee Cottage Diving on Koh Tao then please contact us.
I hope you really liked this article and if you did please “Like” & “Share” it on your social media.
Marcel van den Berg
PADI Platinum Course Director
Sairee Cottage Diving
Koh Tao, Thailand
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