Best Path toward Instructor?

[oly5050user]

Great point Thalassamania brings up about the agency related to teaching style. However, forward think this one through and think about where you want to work and the agency they represent.

The majority of posts, so far, is to take your time and that is the best advice. However, if you decide to take a different quicker route with a total immersion program “Pun Intended” think about the agency where you are expecting to teach. Example. The Fiji program might be a NAUI instructor program and all of the California shops might be PADI. Make sure you align your training where you ultimately want to teach.

From my experience, I took AOW, Rescue and Dive Master through my local shop along with gear purchases. Because they did not have a course directory they wanted me to take the Instructor Development Course at their affiliate shop about 90 minutes away. I decided to take the course in warm Florida in November. When I came back to the shop with my OWSI card they completely black balled me and stated because I was not taught by them (affiliate shop) then I could not teach at their shop. My point is think about the big picture. Set a goal and plan the path to that goal!

LDS often may do this with an instructor that they did not personally bring up the ranks. Its a business decision usually. If they trained you then they know your personality and abilities.Being that a new instructor has no proven history this is the only way that many LDS feel and I can understand that.
Very often once a new instructor HAS experience and is known in the local industry a LDS May be more willing to take them on as a instructor.
Here in NY I have worked at/taught at quite a few of the LDS in the area and can usually get a class atdifferent LDS's fairly easily.
So what I suggest to do is take the courses at a facility that you think you may wish to teach at, or at the very least in the geographic area you wish to teach at. If you go the other route get experience teaching in the local area and make aname for yourself. Become known in the local community, get your face seen at dive sites and boats with students, then see if the LDS is willing to give you classes. Look at it their way, you are a LDS and have an opening for an instructor.There are multiple instructor's trying for the position.Who will you give the shot at?? Someone who displayed a willingness to be a team player and did their training with you or someone with no past experience and who went elsewhere and left them out of the picture?.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

LDS often may do this with an instructor that they did not personally bring up the ranks. Its a business decision usually. If they trained you then they know your personality and abilities.Being that a new instructor has no proven history this is the only way that many LDS feel and I can understand that.
Very often once a new instructor HAS experience and is known in the local industry a LDS May be more willing to take them on as a instructor.
Here in NY I have worked at/taught at quite a few of the LDS in the area and can usually get a class atdifferent LDS's fairly easily.
So what I suggest to do is take the courses at a facility that you think you may wish to teach at, or at the very least in the geographic area you wish to teach at. If you go the other route get experience teaching in the local area and make aname for yourself. Become known in the local community, get your face seen at dive sites and boats with students, then see if the LDS is willing to give you classes. Look at it their way, you are a LDS and have an opening for an instructor.There are multiple instructor's trying for the position.Who will you give the shot at?? Someone who displayed a willingness to be a team player and did their training with you or someone with no past experience and who went elsewhere and left them out of the picture?.

That's a pretty lame way of looking at it, to my concern.

I thought one of the strengths of the PADI program was standardized curriculum. Presumably then, an instructor who trained through one PADI facility should be able to teach at another without diffculties.

I could see them asking you to monitor, assist, or even co-teach a couple courses, so they could evaluate your teaching strengths and weaknesses prior to making you a permanent staff member. But let's be honest, this has absolutely nothing to do with them not knowing about abilities ... particularly in this case, where the diver took prior classes through the shop. It's is just another one of those stupid "loyalty" notions that runs rampant in our industry.

"Policies" like this one are what make so many people shake their head in wonder at the utter lack of business sense of so many shop owners, and walk away ... ultimately, it's just another example of why so many dive shops can't compete in a competitive industry ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[TSandM]

I'm not an instructor, but from my divemaster experience, I'd say that, if you intend to teach locally, do your instructor training locally. There are issues for students in cold water and low viz that you aren't going to get experience with if you do an instructor class somewhere like Fiji. If you train locally, you'll be able to pick up tips from experienced people on how to run classes most effectively in the conditions you will face.

And btw, I agree with all the posters who say that you should have a great deal more, and more varied experience before you think about instructing.

 

[oly5050user]

That's a pretty lame way of looking at it, to my concern.

I thought one of the strengths of the PADI program was standardized curriculum. Presumably then, an instructor who trained through one PADI facility should be able to teach at another without diffculties.

I could see them asking you to monitor, assist, or even co-teach a couple courses, so they could evaluate your teaching strengths and weaknesses prior to making you a permanent staff member. But let's be honest, this has absolutely nothing to do with them not knowing about abilities ... particularly in this case, where the diver took prior classes through the shop. It's is just another one of those stupid "loyalty" notions that runs rampant in our industry.

"Policies" like this one are what make so many people shake their head in wonder at the utter lack of business sense of so many shop owners, and walk away ... ultimately, it's just another example of why so many dive shops can't compete in a competitive industry ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Bob, how is it lame? What I wrote is who would a employer hire? someone they have a history with and know that person is a team player,someone who the rest of the staff is familiar with, someone who the employer has seen interact with students....Or someone who completed training elsewhere, unknown to staff,may have personality issues with staff,not a team player who has the same willingness to use facilities ideas of business? This can apply to any business,not just diving. As I wrote if a new instructor wants to get their training elsewhere from the facility /area that they plan to teach at then let them go independent if they cannot get a gig at a facility, prove themselves and then try the LDS and see if they can use them..Here in NY, at the LDS I currently teach out of, if an instructor wishes to teach for us and can contribute to the facility in a meaningful way then they get the gig when there are openings..Many independents teach at the facility I am at and are given access to the pool at a fee negotiated thru the owner.If we see that they are good at what they do and they wish to teach for the facility they may be offered classes. To be honest with you I have seen many of them teaching and while some are very good,others really are so disorganized that I just walk away so as not to say anything to them. As to PADI instructor all teach the same that is untrue.They are supposed to teach the standard material and most do.What is wrong is once they pass an IE they forget how to do presentations in a logical methodical way.Too many times I see a presentation turn into a BS session and wander off topic wasting way too much time.Maybe not in this case but perhaps the LDS in question here has personality issues or feel that this new instructor would not fit in with the crew on staff already or he has nothing meaningfull to contribute and that is why a chance to teach there has not been offered?Only the store owner truly knows the whys..

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Bob, how is it lame? What I wrote is who would a employer hire? someone they have a history with and know that person is a team player,someone who the rest of the staff is familiar with, someone who the employer has seen interact with students....Or someone who completed training elsewhere, unknown to staff,may have personality issues with staff,not a team player who has the same willingness to use facilities ideas of business? This can apply to any business,not just diving. As I wrote if a new instructor wants to get their training elsewhere from the facility /area that they plan to teach at then let them go independent if they cannot get a gig at a facility, prove themselves and then try the LDS and see if they can use them..Here in NY, at the LDS I currently teach out of, if an instructor wishes to teach for us and can contribute to the facility in a meaningful way then they get the gig when there are openings..Many independents teach at the facility I am at and are given access to the pool at a fee negotiated thru the owner.If we see that they are good at what they do and they wish to teach for the facility they may be offered classes. To be honest with you I have seen many of them teaching and while some are very good,others really are so disorganized that I just walk away so as not to say anything to them. As to PADI instructor all teach the same that is untrue.They are supposed to teach the standard material and most do.What is wrong is once they pass an IE they forget how to do presentations in a logical methodical way.Too many times I see a presentation turn into a BS session and wander off topic wasting way too much time.Maybe not in this case but perhaps the LDS in question here has personality issues or feel that this new instructor would not fit in with the crew on staff already or he has nothing meaningfull to contribute and that is why a chance to teach there has not been offered?Only the store owner truly knows the whys..

It ain't like the guy just walked in the shop unknown and asked for a job ... he said he took AOW, Rescue and DM classes with that shop. If those classes aren't enough for staff to get an idea of his aptitude and personality, then yeah ... that's pretty lame ... and a pretty good indication that it's a shop that's managed by petty politics.

By the time you've worked your way through the DM class, any instructor who's half on the ball will have a pretty good idea what your diving skills and leadership ability would be ... after all, they taught them to you.

Team player? In this industry, that's a buzzword for somebody who only spends their dollars here ... regardless of how much extra it costs them ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[randytay]

When I first starting diving last year, I cannot wait to be an instructor. I moved up the "ranks" pretty quickly from basic to advanced, to rescue and then I got stopped in my tracks because I learnt about another philosophy of diving. I researched it for a couple of months, talked to various instructors from this other philosophy of diving and eventually signed up a class with them and I had my first "Ah-HAH" moment that Bob spoke of: How little I knew about diving. Sure I can bring a SCUBA unit down, breathe with it and move with it but I am not a diver. I only learnt to be a diver after being exposed to this new group of friends who have selflessly shown me "how to dive". I am taking my time and now I just completed my DM course and I am very happy to said at this stage, I am prepared to be a DM because I actually know how to positioned myself to watch, render assistance if and when necessary and be out of the way at the same time. This is just a very small part of what I have learnt and trust me, you are not going to learn about this just taking courses. You need to go out and dive, A LOT!

 

[oly5050user]

It ain't like the guy just walked in the shop unknown and asked for a job ... he said he took AOW, Rescue and DM classes with that shop. If those classes aren't enough for staff to get an idea of his aptitude and personality, then yeah ... that's pretty lame ... and a pretty good indication that it's a shop that's managed by petty politics.

By the time you've worked your way through the DM class, any instructor who's half on the ball will have a pretty good idea what your diving skills and leadership ability would be ... after all, they taught them to you.

Team player? In this industry, that's a buzzword for somebody who only spends their dollars here ... regardless of how much extra it costs them ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Maybe BECAUSE he took aow/rescue/dm there is why they do not want him....LDS I am at now was actually my competition when I worked at a different LDS in the area..No sooner I left the old LDS than the other one wanted me to teach there.As I said, get to be a known instructor in the area.

 

[scubadobadoo]

I never want to dissuade anyone from goals and dreams. That said, and to repeat in yet another way what advice has already wisely been given here, I do caution people about making loved hobbies a job. If you already love your job and you have a well paying one (teaching), then take the time to just love your hobby (scuba) for a few years or even more before you also make it a job you have to do instead of just want to do. How many years did you go to college to learn how to teach and then how much time did you spend in the classroom before you got it? Get it? Much luck to the OP!

 

[CamG]

Greetings hawkans and I am throwing in with the slower path / internship.
I was eager once to finish quickly into an OW instructor and it lead me to want to understand the WHOLE concept of OW training.
It would be very wise to do the same and start working your way through the ranks paying keen attention to the Scuba Industry = LDS model, instructor model, DM model, and dive training in general.
It is a far different animal than what I first thought and reality tempers the training passions.
You will learn this and more along the way, it is not all glamor and exotic dive destinations.

As a teacher you already know that every student learns differently and you will have to be adept at being the worst of those's scuba mentor, instructor, DM.
If I sound jaded please that is not my intention at all, I love dive training but it comes with a price. You need to spend enough time in the industry to determine how much it will cost you!
Take it slow and learn well.

When you crawl into your vehicle after 5-8 training dives a day with 5-8 more the next trying to grab some sleep.
Your ears a little tender from the yo-yo OW dives you will either smile or frown!
That will tell you if you are to be an instructor or not!

You will be able to tear a BC apart, change O-rings, properly weight students, read students minds from their expressions, when you see only eyes in a mask BE THERE!
I think my instructor said it best when he said instructors do not teach to get rich they do it because they love it! It is their passion to pass on the gift of diving to others.
I thought he was joking when he told all of us in the DMC meeting we would be able to dive any rig and or any variation of scuba gear possible.
We all learned different very quickly.

Never have I been so tired yet so happy!
Sleeping in my car, on pic nic tables,etc. to tired to eat just crash then get up and dive some more!
Beware the pace it is not friendly for family life unless they are training with you!

CamG Keep Diving....Keep Training....Keep Learning!