It’s finally happened. Your desk job just isn’t doing it for you anymore, and you’re looking for a career change – preferably one that takes you out of the city and onto the slopes. So you start googling possibilities of becoming a ski instructor. Or a snowboard instructor. Or, you know, anything that will pay you to ski and snowboard on a daily basis.
There’s a lot to think about when considering the career change to instructing. Try our starting guide to getting your basic certifications and, most importantly, finding yourself a job.
Decide where you want to go
Itching to earn some more Frequent Flyer points? Or maybe you’d rather stick around closer to home? The good news is that there are a variety of organisations worldwide that set the standard for instructors and assess any potential instructors.
These include the APSI (Australian Professional Snowsport Instructors Inc), BASI (British Association of Snowsport Instructors), CSIA (Canadian Ski Instructors Alliance), CASI (Canadian Association of Snowboard Instructors) and NZSIA (New Zealand Snowsports Instructors Alliance).
Rest assured knowing that you can train to be a ski instructor just about anywhere that there’s a mountain to train on – and no matter where you get your qualification, it will generally allow you to work anywhere else in the world, as long as your snowsports school of choice recognises the qualification.
So how to choose where to go? Here’s a few starting points:
Obsessed with powder? Do you dream about being the first one on the mountain to cut fresh laps in a 30cm overnight snowfall? Love sushi and ramen? You can’t go past Japan, also known as the snowiest place in the world.
Looking for great snow, beautiful scenery, a relaxed environment full of lovely people, and want to spend your time off the mountain enjoying chicken wings, poutine and Caesars? Canada will be right up your alley.
Want to ski in one of the best resorts in the world while enjoying daily views of the Alps – and of course, some of the best après ski known to skiers and snowboarders? Head to Europe – particularly Switzerland.
Want something quick and easy? Take a long weekend and head down to the Australian slopes for a weekend-long APSI course or head across the ditch to New Zealand.
Training
Each of the organisations listed above has a different set of exams and relevant criteria. However, as a basic rule, you should never be going into a set of exams as a complete beginner – or even as a not-too-confident intermediate skier. About three to four weeks on-snow experience is ideal, and you should be able to confidently link your turns down an intermediate slope.
While you can go into your exams without having done any official training, you’ll have better luck passing them if you have some training with instructors that are qualified to train other instructors.
This is where companies like WE ARE SNO come in handy – they partner with snowsports schools in different countries to ensure that their ski and snowboard courses are taught by highly qualified experts.
Depending on how much time you have and what you’re looking to achieve, you can choose from an internship program, a gap year program, a career break program or simply a short course with your training and qualification included – all of which are paired with accommodation, a lift pass, and a group of other great humans working towards the same goal as you.
Exams
Again, the length and intensity of exams will vary based on which organisation you are taking them with – but generally, you’ll start off with working towards your first exam, which will be an entry-level qualification that allows you to teach beginners and basic intermediate skiers. You’ll need to demonstrate your technical abilities as well as your ability to teach a class – and that includes everything from how you teach different types of learners to where you stand when you’re speaking to a class while on the mountain.
You’ll then require further training before progressing to your next level of exams, which are a step up in qualification and generally require you to be a very, very strong skier and instructor that is capable of assessing and teaching advanced skiers.
From there, the only way is further up – and you can look into becoming anything from a freestyle coach to a park instructor to the kind of trainer that assesses the ski exams. With time and a lot of hard work, it’s all possible.
Find yourself a job
Oh, you thought the training and the exams were difficult? This is where it can get really tricky. More and more people are hoping to become instructors each season, and snowsports schools are generally overwhelmed with the resumes of underqualified instructors. If you have your qualifications but no experience, your resume may just go straight to the bottom of the pile.
But how to get experience while you’re still a newbie? The best option for kick-starting your career change is to book in for your training and exams with a company that places you into a paid job offer within resort after your first set of exams.
WE ARE SNO offer internships, gap year courses and career break courses that all include paid job offers, meaning you’ll start earning a wage – and getting plenty of valuable experience – as soon as you’re a qualified instructor.
While working within a snowsports school, you’ll also benefit from the invaluable training provided by them, and be able to work towards future exams to move towards higher levels of qualifications, more responsibility – and the all-important pay rises.
You’ll also walk away from your first season with two references, one from WE ARE SNO and one from your employer, to take to any future employers and get your foot in the door at any other ski school worldwide.
