What Does a Teenage Ski Instructor do?

As a ski instructor, you will spend the majority of your time teaching children, or even adults, how to ski. This can range from working with people new to skiing or teaching advanced skiers how to perfect their techniques. Major benefits of being a ski instructor are that you get paid well as not many people can teach skiing, it builds your experience working with children, and it has very flexible hours as you can choose which times you want to teach. You’ll spend a lot of time skiing and people will rely on your expertise, so you should be an excellent skier before trying to become an instructor.

How Much Does a Teenage Ski Instructor Get Paid?

As a teenage ski instructor just starting, you can expect to earn $15-$20 per hour. A major difficulty with becoming a ski instructor is that you will have to be extremely good at skiing yourself. Not many people may know how to ski, and it’s not possible to learn how to be an expert skier overnight. So, you must have prior skiing experience if you want to become a ski instructor. But this challenge is also a benefit for you as well. Because of this, less people will be applying to the position of a ski instructor which means there will be more demand for your services. Being a ski instructor is also very good for your future, as you learn a crucial life lesson of how to communicate with those who have more difficulty comprehending completely, as with the case with many children. This will help you land better jobs in the future as a good experience to put on your resume, and will help your day to day life in the future.

How Can I Get Started as a Teenage Ski Instructor?

1. Before you begin, you’ll need to join a reputable national ski instructor association. A good one that you can join is The Professional Ski Instructors of America. You’ll want to be certified to become a ski instructor because it’ll build your credibility with potential clients. Skiing can be a dangerous sport if you do not practice the proper safety precautions or don’t teach the right techniques. Being certified as a ski instructor will help you find a job more easily, as people who employer ski instructors will be looking for a certification. You can also take ski lessons yourself to polish up your own skill before you teach others.
2. Next, find some local ski resorts or skiing schools. You might not be finding many ski resorts near your city, but another option is to go up to the suburbs and live at the ski resort you are teaching in. This will let you relax and have a vacation for free, while earning money on the side. Sometimes you’ll be able to do this for a few months at a time, it all depends on the resort. Another option you have is to see municipal skiing instructor opportunities that are offered by your city. Your city might have ski lessons available and you can teach those.
3. Once you’ve found a couple of ski resorts or skiing schools, you should apply to them. Ski instructors will have to be very good skiers themselves, and they should also have some basic medical knowledge to treat an injured skier before professional medical staff arrive. So, when applying, you can talk about how you have some medical knowledge if you have taken a quick CPR lesson. You can also send your certifications with national associations that you got in step one. Tell them you will treat safety as the highest priority, and mention your prior experience as well.
4. Congrats, you’re officially a teenage ski instructor. It might be tough in the beginning as you’ll stay in the cold and work with kids often, but you will eventually learn to enjoy it. In the future, you can add this to your resume as well which is an excellent resume builder. After all, it shows that you took initiative and got all of your certifications to become a ski instructor.

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Helpful Resources

• Amazon.com:  This is where you can shop for ski equipment if needed.
• Professional Ski Instructors of America:  this is where you should be certified to