DM Looking For Paid Work?!

[JamessWebb]

Hi everyone,
New to ScubaBoard and still getting used to it all. I've got 4 years experience and have just been qualified as a PADI DM, now.. Is there any paid work out there. I know the pay is sure enough to be crap but all I want is a bit of sun, sea and beer money to get me though. Any thoughts on where to start looking?

 

[scubadiver888]

I think it might be dependent on area of the world. Around here it is kind of assumed you are going to work for the shop which is training you. Any shop which does not train you will be hesitant to hire you. Most the instructors around here have a few thousand dives and DMs are up in the hundreds, if not thousands as well. I worked for a shop for a while but they closed shop around 2011. When I went to another shop looking for work I had to prove myself helping out with a few DSDs in the pool. They also had me volunteer to help with DM training when the next round of DMs came around.

Once you have been working in my area for a while you tend to know a few people and get work by word of mouth. I'd say drop into a few shops and see if you can help. I started helping in the pool, filling tanks, cleaning gear. Within a few weeks, we had more than 8 students for DSD. Since I'm a DSD Leader I took 4 of the students so they didn't have to call in another instructor. I got paid for the 4 students. After that I got a shirt and worked part-time at the shop.

I'm sure if I tried finding work at another shop, if they didn't know anyone I already worked for, I'd have to talk my way into working for them.

 

[Wookie]

Hi everyone,
New to ScubaBoard and still getting used to it all. I've got 4 years experience and have just been qualified as a PADI DM, now.. Is there any paid work out there. I know the pay is sure enough to be crap but all I want is a bit of sun, sea and beer money to get me though. Any thoughts on where to start looking?

I want you to think for a moment about how a perspective employer (you are looking for work. Says so right in the subject line) might read this post. What I see is "Hi, I aspire to be a beach bum. I want to do just enough to get by, but don't have any real ambition, so if you hire me, I'll be sure to be late to work, spend all of my time chasing/annoying the female clients, and ask for an advance on my paycheck each week". I get three of that kind of application every week from instructors and boat captains.

You might consider "Hi, I'm James. I have 4 years experience diving, although I'm a newly certified divemaster. I'm looking to get out of the dreary old UK, and am willing to work my ass off to do it. I have helped around the dive shop as a tank filler, but I'm willing to do anything you are willing to teach me. I have a small amount of experience with 2 stroke engines (I tore apart the lawn-mower when I was 12, although it never ran again), but I'm a hard worker and pick up new concepts easily."

 

[DandyDon]

Howdy and welcome to Scubaboard. :admingreet:

Good luck. Not likely to work, but maybe.