How do I find a job as a new PADI Instructor?

[Ankush Mittal]

This thread has confirmed that, in the unlikely event of me wanting to turn pro, I will never, ever consider IDCBali as an option.

The irony for them is that I actually stumbled upon their website on google and was thinking of sending an email getting some info but after this thread, definitely not.

 

[Texasguy]

How much do starting PADI instructors get paid? $60-$90 a day, after tax.. ? 30-40K..

 

[blac86]

How much do starting PADI instructors get paid? $60-$90 a day, after tax.. ? 30-40K..

If you just let a shop take advantage of you and padi take advantage of you and don't work independently you very likely will make significantly less then $2,000 a month (before taxes, insurance, padi fees, and coast guard drug testing) I didn't start making money till I went independent. Shops are literally cancer. Plus you'll be playing padi a **** ton of money for MSDT (lol) and specialty instructor certs.

 

[HantsDiver]

If you just let a shop take advantage of you and padi take advantage of you and don't work independently you very likely will make significantly less then $2,000 a month (before taxes, insurance, padi fees, and coast guard drug testing) I didn't start making money till I went independent. Shops are literally cancer. Plus you'll be playing padi a **** ton of money for MSDT (lol) and specialty instructor certs.

We obviously have different opinions about what is a "**** ton of money" - in some parts of the world msdt is free. It doesn't actually give you anything on it's own so no one needs to get it. I don't think the fees to be a specialty instructor are expensive at all.

If you have such a problem with a training agency why do you teach for them? If you don't which agency do you teach for that doesn't charge these fees?

 

[blac86]

We obviously have different opinions about what is a "**** ton of money" - in some parts of the world msdt is free. It doesn't actually give you anything on it's own so no one needs to get it. I don't think the fees to be a specialty instructor are expensive at all.

If you have such a problem with a training agency why do you teach for them? If you don't which agency do you teach for that doesn't charge these fees?

If you ever want to be idc or master instructor you're gonna go through msdt first. Padi takes about 120 out of every ow cert, lds will take about 250-300. If you aren't independent you're lucky to make $80 a cert. Plus padi membership fees. Plus dive leader insurance. Plus taxes. An lds affiliated padi Owsi isnt making more than $1500-$2000 unless they also work register or sales.

That's what I'm saying, padi, lds, insurance agencies, and the government make it so that it's almost impossible to earn a living as a shop affiliated owsi.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

If you ever want to be idc or master instructor you're gonna go through msdt first. Padi takes about 120 out of every ow cert, lds will take about 250-300. If you aren't independent you're lucky to make $80 a cert. Plus padi membership fees. Plus dive leader insurance. Plus taxes. An lds affiliated padi Owsi isnt making more than $1500-$2000 unless they also work register or sales.

That's what I'm saying, padi, lds, insurance agencies, and the government make it so that it's almost impossible to earn a living as a shop affiliated owsi.

Just curious as to the breakdown of how PADI takes $120 out of every cert. There's the PIC cost, and cost of materials. Unless I'm missing something, that doesn't add up to $120.

 

[blac86]

Just curious as to the breakdown of how PADI takes $120 out of every cert. There's the PIC cost, and cost of materials. Unless I'm missing something, that doesn't add up to $120.

Padi OW e-learning is $150 +pic cost, so $170 lol I was being generous. If you do the erdpml crew pac + pic it's only $100 though, so yay, hopefully your student has never heard of e-learning and you don't mind doing extra classroom lecture time for peanuts. Oh but if the dive shop decides to pass the saving onto the student then it doesn't ******* matter because you still won't see any of that extra $70.

So I went independent, undercut every shop in the Tampa Bay area by $100 and now I make $180 a cert instead of $80.

The dive shop affiliated non-technical instructor is the most screwed person in the dive industry bar none. But hey marketing is hard work so who am I to judge.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Padi OW e-learning is $150 +pic cost, so $170 lol I was being generous. If you do the erdpml crew pac + pic it's only $100 though, so yay, hopefully your student has never heard of e-learning and you don't mind doing extra classroom lecture time for peanuts. Oh but if the dive shop decides to pass the saving onto the student then it doesn't ******* matter because you still won't see any of that extra $70.

So I went independent, undercut every shop in the Tampa Bay area by $100 and now I make $180 a cert instead of $80.

The dive shop affiliated non-technical instructor is the most screwed person in the dive industry bar none. But hey marketing is hard work so who am I to judge.

Ah yes, e-learning/touch. I know that the industry is moving in this direction. I'm not a fan because studies have shown that people retain less from reading a digital screen as opposed to paper. I'm not going to state what the charge is for the PIC, but for any PADI pro, we know it isn't much. And the materials for the books are not that much either, adding up to less to $100.

I don't know how things are in your neck of the woods, but up here, pool time is a huge expense ($110-$150/hour). Further out it drops to $60/hour, and that's what I will use if I go independent before leaving the country.

 

[boulderjohn]

I'm not a fan because studies have shown that people retain less from reading a digital screen as opposed to paper.

What studies are those?

When the PADI eLearning first came out, the director of instruction at the shop where I worked resisted it for a long time because he said just the same thing. He finally relented. For me, it was perhaps my 12th eLearning student who first missed a question on the in-person final exam. Other instructors had the same experience, and so within a couple of months the shop changed to doing nothing but the eLearning because the students were remembering the materials so much better.

Before my retirement, I was put in charge of learning about the new phenomenon of online learning, and I ended up working on state task forces investigating its possibilities. I am unaware of the kinds of studies you mention, and I would be interesting in reading them.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

John,

This is just one of several articles I've read: The Reading Brain in the Digital Age: The Science of Paper versus Screens

In a previous shop, students had the touch, and the students were often confused with how to navigate.