Marketable skills in the dive industry

[ScoobaChef]

I'm planning a graceful exit from my career in about 5-10 years and looking to work at least part time in the dive industry. Now being an instructor is only a piece of the equation and I've been acquiring the following skills to add to my repertoire.
- Gas blending
- Equipment maintainance and servicing
-Sales
-Compressor maintainance and servicing
-VIP and hydro
-O2 cleaning
-Professional photographer/video editing
-Considering commercial boat license, but it would be of limited utility locally
-And I'm already a professional chef, good for liveaboards.

What else would be a good addition to the list?

 

[tomfcrist]

People skills....the most understated skill in the industry.

You could be the best instructor and technician in the industry, but if you are a prick...where you going?? Nowhere.

 

[scoobydrew]

You sound pretty well covered but languages is one that always comes up as a generic answer to this question

 

[ScoobaChef]

You sound pretty well covered but languages is one that always comes up as a generic answer to this question

I thought about that one. Being a chef, I can communicate very basically i. 6 or 7 languages, but oddly, the dive shops are separated by language(predominantly asian countries). English is sufficient here and I'm not planning on working overseas.

 

[RJP]

What else would be a good addition to the list?

Depending on where you want work, language skills would be good. On a boat in Curacao once the DM slipped between German, Dutch, Spanish and English. I could have done everything he did... except communicate with 3/4 of the customers. In some Pacific locations Japanese would be useful, if not mandatory. Chinese market growth means more than a billions potential divers.

As an instructor, consider what specialties you can teach. What would be needed/mandatory where you might work? (Wreck specialty in Truk, Drift in St Lawrence, etc) What would be additional things that could make you more attractive?

One of the things you'll see people in the industry bemoan is that the vast majority of people in the dive business are heavy on "dive" experience light on "business" experience. So I'd also generally consider what other skills would be useful to a small business owner. Again, depending on the specific business things like retail experience, web design, social media prowess, writing skills, etc can all give you an extra edge.

Ultimately, think about it this way: any business owner looking to make a hire wants to fill that spot with the candidate who is going to have the largest positive impact on growing their business. Focus on the things that will actually help do that - both diving and non-diving.

 

[ScoobaChef]

People skills....the most understated skill in the industry.

You could be the best instructor and technician in the industry, but if you are a prick...where you going?? Nowhere.

Hmmm... I might be SOL on that point.

---------- Post added October 14th, 2015 at 10:58 PM ----------

One of the things you'll see people in the industry bemoan is that the vast majority of people in the dive business are heavy on "dive" experience light on "business" experience. So I'd also generally consider what other skills would be useful to a small business owner. Again, depending on the specific business things like retail experience, web design, social media prowess, writing skills, etc can all give you an extra edge.

That right there is the crux of my question. Forget about instructing, forget about diving. There's thousands(millions?) of people out there who can do that. What matters out of the water?

 

[RJP]

People skills....the most understated skill in the industry.

Hmmm... I might be SOL on that point.

I thought that was assumed when you said you were a professional chef...

 

[Hickdive]

All the ones you've listed are good but bear in mind that for things like cylinder inspection different countries have different inspection standards so a US qualification might not be portable.

Languages; the emerging market in scuba is in Asia so I'd concentrate on those ones.

Instructor trainer; instructors themselves are ten a penny.

Boat mechanic/electrician; someone who can fix marine diesels, outboards, and electrics as well as maintaining scuba gear, will be in demand for liveaboard work.

 

[Altamira]

Hmmm... I might be SOL on that point.

---------- Post added October 14th, 2015 at 10:58 PM ----------



That right there is the crux of my question. Forget about instructing, forget about diving. There's thousands(millions?) of people out there who can do that. What matters out of the water?

Tomfcrist hit the nail on the head with respect to your success being directly linked to your ability to work well with people. Of course there are the very rare exceptions to this (think Steve Jobs), and if you fall into the successful "jerk category", you had better be a tremendous innovator that comes up with the scuba equivalent of Job's "I" products, own the company, and have your success based on the product rather than the personality. For the rest of us, the people you work with and the people that might buy your services will contribute to your success or sink you. In my experience, people skills are firmly based on the basic concept of treating everyone as you want to be treated.

 

[ScoobaChef]

I thought that was assumed when you said you were a professional chef...

That picture is totally inaccurate!

No professional chef would use pans like that.