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#73
 Jobs in Diving?
zoomonkey - 7/10/2014 2:24 PM
Category: General
Replies: 4
I was curious to know if there was much demand for divers/instructors in recreational diving (not talking about professional like underwater welders or oil rig type jobs). I’d like to know what the demand is generally. Like, high or low for DiveMasters/Instructors etc. I’m guessing the demand is low and the supply is high because it’s a fun type career.
#756
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Sonnylynnvick75 - 7/11/2014 4:16 AM
Theres a thread on "The Truth about DiveMasters" over on SB, based on the general consensus, DiveMasters are in high supply with relative demand. The problem lies in the fact that dive ops often use instructors as DiveMasters, why use someone with less training when you can use one with more? Pay is crap and most of the time comes only from tips as a lot of people will DiveMaster for free in order to get experience/training. Basically, the only way to make a living in rec diving is instructor.
#51828
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Greg - 7/11/2014 11:31 AM
Instructor jobs aren’t in very high demand and don’t pay very well. Usually around $50-$60 per diver in your class. So if you spend two weekends teaching a class with 8 people...you make around $400. A lot of dive shops will also pay you a commission on what gear the students buy, usually at least 10%.

If you teach on your own, that’s a different story. You can make between $150-$200 per student, but you pay for everything else (ie: marketing, pool, insurance, your gear, your air fills, etc.).

This industry is more about having fun, traveling and meeting new people. Don’t expect to make a bunch of money doing it.
#73
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zoomonkey - 7/11/2014 11:36 AM
Thanks for the replies. I wasn’t expecting to make any money, but it’s fun to teach and if you can get some gear paid for at the same time that would be very nice. It means the difference between pursuing Instructor title and not. If it’s like some jobs where there’s 1 opening and 300 applicants then I would never bother.
#51828
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Greg - 7/11/2014 2:40 PM
You may also be interested in this survey I conducted a while back.

Scuba Instructor Pay: divebuddy.com/forum_topic.aspx?ForumID=24012