When looking in to joining the outdoor industry and not sure what qualifications to aim for to get a job, I would suggest looking in to getting the following 5 qualifications to start your career in the outdoors.
1, D1 + E driving licence, Now this is subject to the centre requiring you to dive mini buses with trailers, but if they don't then getting the +E (trailer) for your car licence is useful to have for most centres, and looks great on your C.V
2, Beach Lifeguard / First Aid, Getting your Beach lifeguard gets your 16hr First Aid (First Aid At Work) as well. With the beach lifeguard it allows you to work on beaches for surfing and coasteering sessions (depending on the centre Operation Procedures) which are great sessions.
3, Paddle Sport Instructor (PSI) Getting your PSI allows you to run sessions on the water and opens up the possibility (with Other tickets) to run SUP, Raft Building, Kayaking and Canoeing sessions. Once again depending on the centres Operating Procedures.
4, Climbing Wall Instructor (CWI) The CWI is a great award to get for working on climbing walls indoors and outside towers, there is a bolt on for an abseil module which is great to get as it show you can work on all sort of climbing sessions from bouldering, taster sessions and NICAS as well, the only thing you cant do is teach lead climbing.
5, Lowland Leader Award This award is great to have as it allow you to take groups out walking in the countryside (within remit) and gets you out for the day exploring the great outdoors, which is way most of us get into this industry.
I hope this gives you a starting point to work from to start you career in the outdoors. Have a look at our Instructor Training Course over winter which is a great way of learning the technical skills as well as getting knowledge and a wide range of awards.
What are your top 5 most use full awards when you started in the outdoors?
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