Ski or snowboard instructing is a dream job for many; being able to train to improve your own skiing or snowboarding as well as teach others a sport you love. For this reason, year on year many people decide to move to the mountains and train as an instructor.

Almost all ski resorts are seasonal, however, operating for only 5 or so months of the year when there is enough snow. As such you may need to be prepared to move during the summer months in order to find work if you plan on working as an instructor year-round.

Many ski instructors also enjoy travelling and exploring new places, so are happy to live this slightly nomadic lifestyle experiencing life in different countries and winter resorts, whereas others choose to base themselves in one place and find other types of employment in the summer season.

Employment for instructors can be incredibly competitive as lots of ski schools will have high numbers of returning staff each year, and so often have very few positions to fill. At Altitude we receive hundreds upon hundreds of applications each year from potential trainees and instructors searching for jobs across our resorts, and filtering through these can be a tough job.

If you’re looking to apply for a role within a new ski school this winter, you may need to think about how to make yourself stand out in this competitive job market. We’ve written a few bits of advice from our experience within the industry, which may help you have the edge on your next application!

Do some research in advance

The best advice we can give is to personalise your application to the company you are applying for. It takes a bit of time but sending out a mass application to lots of companies at once isn’t usually advised, and a company can tell instantly if they’ve been BCCed in, even worse if they’re part of a mass email!

Target your covering email

Take a bit of time to read through the website of the school your applying for, and think a bit about where your skills and experience in the industry fit in. Address your email to that company, and target them in your cover email, so that the recruiter is inclined to open your CV and see what else you have to offer. Have a look at where the company is based; is this an application to all their resorts or just one? Being as flexible as possible during this stage will likely increase your chances.

Target your CV too!

When you receive tens of applications emails per day, especially considering that most ski schools are run by a small team especially in the summer, the last thing you want to do as a recruiter is search a CV for information that needs to be as obvious as possible.

There’s no need for your CV to be in chronological order if that isn’t what makes the most sense. The top of your qualifications for ski instructing ideally wants to be your highest and most recent qualification and the same with your instructing experience. Yes, other education still should be in there, but try and pick what experience makes you stand out for the job and put that at the top, making things as easy as possible for your potential recruiter.

Read the job advertisement

Many applications Altitude receive are speculative, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but don’t expect a high return rate from these sorts of applications. If there is a job advertisement, read it.

Is the ski school looking for specific language abilities, race coaching or adaptive experience, an instructor for young children? How can you target your application to make sure these skills stand out to the company? If the job advertisement is written in English, apply in English, or if in French apply in French. The chances are if the recruiter receives an email in a language they can’t read, they probably won’t!