In a time when businesses are tanking, companies are slashing jobs, and layoffs are ushering hordes of hard-working people to the unemployment lines, job security is more important than ever. Thousands of Americans are struggling to find stable work to pay the bills and keep food on their plates – and that means getting jobs that won’t blow over in the stormy economic climate.

Fortunately, the health and wellness industry is holding strong. Fitness instructor jobs aren’t just withstanding the recession – they’re actually skyrocketing. Here’s why.

1. People are fat – and getting fatter.

In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese. Let that number sink in for a minute. That means two out of every three people are at risk for weight-related conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease if they don’t blast their flab. And with obesity now striking children, we’re only going to see more fat Americans as the years go by.

So what does this mean for jobs? If you’re a personal trainer, right now you have more potential clients than ever before – and that won’t be changing any time soon. Talk about being in high demand!

2. People are putting their health as a top priority.

Now more than ever, people are realizing the consequences of unhealthy living: they’re seeing their parents die of heart disease, they’re watching their friends gulp down cholesterol medication, they’re witnessing their kids grow obese, and they’re hearing news stories about how sedentary living is linked to every health woe under the sun.

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Getting a job is tough these days – and even though the fitness industry is booming, competition for employment is still an uphill battle. Fortunately, you can gain an advantage once you know how to navigate through the job-hunting process and knock the socks off of fitness employers. By following these key tips, you can sail through the application process and land a job you love.

1. Don’t just look in the newspaper for jobs.

If you’re searching for work, the “Help Wanted” section might be the first place you go – but keep in mind that hundreds or even thousands of other people will see the same employment ads you do. Employers who advertise personal trainer jobs in the paper get flooded with more applications that you could imagine – and if you limit your search to classifieds, you’ll be up against some fierce competition. Use other ways to find job openings, such as checking health-club websites, calling potential employers, networking, and asking fellow personal trainers for job leads.

2. Research your employer before you apply.

What are the company’s goals and values? What’s their history? What kind of reputation do they have – both with clients and with the personal trainers who work there? Along with helping you decide whether this is a place you really want to work, familiarizing yourself with the employer gives you and edge in the hot seat at an interview. Employers love applicants who’ve Read more…

New Trends Create Personal Trainer Jobs

When you’re in the market for personal trainer jobs, it is important to stay aware of the latest trends. While you may prefer fitness jobs that involve teaching core fundamentals, the average person might not have the patience to participate in the typical workout plan. Occasionally, hot new fitness techniques seize the attention of the unmotivated. If they want to try something, you better learn how to provide it.

For example, some intuitive marketers really cashed in on the meaning of sexy abs by creating cardiovascular routines from pole dancing styles. Fitness pole dancing became an instant craze that attracted new consumers to the industry. This provided more fitness jobs for everyone. While this is an extreme example that might not work for you, it illustrates how certain techniques catch fire overnight. If you miss the boat on something very important, you may run into a stumbling block on your path to a personal trainer career.

Recognizing New Trends That Could Offer Personal Trainer Jobs

While you’re developing skills, it is important to recognize future trends that could create your unique niche. Hot new fitness training styles tend to emerge in specific ways. When you understand how this happens, you can take advantage of an upcoming trend to create a personal trainer career.

Here are some tips that will help you recognize an upcoming fitness trend:

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Congratulations! After all the job hunting, resume writing, and interviewing, you finally landed the job! Now all you have to do is show up to work and get paid. Right?

How to Be Happy in Your Job

Showing up at working, swiping the clock, doing your hours, and going home is no way to earn a living. If you’re full-time, you spend about a third of every day at your workplace. You should enjoy what you do. Hopefully, you’re already doing what you love to do.

On the other hand, jobs are hard to come by. So maybe you’re not quite exactly where you want to be. Maybe you want to open your own personal trainer business someday, but you can’t afford it right now, so you’re stuck working for someone else. But it pays the bills. And you would be hurting if you lost the job. So you need to continue being successful at what you do.

Not only that, but you really do want to be happy. If you think you’re stuck in your job, and you can’t get out, then you may be blaming the job for your unhappiness. But the truth is, the unhappiness comes from you. You need to change your mindset.

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You found a job opening, submitted an application or resume, and the boss wants to meet you. What now? Your nerves are wracked, because you’re about to be judged, and honestly, who likes to be judged? But you want the job, so you have to suck it up. It helps if you know what to expect and do some preparation in advance.

Dressing the Part

If you met the boss before, which hopefully you did when you handed him or her your application, then you got a sense of how the person was dressed. Your job is to dress one notch higher. If the boss was wearing fitness gear, you can wear khakis. If the boss was dressed in khakis, you need to go for the all-out suit. Whatever you wear, make sure it’s clean and wrinkle-free.

Greeting the Boss

Arrive a little early, but not so early that you interfere with the boss’s day. Five or ten minutes early is perfect. Shake hands firmly, but not aggressively. Smile and make eye contact. And don’t forget to Read more…

Once you’ve identified that job you want, you need to get your foot in the door. So, how do you get that crucial interview? It starts with an inquiry and a resume.

The Importance of Qualifications

Admittedly, many gyms and small businesses aren’t expecting a resume out of you. In fact, they may have an application they’d like you to fill out instead. But first impressions are everything, and you impress hiring managers with *qualifications*. Therefore, walking in and handing the boss a resume with qualifications popping out like flashing lights makes a much better first impression than walking in and asking the clerk at the desk for an app.

Making Your Qualifications Pop

A lot of people worry about how to write a resume “right,” or how to fit it into some standard mold that is universally accepted. See, we’ve lost the point of a resume here. It doesn’t actually matter what the format is. The only reason formats tend to be standardized is because people smarter than us have studied how brains read things, and that “standard” resume format helps bosses see what they need to see quickly: whether or not you’ll be good for the job.

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You may think that every personal trainer gig is worth it. As a freelance personal trainer, you depend on client income to make a living. You need all the fitness gigs you can get, right? Well, sure, so long as all the gigs are a paying gigs.

When Fitness Clients Don’t Pay

Not only do you need your clients to pay you, but you need them to pay you on time. You have bills to pay, and when one or more of your clients refuses to pay you on time – or pay you at all – they make your life miserable. You have to learn to manage your budget on an unreliable income. And you can spend so much time tracking down payments from deadbeat clients that even if you end up getting paid in the end, you could have made more money per hour working at Starbucks or being a greeter at Wal-Mart.

When Demanding Fitness Clients Take All Your Time

Along a similar line, some fitness clients take up so much of your time that your per-hour earnings slip with every phone call, every email, or every rescheduled appointment.

As a personal trainer, you have an agreement to provide guidance to your client; but some customers want 24/7 access to your advice. And nothing is more frustrating than spending your time and gas money to get yourself to the gym, only to have your client fail to show. Whether he calls at the last minute or doesn’t bother to call at all, you still wasted your time. And now you have to reschedule this client, which may mean shuffling other appointments around to squeeze the make-up in, making your schedule later in the week even tighter.

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Finding a fitness job is harder than it used to be. With unemployment in the double digits across the nation, many are happy to land a part-time job at Starbucks, let alone full-time employment in their chosen fields. But people are still hiring, which means that the jobs are there, if you know where to look. The trick is to think like a hiring manager.

Know What You Want

Whether you’re new to the wellness industry or have years of experience, Step Number One in finding that ideal job is knowing what your ideal job is. You can’t find the job if you don’t know what you’re looking for. Do you want to teach classes? Or do you prefer one-on-one interaction with clients, helping them meet their fitness goals? And if you’re in the latter category, would you rather maintain ongoing, long-term relationships with a small list of clients? Or would you rather act as a mentor for a constantly changing variety of customers, such as you might find in a gym?

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The job market is not getting any better. A college education is no longer enough to get a good job. Even advanced degrees are no guarantee. While most fields are shrinking in the number of people being hired, there is one field that continues to grow: personal training. There has never been a more opportune time to get into the fitness industry. With unlimited earning potential, a flexible schedule, and job security as the obesity epidemic spreads, personal training is a lucrative career that will put you in a position of high demand and respect.

As a personal trainer, you’ll be responsible for everything from assessment to program design to exercise modification. People will pay you for not only your knowledge but also your skills. They will place their health in your hands, expecting you to transform them into a fat burning machine. While you can’t work magic, as a certified personal trainer, you will be equipped with the tools for motivating, empowering, and instructing your clients to take ownership and responsibility for their own health. It’s a truly challenging yet rewarding job. Read more…

When you chose fitness as your profession, you most likely picked it because it’s fun. You probably knew going in that being a personal trainer would not make you a gazillionaire , but let’s face it: you *are* in the business of making money. You have bills to pay. And the personal trainer jobs are getting harder to come by, because people just don’t have the discretionary funds they used to have.

It’s time to get creative.

Branching Into Freelance Work

Whether or not you’ve branched into the world of freelance work in the past, you need to consider doing it now. In fact, even if you have a job, adding some freelance work to your schedule is extra income that you can throw at your debt or in a savings account, just in case something happens with the job you do have. Freelance gigs are hard work, no doubt. They’re not steady, and you have to do things like plan, advertise, and accommodate client schedules. But you also have total control over your career, deciding which gigs are worth the effort, and which gigs to ditch. And you get to cultivate the ideas that you know will bring in the biggest bucks for the least amount of effort. Work that struggling economy to your advantage. Read more…