First aid instructors educate people on giving first aid treatment in emergency situations. They provide courses on the correct actions in response to accidents. They pass on basic skills and knowledge on how to attend to minor injuries. At the end of the course, they issue a first-aid certificate for the attendees.
You will work with groups of people and demonstrate situations and responses. You will need good presentation and communication skills to put your point across and create a relaxed environment where people can focus and learn. You will be there to answer questions, clear up doubts, provide information, and help people feel confident in dealing with unexpected medical situations on the road or in their household.
You might travel for work and give classes after working hours, allowing people to attend in their free time. You will need to be certified to take on this role and have experience in teaching groups. You can acquire the necessary certification by completing a course and passing a test. It would be best if you were friendly, approachable, and confident in performing your demonstrations. You can expect to receive an annual salary of around $32,621.
First Aid Instructor Overview
First Aid Instructor Careers
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a first aid instructor. For example, did you know that they make an average of $15.04 an hour? That's $31,279 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 11% and produce 155,000 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a First Aid Instructor Do
There are certain skills that many first aid instructors have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed interpersonal skills, speaking skills and writing skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a first aid instructor, we found that a lot of resumes listed 25.5% of first aid instructors included customer service, while 19.4% of resumes included communication, and 17.4% of resumes included course content. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the first aid instructor job title. But what industry to start with? Most first aid instructors actually find jobs in the health care and education industries.
How To Become a First Aid Instructor
If you're interested in becoming a first aid instructor, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 40.7% of first aid instructors have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 20.8% of first aid instructors have master's degrees. Even though most first aid instructors have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a first aid instructor. When we researched the most common majors for a first aid instructor, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on first aid instructor resumes include associate degree degrees or high school diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a first aid instructor. In fact, many first aid instructor jobs require experience in a role such as emergency medical technician. Meanwhile, many first aid instructors also have previous career experience in roles such as internship or certified nursing assistant.
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First Aid Instructor Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of emergency medical technician you might progress to a role such as technician eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title operations manager.
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for a First Aid Instructor
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Township of Union Public Schools Three Cpr/Aed/First Aid Instructors/ONE Epi-Pen Trainer Three Cpr/Aed/First Aid Instructors/ONE Epi-Pen Trainer | Township of Union Public Schools Township of Union Public Schools | 01/13/2021 01/13/2021 | $83,48001/13/2021 $83,480 |
Salvando Vidas CPR First Aid/Cpr Instructor First Aid/Cpr Instructor | Salvando Vidas CPR Salvando Vidas CPR | 09/01/2020 09/01/2020 | $33,39209/01/2020 $33,392 |
Salvando Vidas CPR First Aid/Cpr Instructor First Aid/Cpr Instructor | Salvando Vidas CPR Salvando Vidas CPR | 07/06/2020 07/06/2020 | $31,30507/06/2020 $31,305 |
Housatonic Community College Instructor of First Year Studies Instructor of First Year Studies | Housatonic Community College Housatonic Community College | 02/13/2020 02/13/2020 | $57,51502/13/2020 $57,515 |
Sc Department of Public Safety First Aid Instructor First Aid Instructor | Sc Department of Public Safety Sc Department of Public Safety | 11/25/2019 11/25/2019 | $33,39211/25/2019 $33,392 |
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Top Colleges for First Aid Instructors
1. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
2. University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, MI • Public
3. University of California - Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA • Public
4. University of Virginia
Charlottesville, VA • Public
5. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC • Public
6. Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD • Private
7. Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN • Private
8. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
9. University of California, Irvine
Irvine, CA • Public
10. University of California - Davis
Davis, CA • Public
Top Skills For a First Aid Instructor
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 25.5% of first aid instructors listed customer service on their resume, but soft skills such as interpersonal skills and speaking skills are important as well.
- Customer Service, 25.5%
- Communication, 19.4%
- Course Content, 17.4%
- Powerpoint, 17.2%
- First Aid/Aed, 5.3%
- Other Skills, 15.2% See All First Aid Instructor Skills