There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a swim lesson instructor. For example, did you know that they make an average of $12.35 an hour? That's $25,697 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 11% and produce 30,500 job opportunities across the U.S.
There are certain skills that many swim lesson 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 dedication, interpersonal skills and leadership skills.
If you're interested in becoming a swim lesson instructor, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 75.2% of swim lesson instructors have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 7.9% of swim lesson instructors have master's degrees. Even though most swim lesson instructors have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a swim lesson instructor can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as swim coach, progress to a title such as substitute teacher and then eventually end up with the title account manager.
What Am I Worth?
There are several types of swim lesson instructor, including:
Instructors are knowledgable about a topic and work to pass that knowledge off to their students. Whether you work in a gym or a school, instructors are super important to the students' success.
There are lots of possibilities for you as an instructor. You could work at a health club or a gym or you could work for a school and instruct math. There are so many different instructors out there, basically any topic you can think of probably needs an instructor.
Your hours will vary depending on what industry you decide to go with. You may find some jobs require you to work nights and weekends, like if you were to become a fitness instructor, while school instructors only work during school hours. Your schedule really depends on what you're passionate and knowledgable about and when people want to learn it.
A swim instructor teaches swimming techniques, swimming strokes, and water safety rules to students with varying levels of swimming abilities, assists more experienced swimmers to enhance their swimming abilities, and assesses the progress of students and adjusting teaching programs accordingly. They monitor students to prevent accidents or injuries, implement ground rules, plan swimming sessions that take into account student's abilities and progressive development, identify incorrect swimming techniques, and correct students appropriately ensuring that the swimming pools and locker rooms are kept clean and tidy.
As a rule, they require certain skills such as CPR and first aid and American Safety Instructor and Basic Swim Instructor certifications. They should have sound knowledge of proper swimming techniques and water safety, effective communication skills, and be passionate and enthusiastic.
A high school diploma or GED is enough, plus being an experienced swimmer, for example a retired professional swimmer. On average, they earn $24,852 per year, which translates to $11.95 per hour. Though generally, they earn anywhere between $18,000 and $35,000 a year.
A swim coach may either work as an instructor for people who want to learn how to swim or a coach for non-professional or professional swim teams. Either way, their main duty is to analyze swim techniques, develop training programs, and train swimmers on various techniques.
Other duties of swim coach include providing water safety education, assessing training results, and preparing swimmers for meets and competitions. Swim coaches for teams may also be responsible for recruiting new talent and coordinating with sports officials during competitions.
A swim coach must at least have a high school diploma or GED. More importantly, they must have completed a swimming instruction course and first aid training. In some states, swim coaches must have a certification or license to teach swimmers legally.
Apart from these formal requirements, a swim coach should have a good amount of patience and dedication to teach students how to swim. They must also have strong instructional and training skills to relay lessons effectively, especially when teaching young students.
The average salary of a swim coach is $28,000 a year. But for swim coaches of professional teams, the average salary may go well into hundreds of thousands.
Mouse over a state to see the number of active swim lesson instructor jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where swim lesson instructors earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.
Rank | State | Number of Jobs | Average Salary |
---|---|---|---|
1 | California | 1,686 | $33,115 |
2 | Texas | 784 | $21,153 |
3 | Florida | 722 | $24,147 |
4 | Georgia | 673 | $23,756 |
5 | North Carolina | 639 | $22,327 |
6 | Virginia | 579 | $24,933 |
7 | New York | 533 | $35,519 |
8 | Colorado | 503 | $28,460 |
9 | Illinois | 450 | $23,608 |
10 | New Jersey | 427 | $29,768 |
11 | Michigan | 426 | $29,089 |
12 | Pennsylvania | 360 | $24,827 |
13 | South Carolina | 354 | $23,334 |
14 | Ohio | 347 | $19,401 |
15 | Massachusetts | 318 | $35,263 |
16 | Maryland | 288 | $25,455 |
17 | Oregon | 250 | $25,743 |
18 | Minnesota | 244 | $24,796 |
19 | Washington | 229 | $33,953 |
20 | Arizona | 226 | $25,074 |
21 | Wisconsin | 184 | $25,061 |
22 | Tennessee | 178 | $21,417 |
23 | Iowa | 164 | $20,203 |
24 | Missouri | 154 | $22,615 |
25 | Kentucky | 148 | $25,648 |
26 | Alabama | 145 | $21,814 |
27 | Louisiana | 136 | $22,226 |
28 | Nevada | 130 | $24,458 |
29 | Indiana | 127 | $18,219 |
30 | Utah | 123 | $23,614 |
31 | Kansas | 102 | $22,176 |
32 | Connecticut | 100 | $32,282 |
33 | Mississippi | 89 | $22,852 |
34 | Oklahoma | 88 | $19,880 |
35 | New Mexico | 77 | $24,100 |
36 | Montana | 70 | $22,909 |
37 | Delaware | 67 | $25,149 |
38 | Nebraska | 66 | $23,194 |
39 | Hawaii | 58 | $26,649 |
40 | West Virginia | 55 | $26,351 |
41 | Alaska | 52 | $23,394 |
42 | Idaho | 51 | $29,536 |
43 | New Hampshire | 49 | $32,066 |
44 | Wyoming | 44 | $23,940 |
45 | Rhode Island | 42 | $28,585 |
46 | Maine | 41 | $35,245 |
47 | Arkansas | 37 | $23,524 |
48 | South Dakota | 35 | $22,844 |
49 | North Dakota | 34 | $24,470 |
50 | Vermont | 30 | $32,982 |
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, 23.9% of swim lesson instructors listed cleanliness on their resume, but soft skills such as dedication and interpersonal skills are important as well.
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Swim Lesson Instructor templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Swim Lesson Instructor resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
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Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a swim lesson instructor. The best states for people in this position are New York, Massachusetts, Maine, and Washington. Swim lesson instructors make the most in New York with an average salary of $35,519. Whereas in Massachusetts and Maine, they would average $35,263 and $35,245, respectively. While swim lesson instructors would only make an average of $33,953 in Washington, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. New York
$35,519
Avg. Salary
2. California
$33,115
Avg. Salary
3. Vermont
$32,982
Avg. Salary
Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Hartwick College | $41,602 | $20.00 | 3 |
2 | City | $31,996 | $15.38 | 4 |
3 | Swimtastic Swim School | $26,618 | $12.80 | 6 |
4 | Jewish Community Center Inc | $26,606 | $12.79 | 4 |
5 | Guitar Center | $25,785 | $12.40 | 4 |
6 | Schaumburg Parks | $25,102 | $12.07 | 5 |
7 | Splash | $25,085 | $12.06 | 5 |
8 | City of Sioux City | $24,813 | $11.93 | 4 |
9 | Springfield | $24,810 | $11.93 | 4 |
10 | City of Cedar Rapids | $24,805 | $11.93 | 4 |