Personal Training Forum

northfloridatrainer

Hey, all!

I am the Director of Personal Training for a small but growing chain of gyms south of Jacksonville, FL, in a town called Palatka. It's great because the gym has a corner on the market since there are no other gyms there, but it's hard to find quality personal trainers in such a remote location.

I've tried all of the high profile trainer locators on the 'net already, but have met with limited success. Does anyone have any ideas on staffing a remote location?

Thanks in advance!

Fitva · Moderator Joined: 21 Aug 2004 Posts: 11

Are you looking for staff to relocate, or for staff to operate remotely, perhaps over the net?

Perhaps we could set up a forum here for Job Opportunities?

golffitcoach · Moderator Joined: 30 Aug 2004 Posts: 14

I recognize you from over on Ryan's FG board.

Sounds like things are going in the right direction with your business.

I was in a situation once running a small training company at a facility in Greensboro, NC. We contracted out of gyms and the founder didn't want to pay trainers enough for me to go out and get quality.

I went to the local universities and smaller colleges, talked with the various departments (phys ed, education, health, etc.), and recruited through them.

Then I basically duplicated myself so that I knew these "trainers" would be acceptable to work with clients. We actually required them to work towards a certification and get their cpr.

Later, we implemented a "head trainer" who did have a lot of experience and he was responsible for going location to location and working with our trainers. We set up regular meeting/classes for them as well.

You can sometimes find colleges that require an internship and then you can get help for free. I always bonused them something to show my appreciation.

Feel free to shoot me a private msg if you want to discuss at greater length.

admin · Site Admin Joined: 21 Aug 2004 Posts: 12

Hey Aaron,

We set up an extra forum so you can post any opportunties for employment etc there.

northfloridatrainer · Posted: Thu Sep 02, 2004 1:35 am Post subject:

First off - thanks for setting up the employment section - that is way cool, and I will post over there also.

Golffit -

Thanks for the great suggestions! There is a fairly large community college in Palatka that has a lot of saturation at our gym. A lot of our members work at or attend that college, so that is a great idea.

I am also attempting to "duplicate myself" in the way that my trainers deal with their clients on a business and administrative level. I do have many classes planned for them in the future, but right now this whole thing is brand new - only about a month into the program.

Again, I do appreciate your suggestions - especially from a fellow FG trainer. Ryan rocks, and his ideas have helped me get where I am today. Best of luck to you, as well.

Thanks, again.

map574 · Just Getting Started Joined: 03 Oct 2005 Posts: 8

This is acctually a good idea, but I cant go along with it.. I'll PM you with my idea. Wink

PTJustinBowers · Posted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 4:08 am Post subject:

Contact the local colleges, tech schools, etc. Most of the good schools have a curriculum just for personal trainers and fitness minded individuals. They'll gladly give you trainers. Most even provide them to you free of cost as an out-ternship. It gives you someone to work for your facility for little or no cost to see if they're actually a good fit for your facility.. and at the same time, gives them the experience they want.

It's a win win.