Staci Alden shares six ways to find quality group fitness talent for your health club.

Finding group fitness instructors can be challenging. But finding dedicated, hardworking, and talented instructors can feel nearly impossible. I believe it starts by finding an instructor in the right place, in the right way, and at the right time. After this, you can capitalize on the find through a thorough hiring and onboarding process.

Six Ways to Find Quality Group Fitness Talent for Your Health Club

Host Group Fitness Training

Many well-known formats provide perks for facilities if they host training. Please take advantage of any complimentary offerings hosting a training might provide and offer it to a current instructor on your team. Offering in-house training will upskill their abilities to teach a new format and make them feel appreciated and seen.

Invite participants to attend and market the educational opportunity throughout the community, especially to your competitors. Hosting a training makes your facility the education leader in your area and will help entice talent from other facilities, whether they attend the training or not. Hosting a training can also be a great way to network and build relationships with other managers by notifying them of the opportunity to have their instructors attend. 

On the training day, introduce yourself as the hiring manager before it begins and share that you would love to have them apply to be an instructor. Explain where to access the application and leave your business cards. After the training, ask the master instructor who they enjoyed having in training the most and reach out to that person individually to invite them for an interview.

Know Your Front Row

Your most dedicated participants are likely secretly interested in becoming an instructor. Attend classes, get to know, and consistently ask your most dedicated participants if they’d ever like to teach. I say consistently because the first couple of times you ask, the answer will most likely be no. Then, as they contemplate becoming an instructor, help them understand what it takes step-by-step.

Share how much you­ – as their leader and your team of instructors – are happy to help support and train them throughout their journey. Remember to share the benefits of being an instructor, share confidence in their abilities and possibly offer a mentor to work with them directly or the team ability to teach with an instructor while they practice.

Seek Referrals From Current Instructors

Seek referrals from your current instructors regularly. Ask if they know of another instructor from other facilities they are confident would thrive on this specific team. Even if an instructor refers someone, put them through the same hiring process you would for any new instructor. I recommend asking your team regularly because as they meet new instructors on other teams, they might not think to ask if the instructor would be interested in working with them elsewhere.

Host Group Auditions

Group auditions are a great time saver and provide much more insight into an instructor’s personality and behavior than a single instructor audition. It may cost some marketing money, but I recommend finding a specific day and time and working with marketing and human resources to advertise your group audition. Advertise on various hiring sites, job boards, social media and event pages. Describe expectations in depth, and while auditions are happening, offer the ability to attend the other applicant classes during the audition. Pay close attention to the instructors who are positive and supportive of other instructors auditioning.

Research College and Rec Centers

Is your facility eager for younger members and participants? Then I recommend you target hiring younger instructors. Research colleges and rec centers nearby and connect with their exercise science professors and the recreation center leadership team. Share that you are hiring and about the trainings you plan on hosting at your facility for the near and distant future as a personal invite for their team to attend. 

Do Not Poach Instructors

It is important to shop other clubs to see their formats and facilities but never to poach instructors. You might notice in this column that I haven’t mentioned attending classes at other facilities intending to hire their instructors. I’ve had other managers try to poach the instructors I’ve hired and it doesn’t feel right. I even tried doing it myself when I was pressured by upper management and felt horrible afterward. I can tell you it is not worth it.

Directly poaching talent from another facility is the riskiest move you can make when seeking talent. If you’re successfully taking an instructor from another facility, how quickly do you think they’ll leave you when another opportunity comes? Also, how can you expect to network with that other fitness manager if they know you have tried to take their instructors? I recommend attending classes at other facilities to see their offerings, but not to take talent.

I hope these ideas and strategies make finding quality group fitness talent easier and yield instructors who genuinely care about their role on your team. I look forward to sharing my thoughts in future articles regarding interviewing, auditioning, hiring, and onboarding new instructors for a quality group fitness team that thrives and grows for years to come.