Job Guarantee
Our Job Guarantee has pioneered the instructor industry and seen many others try to replicate what we do, claiming ‘a guaranteed interview’ or ‘recruitment assistance program’ and whilst many have tried, none have succeeded to match what we can offer our graduates with our original and unique full season job guarantees and internship places. Available in Austria, Japan, Canada and others on request!
Austria Job Guarantee
Austria has a huge amount of world class ski resorts and ski schools and Ski Instructor Academy trains and places hundreds of instructors each year across this great ski nation. Our general Austria Job Guarantee will see you matched to a ski school who is looking for an instructor with your personality, skills and attributes to ensure everyone gets what they want from their season.
Example resorts are Mayrhofen, Jochberg (Kitzbühel area), Kirchberg, Obertauern, Obergurgl, Ischgl, Ellmau, Söll, Kaprun, Bad Kleinkirchheim, and many more.
St Anton Internship
St Anton is Austria’s Ski Capital and part of one of the world’s largest ski areas – Ski Arlberg, of which St Anton alone makes up nearly half of its gigantic 12,350 acres of terrain.
The Ski School Arlberg is the largest school in Austria and has a great reputation, thanks in part to its instructors, and our St Anton Internship lets you become a part of it.
St Anton also boasts one of the best après scenes in Europe, with a fantastic selection of slope side bars including the famous Krazy Kanguruh which offers a lively and totally awesome atmosphere to all who dare to enter and directly on the opposite side of the slope you will find MooserWirt – “The World’s Baddest Aprés Bar” where table top dancing and Jägermeister will be in full swing at the end of the ski day.
Kitzbühel Internship
Kitzbühel is known simply as “The Legend” and this should tell you all you need to know about this alpine Goddess.
Kitzbühel is home to the the relentless Hahnenkamm “Streif”, the FIS Ski World Cup’s most notorious downhill race. Thousands of ski lovers descend on the town every year including the big names in snowsports and Hollywood too, with the likes of Daniel Craig (aka Bond, James Bond), Gwyneth Paltrow, Jason Statham and Arnold “i’ll be back” Schwarzenegger all roaming the slopes.
So… strap up your boots, pull on the famous uniform and spend your full season as a ski instructor in the amazing resort of Kitzbühel.
You will undertake your training period in Kaprun before heading to Kitzbühel for your exams where your new ski school will watch over your success before handing you the coveted uniform. View our Kitzbühel Internship.
Saalbach-Hinterglemm Internship
Almost endless pistes, snow-covered slopes and a fascinating landscape. The Skicircus Saalbach Hinterglemm Leogang Fieberbrunn offers skiing fun at the highest level. With 270 kilometres of ski slopes, it is one of the largest ski areas in Austria.
Now you can spend a full season living, working and teaching in one of the world’s greatest ski resorts, with our Saalbach-Hinterglemm Ski Internship.
You will undertake your training period in Kaprun before heading to Saalbach-Hinterglemm for your winter season. View our Saalbach-Hinterglemm Internship.
Japan Internship
Our Japan Internships allow you experience two awesome experiences in one season, train in Austria then fly to Japan to spend your winter teaching in the Far East, experience the culture and powder haven that it can offer.
Japan has many amazing, powderlicious resorts where we place our newly qualified instructors by matching you to a ski school who will appreciate your skills and personality.
Examples of resorts in Japan are Hakuba, Nozawa Onsen, Niseko, Rusutsu, Sapporo, Yuzawa and more. View our Japan Internship.
FAQS
Over the years we have carefully monitored which qualification we should be offering and have adapted to the demands of ski school employers and not what may be easiest for our own logistics. As 99% of people who join a course will ultimately want to be able to enjoy using the qualification they gain, it seems obvious that a training company should focus on this point and be confident that it can supply an employment opportunity to a participant of it’s courses.
Ski Instructor Academy is fully aware that people will want to have a financial return after a course and openly explain what this means in a first season in a ski school.
Our long standing reputation with ski schools throughout Austria, Japan and Canada of supplying quality ski and snowboard instructors means we are able to guarantee positions to successful participants subject to our terms and conditions.
On successful completion of an SIA course and exam and subject to the terms and conditions of SIA Austria you will receive a seasonal employment contract from a ski school. The job is subject to the terms of the ski school’s contract and are fairly standard in Austria and Japan.
Due to the peaks and troughs of the ski season it is not uncommon for instructors to find themselves without work for periods of the season. You must accept that if the ski school does not have clients or the resort has no snow cover then they will not be expected to pay you as an instructor. They will however during quiet times allow you to stay in the ski school accommodation and allow you to use the lift pass so that you can enjoy some free ski time during these quiet periods of the season. Many instructors look forward to these periods, as when it is busy, you may find that you have very little time to ski or board for yourself.
Job positions are not flexible. Only one job offer per participant will be given. Should you decline a job offer we will be unable to assist you further. This is a very sensitive area and ski schools will not be happy if course participants are changing their minds or making unreasonable requests.
Please note that only persons with an EU passport or suitable Working Visa are eligible for the SIA Job Guarantee. Non-EU passport holders will not be eligible without a suitable Visa. See section on Non EU Passport Holders.
Contracts are very standard and it is possible that for some smaller schools the contract may only be given on your arrival in to resort. Other ski schools will expect a signed contract up to 3 months before arrival and will be subject to you successfully completing the SIA course and instructor exams.
You will normally be allocated accommodation and a lift pass together with ski school uniform. The contract will explain the payment system and the working hours of a normal week. It will detail your start date and will ask if you are available to work till the end of the season or if you must leave on a certain date. It may be that you are required to pay a deposit for the uniform and/or the accommodation, which is returnable at the end of the season. You must be available for work during peak season times. This is Christmas and New Year, most of February and Easter (if the resort is still open). Do not request time off during these periods!
After your course you will leave your SIA Accommodation and head to your ski school accommodation (where applicable). Please be aware most of these ski school accommodations are basic. If you do not like sharing bedrooms, bathrooms etc then you may wish to re-think your season. Ski Instructor Academy has no control over the ski school and it’s accommodation. The problem the ski schools face with ski resorts is that accommodation is extremely difficult to find and even basic apartments cost a lot of money, which the ski school needs to pay. Don’t expect WIFI to be available as standard, although most do have this. Some ski schools offer accommodation for free as part of your employment package, however most will heavily subsidise the cost of accommodation and request a contribution from you of approx. €5-10 per day, which will be deducted from your wages.
There are many variables that will affect both your work and your subsequent wage, such as snow conditions during the season, the economic climate, how mature and diligent you are as a worker, what qualification you hold and which ski school you work for.
IN AUSTRIA ,the contract you have will give you a standard monthly wage for Anwärter of €1.000 – €1.200 and with tax, health care, pension contributions deducted you may have cash in your hand of €700 – €1.000 per month. You will be taxed in Austria but you may apply to have that tax refunded if you did not exceed the tax band in your own country. We have had course participants make as much as €1.250 per month and as little as nothing when in a given month they were unemployable due to injury or finding themselves so low on the priority work list due to bad time keeping or poor work ethic that the ski school avoided using them. The ski schools will always favour instructors who are motivated and professional and avoid using poor workers except for very busy periods when they are desperate for staff.
IN JAPAN, the ski schools pay really well, with our students reporting to earn between €1.800 and €2.500 per month (236,000 Yen – 328,000 Yen) also providing your lift pass and heavily subsidised accommodation and often meals too. The season in Japan is shorter, running mainly from December until March so you would normally be busy for the most part. Flights to Japan are not included in your course but can be picked up from as little as €400 return using our partner programme travel, easily made back up with the increased wages.
Remember, what may be a gap year or season of fun for you is a professional business for your employer.
A level 2 qualification will allow you to teach from beginner to an intermediate level in either private lessons or group lessons to all ages. It is important to remember that it is the ski school who will decide who you will teach based on the needs of the ski school. Ski schools will look at each individual on merit and will aim to award suitable clients to those who work hard and do a good job.
Once qualified with the association you will need to pay their annual membership fee which will be approx. €50 and will give you additional insurance throughout your working season. You will also be covered by your ski school when teaching and supervising a group or teaching private lessons. You will be eligible for the Austrian E-card that allows you free medical treatment at the Doctors and Hospital as long as you are employed.
You can never have enough insurance when living in the mountains and for those that choose to use our preferred partners ERV Insurance, STA Travel or World Nomads, you will have the added comfort of their elite service and surety that you are covered for any eventuality.
SIA now offers the Anwärter SB Course with a Job Guarantee, which is a huge boost to the industry as we push the sport forward, so YES!
If you want to maximise the work you get throughout the full season then we would still advise that you qualify as a Dual Instructor as ski lessons are still the lions share of work within ski schools.
Our Dual Course has been specifically tailored for people who are snowboarders and wish to work in Europe. The Dual Course, when successfully completed qualifies you to teach both ski and snowboard and this is an invaluable skill for you to have in a ski school.
We understand that your passion is for snowboarding but once again we are advising you honestly, acting only as realists about the snow sports industry.
Current member states of the European Union are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy,Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom (British citizens). There is a freedom of movement between them (except all overseas territories other than Regions of France).
If you are a US passport holder then great news for you, ski schools in the US are happy to accept and employ instructors with Austrian qualifications. You will be awarded higher pay as a level 2 Austrian qualified instructor so your options to train, qualify and work are better than ever.
Those from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa have opportunities to train in Austria, South America or Canada and have job opportunities thereafter in Japan and Canada.
New Zealanders are also in the fortunate position that the country has a mutual agreement in place with Austria to trade working holiday visas between the two nations meaning there is a good chance of gaining a working holiday visa in Austria.
Australians and Canadians have been able to apply and receive a European Passport recently when they have a direct relative (up to Great Grandparent) that was born in some EU member states. Canadians can also apply to the Swap Programme to gain a work visa.
Each member state has it’s own regulation about this and you will need to research if you are eligible.
Although ski schools do wish to employ people with language skills such as Russian, the Austrian Government limits the amount of Visa’s to Russian Nationals. Once again we are not in a position to make promises and each individual case must be approved by the Austrian Government. This means we can never guarantee work to Non-EU Passport holders, although Visa’s are awarded. SIA Austria will be able to further advise you on application for a course.
The good news for any Non-EU citizen’s wishing to teach in their native land, is they may train and qualify with SIA Austria and the Austrian Qualification they receive will be highly sort after by ski schools around the world. The qualification has been widely accept in Europe, Canada, USA, Australia, New Zealand and Japan and ski schools have welcomed Austrian qualified instructors into their resorts.
Holding an Austrian qualification may be of a huge advantage after BREXIT as it is unclear if Austria, together with other ski nations, will accept any qualification outside of the EU such as BASI (British Association of Snowsports Instructors). In terms of employment, it is still unknown as no terms have been agreed at this stage. It may become a requirement from UK residents to gain a suitable VISA to work in the EU.
If you want to put the doubts to one side stick with the rule that you need the qualification from the county where you would like to work and pursue a career.
