The Nomad Life

By Ryan Vickers

 

The Nomad Life – from the side of both the employee and the employer

 

Have you ever thought about your professional diving path? Initially, you took your open water course, advanced open water course, and numerous specialties such as dark, night, deep and wreck, followed by your rescue course.

 

And then, finally, you worked hard to get through your divemaster course and joined the ranks of professional divers. Next, you were hoping to work somewhere where you could live the life of an adventurer.

 

Where did you start, or have you yet to start? Let us look at both sides of the coin with your future employment.

 

For the Employee

 

As I type this, I’m sitting at a small private school in Northern Ontario, Canada, where the teacher is giving a talk about making good choices for post-secondary education. This very much applies to you, the future dive employee.

 

Think about what you are hoping to get out of your dive position. Are you okay with guiding dives multiple days in a row, perhaps twice a day, for a position that could be a situation where you’re paid more in “life experience” than you are in actual cash? Is your ideal situation bunking with numerous other diving professionals in a small house? This is not to say that every situation is like this, but you should, as a future university student, do your research. Find out about the dive centre and the surrounding area – is it easy to get to and from the airport? Is there easy access to do your food shopping? Take the time to consider all the options that you feel are best for you as a human and a professional-level diver.

 

For the Employer

 

As an employer, you have established your dive centre as a quality location for people from across the planet to discover the world below. You work to inform people, so they know what you have to offer. You use social media accounts to demonstrate your area’s range of dive sites through pictures and videos. You bill for the services that you offer.

 

How do you get the top professionals to your area?

 

Making sure that your organization is marketable is a great way to start. Be sure that your working conditions are top-notch to have the best choice of employees who want to be part of your staff. Think about not only the benefits of diving but also access to housing, groceries, vehicles, and the like.

 

Consider what a living wage is in your area; life experience is not a profession. Invest in people that will build your business. In short, research.

 

From personal experience, I once dove at an organization in the Caribbean for a week many years ago. I enjoyed my time and all the underwater wonders that came with this location; however, I was a bit put off by what I was told by the (primarily) young staff. They worked six days in a row, at least twelve hours daily, and many were underwater. I don’t know about you, but I wondered who was working their sixth day in a row, and are they ready to help in an underwater emergency? I never figured out who was approaching their time off, but it did leave me a bit unsettled, to be honest.

 

In Summary

 

Whether you’re looking for work in the dive industry or looking to hire someone to work for you, make sure that you do your research. Remember, being in the “everyone has an opinion online” era means that the adage of “if you like something, you’ll tell one person, but if you don’t like something, you’ll tell ten people” really does apply – so make sure that you do your due diligence!