Health Club Personal Trainer Interview & Business Plan Proposal

So although all EPTI Master PT Diploma students receive the free EPTI PT Business Supremacy and Online PT Supremacy courses which help to give the perfect platform in which to set up a successful fitness business, we often have graduates who choose to rent space as a PT with a corporate health club.

Through this blog, we will look to address the important details you need to have covered before you approach one of these clubs for an advertised PT vacancy.

Like some of the larger training institutions, EPTI have agreements with many of the large corporate chains, where our graduates are guaranteed an interview for any advertised vacancy to which they are qualified for. This doesn't guarantee that you'll get the job however...

So what is the process?

Once you've submitted your CV and covering letter, you'll be called in to the club for an interview so that the Fitness Manager and/or General Manager can meet you. Initially, the first skill they will be looking for is to see how you talk and interact with people.

Interview

You may be asked to provide a PT session plan &/or deliver a PT session at the gym. Stick to what you've learned on our practical course. Keep things relatively simple but structured with advanced overload training so that it is an effective session. Use your knowledge of anatomy & physiology to educate the "client" and remain genial throughout the session.

Later on in the interview, you'll be asked to provide a self-evaluation of this session to feedback on how you thought you performed and to give justification for your programming and exercise choices.

Once complete, they will be looking to see if you'll make a good fit into their PT team and ask questions to determine your background knowledge of their company, personal training and the industry as a whole.

Questions that they're likely to ask you therefore will be around the subject of what you know about their PT services.... they way it is structured, their standards, expectations and service levels etc..

You'll need to have checked this out beforehand with some relevant research.

They will want to find out what you believe is important towards becoming a successful PT in a club setting and will also be interested to learn about how you intend to keep up with the latest trends within the industry.

You'll need to have put some thought into the generic "are you a good team player?" question before you come to answer it... Prepare scenarios of when your contribution helped a team to succeed using examples from work (fitness industry or other), sports, social or anything else you deem appropriate.

Remember, they also want to find out if you are suitably prepared to put in the necessary hard work to make it as a PT at their club. Make this a two way question and use this opportunity to find out more about what they will do for you if you become a PT in their club and what their expectations of a PT are.

You'll be asked to tell them what aspect of PT you're most passionate about and why... and provide situations/ examples of where you have exceeded the expectations of a PT client (or any other relevant customer situation example)

After your EPTI practical course training, you should be aware of how you'll provide a superior PT customer service, beyond the session itself:

• For example:


• Contact every week for each client outside the sessions via call, text, email or catch up in the gym


• Finding articles that relate to the clients and passing them on


• Using the PT Toolbox to aid goals and results (nutrition diaries, weight loss tracking, body fat testing, fitness testing and tracking etc) - these forms and tracking sheets can be found in the EPTI Members Area


• Intermittent re-setting of goals at key stages of the year (i.e.New Year, Post Holiday, Pre-Wedding)


• Doubling up sessions in a week, where extra focus is needed


• Recommending (and sometimes attending with client) group exercise classes or fast classes to complement goals
  
  
  
  • Recommending other specialists (such as physio, osteopath, massage therapist etc) if needed to compliment goals of the client.
  
  
  
  

Tell them how you'll implement this.

Make sure that you've also done some research into the club's PT pay model and what they require from you moving forwards-> e.g. You will more than likely be expected to stop PT elsewhere or with your own freelance clients should you be successfully selected to become part of their PT team, so don't appear surprised when they tell you!

Business Plan Proposal

For most health clubs, the bottom line is how much money are you going to generate for them through your PT - Therefore this requires that you're going to be very busy and ultimately successful for yourself and them.

Most of the info required for your business plan proposal can be found in the PT Business Supremacy videos in the EPTI Members' Area.

Watch the networking/ building your network/ internal leads/ external leads/ point of sale referrals modules to gain the necessary insight.

When you write out your proposal, you'll need to provide details for the first quarter of your employment of how:

• You're going to generate new clients


• The specific activities you intend to perform when in the club


• Your target niche - the people who you will influence in the club


• Your sales and activity plans on the gym floor: marketing/ offering taster sessions/ specific events etc


• The days and times you plan to be in the club


• Your expected number of sessions to be delivered per week

You also need to be able to tell them how you will fit in with their corporate health club PT brand.

They're going to want to discuss your business plan in the interview and ask for your specific strategies that you're going to adopt to start, grow and maintain your business as a PT (and what experiences you've had with targets)

Conclusion

Therefore your success/ failure at interview will depend on the following factors:

1. Your business plan


2. Your knowledge of the industry and their company


3. Your PT session plan


4. Your PT delivery


5. You - Are you approachable and able to fit into their current PT team?

Prepare sufficiently for numbers 1-4 to help you to remain calm and confident during the interview process and number 5 should look after itself!

Dedicated to your success,

Toby Clay

European Personal Training Institute

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