The future's Bright for Solent Personal Trainers

Students from the BSc Fitness & Personal Training and BA Fitness Management & Personal Training were today treated to a guest lecture from Paul Laslett and former Solent student Alex Yates from Brightside Personal Training in Southampton. Paul, Director of Brightside, had recently contacted Course Leader Martin Skivington to advertise a vacancy that had arisen within his rapidly expanding PT business.

Martin stated, “it was great to see Alex doing so well within the industry and speaking so passionately about both his career and his time at Solent, and very encouraging that Paul had nothing but positive things to say about him and the skills he brought to the job. Paul now joins a number of other health and fitness employers who have decided to cut out the middle man when recruiting new staff and come straight to Solent as they know the potential calibre of candidate they are likely to attract from our health and fitness degrees.” The video clip below shows Paul explaining why he chose to come to Solent direct when recruiting for a new Personal Trainer.

During the talk, Paul encouraged students to find their own niche and specialist area of expertise and to market themselves accordingly. In addition, he encouraged them to be confident in their ability to deliver a quality service and reassured them that after completing their 3-year degree, they would be far more qualified than many trainers already working in the industry and to set their prices accordingly.

Alex outlined his personal career journey following completion of his degree at Solent over 3 years ago. He also gave some valuable tips on how to succeed within the industry, including the need to be just as focussed on the business aspects as well as the fitness training components. The video below shows Alex explaining why his experience at Solent set him up so well for his current role.

The final message was that a career in personal training can be incredibly rewarding but it does require clients, and gaining clients often requires dedication, commitment and hard work, qualities that students obviously have to display throughout the duration of their degree.