When you are being interviewed for a personal trainer job, there are some factors that you need to keep in mind. One of the mistakes that many people make when preparing for such interviews is that they assume that the interview will be all about skills and competence. The reality however is that there is more to personal trainer interview than just competence. Here is what you need to know about this as well as some personal trainer interview questions.
Understanding Your Role
To be able to do well in your personal fitness trainer interview, you need to understand your role as a personal trainer. What this means is that you must have the technical expertise to craft a personalized training program that will get them to where they need to be.
However, technical expertise alone is not enough. You will need to have interpersonal skills to help you connect and know exactly what your clients want and what some of the obstacles that stand between them and these goals. You must also have very good communication skills to make sure that you are on the same page with your clients at all times.
When you go to an interview for a personal fitness trainer job, these are some of the things that interview questions seek to establish. This is because experienced employers know that a personal fitness trainer who is lacking in any of the areas that I have mentioned above is unlikely to be successful at the job. Having understood the broad aspects of the job, let us now look at some interview questions that you are likely to encounter.
Common Interview Questions For Personal Trainers
Tell Us About Yourself
It is likely to be the first question that you will be asked. It serves several purposes as we are going to explain to you. At the basic level, the question helps the interviewer gain an understanding of who you are. More importantly, it allows them to catch a glimpse of how you see yourself, which is necessary as it determines your attitude towards other people and more so the clients that you are likely to work with.
This question and many others that will come also help the interviewer to gauge your ability to communicate clearly. Since the subject matter is not technical and is an area that anyone should be conversant with, your ability to communicate clearly should be unhindered.
Why Did You Become A Personal Trainer?
Just like the previous question, the idea here is to get better insight into who you are and more so, your aspirations. This matters as it determines, among other things, your likely enthusiasm for the job. Personal fitness training is a demanding job and requires complete dedication to helping clients achieve their goals.
What Are Your Strengths?
This question moves the interview into more career-specific areas although it is still about getting a better understanding of who you are. The answer that you give here matters because it helps the interviewer get a good comprehension of what value you think you are going to bring to the job. For example, if your biggest strength is technical expertise, they may want to verify this further down the line while also checking to see that you have a healthy mix of other skills.
What Certifications Do You Have?
Here the interviewer is looking to know your qualifications. If you have submitted a resume, then you must be aware that they may already know the qualifications that you hold and so they are probably looking for more in-depth information about the specific skills that you acquired. Therefore, avoid listing off qualifications but instead after mentioning the certifications, talk a little bit about the skills that you got under each of them.
Describe A Challenging Client Situation
The purpose of such a question is to test your interpersonal skills and specifically, how good you are at problem solving. Since this is a common interview question, it helps to reflect on which case study you want to present and make sure that you recall all the facts.
The last thing you need is to forget and contradict yourself, which might give the impression that you are not being honest. It is also important to guarantee that the information you give is correct as interviewers may call up past clients to get more information about you.
Tell Us Your Training Philosophy
The idea here is to get a better understanding of your approach to personal fitness training as well as your beliefs around well-being and nutrition. Being a standard question in interviews, it also helps to think through it before the interview and make sure that you have a well-thought-out answer. Do not forget to align this philosophy with your client’s goals, which means it helps to have an idea of what your client wants to achieve beforehand.
How Do You Deal With Client Motivation?
The question seeks to know your interpersonal skills and especially your ability to understand your clients’ struggles. When answering this question, it might be a good idea to give an actual example of how you handled such a case. This is usually better than using cliché words such as encourage, or motivate as they don’t give the interviewer much to work with.
What Are Your Long-Term Career Goals?
The interviewer will be seeking to acknowledge what your career goals are. This is less likely to be asked by a client unless they are looking for a long-term engagement. When answering, you should aim to be as honest as possible. You also need to let them recognize that the opportunity you are seeking is not just a stepping stone in your career but you also seek to bring value to them as well.
Do You Have Any Questions?
Most personal fitness trainers often prepare for all other questions apart from this one. If you have done your research carefully, you probably will have a question or two for the interviewer. It matters though, as it shows the interviewer that you have done your homework. It might also help you in the evaluation of the opportunity.
Preparing well for your personal fitness trainer interview can mean the difference between getting the job you desire and therefore advancing your career. For top-notch personal fitness training certification, come to National Personal Training Institute of Florida. We are a top-rated fitness training school with a solid reputation for quality training.
If you have any inquiries about our personal fitness training courses, feel free to contact us today.
