Splash into a dive career

Dive Otago's involvement with the Otago Careers Festival will be a chance for people to discover how they can make the ocean their office.
As part of the Otago Careers Festival, Dive Otago will hold an open day on Friday, May 15, which will include a presentation of what tertiary study options the training facility offers and what career options they could lead to.

Dive Otago tertiary programmes manager Jen Clent said there was constant growth in the diving industry internationally and a steady need for instructors in New Zealand and abroad.

Dive Otago's tertiary study programmes, which were geared towards diving as a career, attracted a lot of interested from people looking into studying for the first time as well as from those who wanted to make a career change, Miss Clent said.

‘‘There is a 70 per cent employment rate for graduates of our diploma programme, with many of them pursuing diverelated careers in places throughout the world.

‘‘With the Diploma in Professional Scuba Instruction, which is our flagship programme, people can go on to do a wide range of jobs such as commercial diving, or apply those skills to other career avenues such as underwater filming and photography, or research.''

Most of Dive Otago's graduates ended up working ‘‘offshore'', Miss Clent said.

‘‘Dive Otago graduates are in demand from dive outfitters because they learn their skills here, where the conditions are harsher, which gives them a bit of an edge on the competition.

‘‘There are plenty of employment opportunities diving can be applied to in New Zealand as well, and we have even hired our own graduates in the past.''

Dive Otago won the 2009 Padi Instructor Development Award for the Asia Pacific region. Its NZQA and Padicertified tertiary study programmes are student loan and allowance approved.

• The Dive Otago open day is on Friday, May 15, at 2pm. Attendees will receive a voucher for a free two-hour dive experience in the facility's heated training pool. Medical criteria apply.