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- Develop your interest in leisure activities, fitness and sports into a managerial role
- Promote your centre to encourage more visitors
- Requires customer service skills, administrative and management ability, and marketing and presentation skills
You'll be responsible for the day-to-day running of centres and their facilities, including managing staff and keeping customers happy.
DAY-TO-DAY DUTIES
- Arranging leisure activity timetables
- Organising and promoting special events
- Recruiting, scheduling and managing staff
- Controlling budgets
- Taking responsibility for health and safety
- Visiting organisations like local authorities to promote your centre
DAY-TO-DAY ENVIRONMENT
Although you'll be office-based, you'll also spend time around the centre, talking to staff and customers and monitoring the way the centre is run.
You'll need
For this role, you'll need business management and maths knowledge, customer service and leadership skills, good initiative, the ability to accept criticism and work well under pressure, thoroughness and attention to detail, and basic computer skills.
There are no set requirements to get into this job. You could start out as an admin officer, fitness assistant or management trainee in a leisure centre, and work towards professional qualifications to become a manager. Your employment prospects will be improved by getting either paid or voluntary practical experience in a leisure centre.
You could do a foundation degree, higher national diploma or degree in sports and leisure management, leisure studies, sports science, or recreation management.
You could also do a college course, in leisure management or sport.
You can also get into the leisure industry through an advanced apprenticeship as a leisure duty manager.
Alternatively, you could also apply for a graduate management trainee scheme with one of the large leisure companies if you've got a degree, working in different areas of the business while completing professional qualifications to become a manager.
CAREER PROSPECTS
You're likely to have more opportunities for promotion in larger organisations. With experience you may be able to progress to area or regional manager with responsibility for service development among a group of centres. You could use your experience in leisure centre management to move into related areas such as sports promotion and development, or building partnerships with local authorities and national governing bodies.