Class Director 

(Female, Age 25) from birmingham, AL

This is a REAL-LIFE job profile written by a Female aged 25 who works as a Class Director in birmingham, AL. We have removed all names and personal information in order to protect privacy. This professional kindly spent a bit of their time to complete one of our job profile surveys so that prospective job seekers like you could read their insights. Please excuse any punctuation or grammatical errors in this profile.

At a Glance

Current Job

Basic data on your current job

Job Title Class Director
Salary $35,000
Other Compensation None Set
Hours/Week 42
Company Size (not answered)
Location birmingham, AL
Years Experience 3 months

Career Ratings

Opinions on your CAREER overall (i.e. not just your current job)

Years in Career 0
Education (not answered)
Income Rating 0 / 10
Interest Rating 0 / 10
Work-Life Rating 0 / 10
Fulfilment Rating 0 / 10

Current job Q&A

Describe the type of organization you work for.
Mountain Brook Gymnastics is a non-profit organization. We are the state’s largest gymnastics facility and focus on both recreational and competitive gymnastics.

Describe your job role and responsibilities.
I am in charge of running our recreational gymnastics program. Registering children, scheduling classes, hiring/firing/training staff, updating curriculum, dealing with problems in the classes. I also maintain the communication between the gym and the parents through emails, newsletters and our website. I also do the marketing for the gym.

Please list an additional benefits (beyond compensation) that you receive.
2 weeks vacation and a week of sick leave

Do you feel you are under/over or well/fairly compensated at your current position?
I think I am well compensated for this position, but we do not get health benefits. We hope to in the next year.

Does your job entail you working with others on a daily basis? Is this something you like/dislike about your job? Please explain.
I deal with people every single day whether it is a child, parent, or other staff. I like being around people and getting to know them. Also, talking and working with the parents helps us correct problems with our program and make it better.

Do you work collaboratively with supervisors/managers?
Yes

Do you work collaboratively with your co-workers?
Yes

Describe your work location (e.g., office, home, theatre, in the field) and what you like/dislike about working in it.
Right now, all 3 of the full time employees all have desks in an open area in the back of the gym. We are about to build our upstairs which will have offices for each of us. Right now it is hard to have privacy, so that is difficult in the setting we have.

Please rate each of the following aspects of your current job on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the highest/best):
Income: 2
Benefits: 5
Hours: 4
Co-Workers: 8
Supervisors: 3
Job Title: 7
Level of Responsibility: 6
The Actual Work: 1

A day in the life of…

Please describe a typical workday for you in your current job:

5am to 6am
6am to 7am
7am to 8am Get ready for work
8am to 9am Arrive at work at 8:30 after about a 5 minute drive to open the gym. Set up the gym for our morning classes by sitting out color squares for the pre-schoolers to sit on, and setting up an obstacle course made up of mats on one of our floors.
9am to 10am Answer emails. Most emails are about problems with registration or how to get a child registered for the next session. Every now and then, a parent emails with a concern from a child’s class and those emails usually entail making a phone call to the parent to discuss what we can do to fix the problem.
10am to 11am Return voicemails. Most of our voicemails are administrative in detail such as questions about class registration or payment. We also get a lot of voicemails about interest in our program and wanting to know more about what classes we offer.
11am to 12pm LUNCH
12pm to 1pm Parents come back to sign up for classes and check on their children’s progress. I also update our website and charge credit cards and work on retention reports. When kids do not re-register for the next session, we call and find out why they aren’t returning. About this time if I get everything out of the way, I usually start working on whatever small project I have going on. This week it is our newsletter we send out once every 8 weeks (once a session)
1pm to 2pm Our afternoon classes begin at 1:30 and the majority of our staff starts to show up about 1 or 1:15. When they get here I usually have something to update them on whether it be a new kid in a class, a problem that a parent brought up, rotation updates etc.
2pm to 3pm Today we have a staff meeting at 2:30. So, at 2:00, i start to write down what we are going to discuss. I, along with the team director, head up the meeting.I also take notes. We discuss any problems or anything our superiors have brought up to us. AT the end of the meeting it is kind of an open discussion and staff can bring up issues or questions they are having. After the meeting I email out the minutes of the meeting to those who couldnt make it.
3pm to 4pm 3:30 I start coaching our Level 4 team. I coach about 20 girls along with another coach. Their practice entails stretching, Vault, Floor Exercise, Beam, Bars, and conditioning. While team practice is going on I also keep an eye on our Recreational classes that are going on at the same time. On each event, we follow the lesson plans I made for the day
4pm to 5pm COACHING TEAM
5pm to 6pm COACHING TEAM
6pm to 7pm Team gets done at 6:45 and I leave for the day after making sure no one needs my help and checking my email one last time.
7pm to 8pm NA
8pm to 9pm NA
9pm to 10pm NA
10pm to 11pm NA
11pm to 12am NA

Table of Contents

How you got your job

How did you get your current job?
I competed at this gym about 15 years before when I was a competitive gymnast and have wanted to work at a gymnastics gym since I was little

What was the application process?
I just filled out a paper application after emailing the managament

Did you have to interview for your current job? If yes, what did the interview process entail?
Yes, i had an interview. I only had 1 interview which was with the old Class Director. It was an individual interview and lasted about half an hour. Since I was applying to be a coach at a gymnastics gym at the time, it was a laid back setting. Then when I was offered a full-time position, there was no interview.

If you can remember, what questions were you asked during the interview?
How many hours a week was I looking for. How would I react if there was a problem with a parent. What would a sample lesson plan for a beginner’s class look like. Was I CPR certified. Why did I think I would be a good candidate for the job.

Do you feel your employer properly prepared you for your job? Explain.
Yes. After being the assistant for a year I did everything the director did at one point or another. The only thing I didnt have any experience in was scheduling classes.

Was there training for your current position? If yes, what did it entail?
The only training for my current job of Class Director was that I worked as a hourly coach for a year and then I worked as the full time Asst. Class Director for a year before getting the Class Director job.

Do you feel your educational background prepared you for your job? Explain.
Yes. I got my degree in Marketing from college and we are always trying new ways to get our gym known to new families. So, having a marketing degree has let me give out ideas the other management hasn’t thought of. Also, it has prepared me to look “outside the box” on certain situations

If applicable, do you feel your internship experience helped you prepare for your job?
NA

If someone wanted to go about getting a job similar to yours, what would you recommend for him or her to do?
To get the job I have, someone would probably first need to have experience in the sport of gymnastics. Also, a background in business is pretty important.

What skills do you think a person should have if they want to pursue a position like yours?
You have to love children first and foremost. Our gym is run for kids. Also, patience is key both with dealing with parents and the children. We do have some unhappy moms that come in to complain and you have to keep the mentality of “the customer is always right.” You have to be able to lift about 50 pounds since we are constantly hands on in the gym with spotting kids. Teamwork with the other employees is also important. All of us work closely with each other and we each have different personalities

Do you feel that you need a certain level of education or training to be successful in your job?
Yes. You dont have to have a PHd or anything, but at least some college is helpful.

What advice would you give to someone who was about to start work in your position/ line of work?
Stay organized and keep a positive attitude! The job can be stressful, but if you stay on top of what you need to do each day you wont get overwelmed!

Long-term career plans

Is your current employment part of your overall career plan? Why or why not?
Yes, this is part of my career plan. Ideally, down the road when Im older, Id love to own my own gym one day and being the Class Director is helping me learn the management aspect of what goes on in a gym.

What are your current career goals?
Own a gym one day!

Is there anything else you would like to share about your career?
Not really. I love my job and would recommend it to any ex-gymnast who wants to stay involved in the gymnastics community beyond just being a coach or a spectator.

Prior work history

Please list your most recent jobs prior to this current job:

Title Length Salary Description
Prior Job 1 Asst Class Director 1 year 29000 Help the Class Director with all duties. Also was in charge of all the gym’s special events (ie clinics, parents night out, birthday parties.
Prior Job 2 Leasing Consultant 1.5 years 13000 This was a part time position where I only worked 30 hours a week. I was in charge of leasing apartments. I showed potential residents vacant apartments, drew up lease paperwork, took maintenance requests, complaints, updated our online marketing etc

Educational background

Please list your educational background:

High School GPA:3

GPA School Degree
College (Undergraduate)
or Technical/Vocational
2.9 UAB Marketing
Graduate or Professional
(Masters or Doctorate)

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