BlogPost
The Six Key Skills of a new driving instructor recruit
Most students learn to drive when they are 17, which means that a high percentage of students are extremely nervous. As well as learners that are under 18 you may come across different types of learners, for example middle-ages people who have never had to drive before. Older people who need to renew their license, and people with disabilities. You can never guarantee the type of student that may sit behind the wheel of your car. In order to be a successful driving instructor you need to reassure the learner that they are in safe hands and ease them into trusting you. If you have these skills and live in the Willenhall, Wednesfield, Tipton, Darlaston, or Wolverhampton areas we would love to hear from you to join the team.
Relationship Building
Part of becoming a driving instructor means that you have a high turnover of clients. Meeting new people every week means that in order to be a good driving instructor you should find meeting and getting to know people easily. This will also help when people recommend you to their friends as you’ll be renowned for your friendly vibe and trust worthy nature.
Patience
You’re going to be sitting in the car with a student who is constantly crunching gears and after their full hour you’ve just managed to get them to stop crunching. Only for them to come for their lesson next week, sit in the car and the first thing they do is crunch the gears. This is extremely frustrating for you, as the student after a week, needs a reminder on everything they learnt last week. If you are someone who would start shouting at a learner and are very easily irritated then this isn’t the opportunity for you, however if you can keep your cool and lead with steady direction and a calm temperament this is the job for you!
Sharp Reflexes
There is no point being a driving instructor if you are a daydreamer, looking at billboards for DFS’ next sofa sale may be interesting but it cant be on your mind when you’re taking a learner onto a busy Warley Road during rush hour. If they suddenly stall and your mind is else where there is a road accident bound to happen. As a new driving instructor you need to make sure you are able to be there on the dual control as soon as something isn’t going the way it needs to.
Clear Direction
Every instruction you give as a driving instructor needs to be clear. For example if coming to a roundabout you point to where you want the learner to take an exit they may well take the wrong one which could defer valuable learning time. You need to be clear on instruction and easy to follow. Speak to the learner in a language they will understand and is easy to teach.
An Open Mind
As an instructor you should have an open mind. This is due to your learners all having different styles and paces of learning. You can’t expect every learner to learn in the same way, some will be more challenging than others. Try and come up with different styles of teaching for a particularly challenging learner, who will be especially grateful and career fulfilling when they pass their test!
Punctuality
Many instructors have policies in place, which mean that if a learner cancels a lesson they lose their money. Instructors should always be punctual and if they have to cancel a lesson, they should rearrange. However, if this is constantly happening your learner will not be learning at the pace they should be.