Project reference · Fitness, beauty & wellness
Hiring fitness coaches who had to pass on camera.
A boutique fitness chain in the Gulf, with clubs for women only, needed qualified female group-exercise coaches willing to move abroad for a year. The qualification it asked for barely exists outside the UK, every candidate was judged on video before anyone spoke to her, and our fee depended on each coach actually arriving. We ran the search from Ukraine across Europe for two and a half years, through four hiring waves.
1,500+ CVs screened
In the weekly reports we sent
28 finalists presented
Each with certificates and video
Video first, then two interviews
The client’s selection process
4 hiring waves in 2½ years
One role, a growing chain
What the market told us
Candidates existed. The question was price.
Half-way through, we stopped guessing and measured. One month of calls across our fitness briefs showed how many qualified trainers would even consider the move, and what they would need to be paid.
The brief
What the client actually needed
The client runs boutique fitness clubs for women. Its classes are the product: studio sessions choreographed to music, small-group training and personal training, all delivered by women. Qualified female coaches were scarce locally, so it recruited internationally on one-year contracts with shared housing on a residential compound, flights, health cover and a commission on personal-training sales.
The first brief was eight Group Exercise & Fitness Coaches, three to start in July and five in September. Later briefs added eleven more for a new-year start, a Fitness Manager, and a rolling plan of two to five hires every eight weeks as the chain opened new clubs.
The hard parts
Where it gets difficult
A qualification that barely exists outside the UK
The brief asked for an Exercise-to-Music qualification plus a Level 2 gym-instructor certificate. No academy in Ukraine issues the first. We mapped the local equivalents, agreed with the client which ones it would accept, and had every certificate translated before a CV went out.
Judged on video, before any interview
The client chose coaches by watching them teach: a 20- to 30-minute class choreographed to music, with real participants, showing cues, technique and motivation. We coached candidates to film it properly, and made sure the files would open on the client’s side.
A move to a very different country
A strict public dress code, compound living, a housing deposit taken from the first salary, a residence card and health cover only after probation. Every point went into a candidate information letter, so nobody signed without knowing what the year would look like.
Paid only when the coach lands
Our fee was one month’s salary per hire, due thirty days after arrival, with a three-month free replacement. The client worked with several agencies at once, so speed and first submission mattered as much as quality.
Two sides of one conversation
The client wanted to talk to candidates directly. We asked to stay in copy and to see the employment contract before any candidate signed, so every promise in the advert matched the paper. It took a few weeks to agree; it saved questions later.
A package that stayed put
The salary did not change in two and a half years, while the local market opened up to new women’s gyms. We brought market data, the client held its offer, and we adjusted where we searched and whom we called.
What we did
Terms, launch, select, re-set
- 2015 · Terms. A draft agreement with the commercial basis: one monthly salary per hire, due after arrival, and a three-month free replacement.
- 2016 · Launch. Adverts in English and Russian, a candidate information letter on the country and the employer, and a weekly report to the client on CVs screened, calls made and interviews held.
- 2016–17 · Select. Certificates checked and translated, videos collected, client interviews scheduled across time zones, then offers, contracts and visa paperwork followed through to departure day.
- 2018 · Re-set. A market run of over 500 CVs, salary benchmarking against candidates’ real alternatives, and a video-first process agreed with the client.
Two lessons we now apply to every fitness brief abroad: agree the qualification equivalents before the first advert goes out, and test the package against the candidates’ alternatives, not only against the local market.
How we work
We do not show you another company’s name
The client and its people are not named here, and they will not be named in a meeting either. We are glad to talk this project through in detail. What we will not do is discuss the last client that way with you, or you with the next one.
Next step
Hiring trainers or instructors abroad?
Whether it is one studio or a whole chain, thirty minutes is usually enough to tell you whether the brief, the package and the qualifications will work together.
