Personal Trainer Resume Examples

You should be following good personal trainer resume examples based on job type is your best bet. Modifying the resume objective while also applying the best standards in resume writing gives you the best chance at getting a call back. For example, getting a job at a larger gym chain will require a different resume than getting a job as a cruise ship personal trainer. Additionally, if you’re a newly certified personal trainer, you might not have much experience. You may feel as though your resume is a bit weak. Either way, use Lionel’s resume tips for personal trainers combined with these examples to help you land the best fitness jobs. You can also follow the links for a specific resume template based on the job you're searching for.

Resume Examples For Gym Chains

Getting a personal training job at a gym chain has its perks. You get a steady pipeline of leads from the health club advertising efforts. You also have more access to expensive fitness equipment that you might not be able to afford on your own. And, if you’re full time, you likely get health benefits. All of these factors increase predictability for your personal finances and workflow. 

When applying to a larger gym chain, hiring managers will want to see education they recognize and trust. More importantly, they’ll look for experience in sales, customer service, or communications. This helps them know you’ll be able to interact with their members in great ways and convert them into paying fitness clients. Your resume will be slightly different if you’re new to the personal fitness industry.

Experienced Personal Trainers

If you’ve been doing personal training for over 6 months and are looking to get a job at a gym chain, follow this order of headings to include in your resume.

• Name and contact information 
• Fitness training experience
• Education
• Experience
• Skills
• Other

Make sure your contact info includes home address, email address, phone number, and LinkedIn profile. You want potential employers to have easy access to make a connection.

You can use this gym chain resume template for personal trainers with experience.

Experience And Education

Then, the next section should be “Fitness Training Experience” or “Fitness Experience”. The condensed version is good if you have also taught group fitness or done nutrition coaching. Also, if you have participated in physique or fitness competitions, list this next. Further, you can include any transformational weight loss experience, so long as it’s compelling. Just keep it short and sweet. You’ll include other job experiences later in your resume.

For the education section, if you have an exercise science degree (or exercise physiology, sports medicine, sports science, etc.) list it first. Then, you can include primary certifications (certified personal trainer, certified group fitness instructor, etc.). With this, include the fitness institution name. Primary specializations of most relevance to the gym go next. For larger gym chains, this includes nutrition, corrective exercise, seniors, etc. Secondary fitness specializations go next. These include smaller certifications or continuing education that are related, but perhaps not as relevant to the gym you are researching. For example, sports nutrition, sports performance, medical fitness, etc. While these are all great fitness certifications, they’re for more niche populations than the average gym chain serves.

Other Jobs, Skills, And Relevant Info

When you reach the skill section, list the areas of fitness training you excel in here. For example, if you’re great at a comprehensive fitness assessment, list it. If weight loss clients are your niche, identify it here. You’ll also want to list any sales or leadership skills you have (as relevant). This includes customer communications or computer related skill sets.

Additional things to include with this resume are any client before and after images, testimonials, or personal quotes. Consider including a resume objective in personal training. This is a powerful, quick, and concise summary of your resume. It implies to hiring managers that you want to grow with the company. Don’t take up a second page for your personal training resume. Long-winded resumes run the risk of not being fully read.

Newly Certified Personal Trainers

If you just finished your personal training certification, you’ll still easily land a job at a gym. This is the case even if you feel like your resume still needs work. In fact, many gym chains have systems and processes for their fitness department. So, a new trainer shows potential employers that they’re a clean slate without any bad habits to break. Since you lack experience, start with your education and follow this format.

• Name and contact information 
• Education
• Experience
• Skills
• Other

You can use this gym chain resume template for new personal trainers.

Education And Experience

Follow the same guidance and sequence for the education section of your personal trainer resume as listed in the previous segment for experienced personal trainers. A personal trainer without the experience of developing exercise programs and working with fitness clients should list any job-related experience in sales, leadership, or customer service. These experiences are valuable to hiring managers at larger gyms because a new trainer will be conducting initial orientations for new members. And, although it’s common to list work experience on your resume in order of the most recent job you held, consider resequencing it in order of relevance (with the dates in parentheses). Be sure to note if you do this.

Skills And Other

Assuming you don’t have a specific personal training skill to include, list other skills in order of relevance that follow the theme of sales, leadership, and service. Here are a few skill bullets you can consider.

• Highly competitive and goal-oriented mindset
• Excellent rapport building and client relationship development 
• High energy and motivating presence
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Compassionate and empathetic in helping clients achieve tough fitness goals

Remember, in a gym setting, interpersonal skills are far more important than technical skills like knowing Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. Therefore, only include them if your personal trainer resume is less than two thirds of a page. 

Lastly, in the “other” section, you can include your personal fitness experience such as competitive sports, a weight loss transformation, or positive changes in health since implementing fitness programs in your personal life.

Resume Examples For Fitness Studios Or Private Gyms

Fitness studios and private gyms often gain clients through referrals. They also have a strong fitness clientele base. In fact, it’s possible that you won’t have to do much (if any) personal training sales at all. Instead, a small gym or fitness studio owner will prioritize your education first. Then, they’ll look for experience as a personal trainer and others. Therefore, list degrees first.

Experienced Personal Trainers

If you’ve held fitness jobs before, put your personal training experience after your education. You should also attach client testimonials or referral letters. Lastly, include skills and any other relevant information. These facilities will have a community and family feel. Therefore, characteristics related to sales are less necessary. But a skill that translates to the type of population the studio serves is important.

Use this experienced trainer resume template for smaller fitness studios.

Newly Certified Personal Trainers

If you don’t have much personal training experience, just like your gym resume, order this toward the end of your resume. In the education section, include any specific achievements or great scores you obtained while going through your exercise science degree program. If you’re curcrently in a degree program, include the anticipated graduation date. Then, put all the relevant courses you have completed or are currently taking. Some relevant courses include:

• Anatomy and Physiology
• Fitness Assessment Protocol
• Psychology
• Interpersonal Relations 
• Kinesiology
• Entrepreneurship
• Biomechanics
• Motivation In Sports
• Exercise Psychology

Look at Lionel's full course descriptions to get an idea of what you can include to beef up your personal trainer resume. Then, use this new trainer resume example for fitness studio jobs.

Resume Examples For Luxury Locations

Don’t forget about all the luxury locations looking for a certified personal trainer! You can work at a high-end resort, luxury spa and wellness center, and even on cruise ships. These types of jobs want a great experience for their customers. Additionally, they’ll want you to be able to work with people of any fitness level. Therefore, your resume will look much different from when you apply to hiring managers at gyms.  Additionally, the first person to see your resume will probably be someone in human resources. Therefore, they most likely won’t have a background in fitness. So, they’ll do a quick scan looking for education and experience or key skills related to service. A seasoned personal trainer who also looks the part will be more likely to get hired. So, if you don’t have any experience yet, you should definitely have a bachelor’s degree or master’s degree in a related field. The resume example provided here is for personal trainers who have had experience helping clients.

A luxury personal trainer example will follow this order:

• Education
• Experience
• Skills
• Headshot or personal image (either as attachment, marginal, or at the top)

Check out this resume template for luxury personal training jobs. 

If you don’t have a degree in a fitness-related field, you still have options. For example, hospitality, management, and marketing are all great degrees you can include first, if you have them. For potential employers, they’ll appreciate a college degree because of the professionalism and commitment it suggests. Therefore, include it before your other personal training certifications and specializations. 

You should include any experiences, and what you gathered from them, next. Highlight any jobs you’ve held working with related customer segments. Concierge services, valet, and others are great alignment for luxury locations.

Finally, to work in one of these locations, you should expect to look the part. Include a nice image of yourself or a headshot. Or, if you have a well-designed website with personal images, include it in your contact information. Again, the reason for this is that the luxury location is all about the customer experience in total. Therefore, they’ll want their fitness staff to walk the walk of a healthy lifestyle.

Regardless of the fitness job you’re looking to get, one thing is for certain. Education is important. Businesses want to make sure that their customers are safe, and getting closer to their fitness goals. For each of these jobs, having a Lionel degree on your fitness resume will help you stand apart from the competition. This is in large part because of the elite reputation of Lionel in the fitness education space. History, credibility, and reputation are critical when it comes to an exercise science degree program.

In addition to a degree, you’ll need a certification. One of the unique things about Lionel University is that you earn your personal training certification as you go through the education program. This means you can start working as a fitness trainer before you even graduate. Even better, Lionel offers additional certifications and specializations in the degree programs. This will earn you a Master Trainer Certificate. Even without a degree yet, this gives you an edge above the rest and can also help you land a job in the luxury locations. The personal training certification and Master Trainer Certificate means you don’t have to invest additional money on expensive certifications. 

Regardless of whether you’re pursuing an associates degree, bachelor’s degree, or master’s degree, at Lionel you earn multiple certifications and specializations along the way. This means you can start working on getting that dream job before graduation day. And, with the help of financial aid, earning your exercise science degree is even more of a possibility. Check out our programs and contact Lionel today!