personal trainer

swim instructor

sales consultant

membership sales

instructor

Virgin-Active

In terms of key skills and responsibilities, my whole objective over the last year has been to deliver excellent and consistent customer service, as I worked more than my 40 hours a week within virgin active to achieve sales and targets as a team and individually. I have great stamina and resilience, and crucially the ability to keep smiling and (in addition to still being able to make accurate decisions at vital times and at short notice). There is evidence of this in the certificate I was awarded employee of the up by making month for receiving several positive customer feedback forms for exceptional service, which was personally acknowledged by management and also becoming top performer of the month on numerous times for hitting target.

A typical day at work would be coming in  to the office and setting up by making appointments for the rest of the week and day and also hitting KPI's, doing outreach and hitting sales targets. 

what I have learned from this job is how to become an excellent sales person in hitting targets and reaching KPI's and again my customer service skills have grown massively, being within the health industry I have learnt a lot about fitness as well as virgin active as a company inside out and its principles. 

The management when working at virgin active Printworks was astonishing as we worked very close together with the general manager me and my membership consultant team as a team we where very strong and worked together amazingly, we as a team hitting many targets within the club itself and regionally across the UK, winning such incentives like go ape and cash prizes. 

The hardest part to my job was the job itself as you have to constantly make new business everyday and reach all targets for yourself and for your team as a whole, the most enjoyable part of my job was meeting new clients every day and rewarding the benefits from hitting target because of working hard all month individually and with your team and management.

Virgin Active Mill Hill is a large club full of a variety of types of people. A typical day at work would include maintaining pool checks such as ensuring the floor is squeegeed to reduce chances of members slipping, clearing fire exits, pool tests for chlorine levels etc. At certain time-slots throughout the day, cleaning jobs are carried out as well as watching the pool and ensuring safety rules are adhered to. 
I have learned to listen to others during complaints and general conversation. This sounds obvious but actually listening to what others is saying rather than just anticipating what they are going to say allows them to feel comfortable around you and as if you can be trusted. Also, I have learned to assert myself as my job role is to prevent accidents from occurring. 
The management at Virgin Active Mill Hill are friendly and accommodating. If any queries arise, they are quick to quash them and solve any problems which may come forth. They often notice when the team are performing well and provide good incentives in order to maintain motivation. 
My co-workers are approachable and easy to talk to. They get on well with members as well as other workers and communicate ideas with members in a professional manner. For example, should someone disagree with one of the enforced rules, they will handle them with professionalism and calmly state the reasons they are asked to enforce such rules. 
Lifeguarding is not the most difficult job in the world, however, due to the heated conditions of the poolside area, some cleaning activities prove difficult, if I had to name one. 
The most enjoyable part of the job, on the other hand, is the up-beat atmosphere of the poolside area and the friendly comraderie between members and staff. The poolside remains a cheerful and inviting area for members, which, in turn, pleases the lifeguards.

I worked here as the senior maintenance manager, I loved the job and most of the employees. I was fired as I ‘failed my probation’!! I had a cerebral anurism out of work one weekend and died twice to leave hospital in the middle of the COVID melt down and then my wife asked me for a divorce I received no support what so ever and because I was not moving at a speed the manager wanted he’s used the easy get out sack him on his probation and the fact they would save £30k odd each year especially in COVID meltdown there all about saving money but don’t want to invest any in order for you to do the maintenance! As I said I died twice got all clear from occupational health todo with Virgin I was already able to return to work two weeks prior but the messed about that much I lost out on pay, your birthday off don’t make me laugh apparently one of bransons wishes I spent the whole day of my birthday running up and 4x to the club and to another building they pawned off in me to look after! No extra pay for that btw I spent nearly a whole day in that building and didn’t get so much as a thanks just the alarm is going off again!! The company is good and most staff is good and the pay is ok it’s the management that lets it down with a power tripping boss who talks to people like cr*p and dousnt even look at you when talking to you I love how managers thinks everything is a ten minute job!! I loved how I was classed as unorganised yet solved more issues when I was there then they did in the last 7 years! I would really like to sit down with someone from virgin and reel off all the problems including how the management have no people skills how not organised anything is and that’s when internal systems work! The system used for ppms and maintenance is a joke it dousnt work neither does it load on a daily basis.

I joined Virgin Active as a new PT in London, fresh to the city and industry. Just after my settling-in period, almost the entire club management team left or were fired. For months, there was no leadership, no structure, and no support to help trainers build their client base. When new managers eventually arrived, I was questioned about my performance despite being left to figure everything out on my own.


The pay structure is weak. You’re on a zero-hour contract, and Virgin Active takes over 70% of what clients pay. Even when I was delivering 15–20 sessions a week, I only earned around £900–£1200 a month before tax. There’s no guaranteed income, and holiday pay is based on previous earnings and accrued hours, so it often ends up being minimal.


Work-life balance is tough. You’re encouraged to set your own rota, but to actually secure and retain clients, most PTs end up in the gym for 10 to 12 hours a day, unpaid unless delivering sessions. If you live far away, going home between sessions isn’t realistic, so you’re stuck at the gym all day, often earning very little.


You’re also expected to do unpaid work on the floor to stay visible and attract clients. For example: hosting classes, greeting members, tidying weights, handing out towels, and generally representing the brand. This benefits the company but adds to your unpaid hours.


The pressure to perform, lack of real support, and low pay all make it feel like you’re being set up to fail. While I did gain confidence and experience, it came at a big personal cost. The system works for the gym, not the trainer. Enter with caution, and only as a short-term stepping stone.

VA have an amazing headquarters and do provide their PTs with great opportunities to progress their learning by offering multiple courses in fitness and nutrition, mainly free of charge. 

However, be prepared to earn NOTHING for the first couple of months. Zero hours contract and then as soon as you do start training your first few clients expect only a 20% cut of the hourly rate your client pays to VA. I spent up to 12 hours a day for weeks earning no money and I gained very little support from the management team unfortunately. I got the vibe that there were a few 'favourite' PTs with the management team and us newbies should therefore strive to be like them, which does nothing for anybody's confidence. 

No business cards allowed, VERY strict and limiting marketing material to work with, website and in-house marketing information out of date. How are clients expected to know we're there unless we chase them round the gym? I had to chase sales and management for 2 weeks for some new client database information, just so I could call members and introduce myself. That was my initiative too, nothing like this is put forward to you willingly by the exercise managers. 

I left simply because I could make 5x as much money per hour by training my own clients, even though I charge a lower hourly rate than VA in the first place. Even being paid on VA's 'top tier' would leave me £10ph short. I simply couldn't justify staying. I'm now self employed and am loving it!

I loved working at Virgin, i was welcomed with open arms and had a beautiful connection with my colleagues. There was good earning potential at the club and i earned some really good money there.
A typical day consisted of having to attain three sales by the end of the day, i did this by talking to people over the phone, speaking to ex members and talking to guests entering the club. Sometime we would have people just walking into the club to sign up but the majority of the time we had to source our own sales by doing to the above. I learned a great deal from Virgin Active, i learned how to objection handle effectively without seeming too pushy but also learned how to create those beautiful connections with the customers so they found it hard to say no. My manager was amazing, he was just a true leader in every sense, he made executive decisions in the blink of an eye and lead the team to hit the clubs target month on month. I worked in a team of 4 including my sales manager and we all got on very well and met up outside of work also.
The hardest part of the job i guess would be making sure all my paperwork was up to scratch and making sure that members who had previously forgotten their Identification provided it before the deadline. The most enjoyable part was hitting my targets month on month and coming out with a great sum of money, i really enjoyed my time there.

A typical day at work begins with me teaching a number of group lessons with children aged 3-8, with an average number of 6 children per lesson. I am required to be in the water with children at stages 1, 2 and 3. I am required to be alert at all times so as to keep the safety of the children as my number one priority, but i must also make sure my lessons are as fun as possible whilst they are learning to swim. This includes fun and games, singing songs, group activities e.t.c. Each child learns to swim differently and i must alter my teaching style depending on each child and what stage they are at, as well as working to gain their trust and increase their confidence. 

Later in the day i teach private lessons with children of any age, and then instruct a swim fit training session for adults; these can be enthusiastic swimmers, competitive and club swimmers, training athletes, or adults who want to participate in triathlons, aquathlons, and open water swimming. 

At the beginning and end of each term i am required to work in the Virgin Active office at the gym and contact current clients and prospective clients, and speak to them about upcoming term bookings and which route they wish to pursue; private packs, group lessons or term packs. 

At the end of each term i work at the 'end of term' party, during which we cater for over 60 children per time, with only 10 adults. This is extremely demanding, and i am required to once again be fully alert as well as keeping a good attitude and fun demeanour.

The concept of a Membership Consultant is baffling to me.  I had to generate leads and book appointments with prospective members.  Why on earth would somebody need to book an appointment to join a gym?  In my experiences, you just rock up and join.

If somebody came to look at the gym but didn't join, I had to try and get their contact number to phone them at a later date for a follow up.  Why would anybody want me to do this?  It doesn't make any sense.

Cold-calling was a regularity.

We would get a patronising email every morning from an area manager we'd never met telling us to "make things happen" and if it was a quiet day it was our fault for not "making things happen".

We were supposed to be a team of four (one manager, three consultants).  The manager was sacked and one of the consultants left, yet they made no effort to hire anybody else and our targets stayed the same, leaving us to pick up the slack.

Near the end of my employment they brought in an area manager every so often who was supposed to help us out.  Instead, she criticised everything we did, changed our methods to the polar opposite of everything I'd learned up until then, and was an incredibly rude person.  She was essentially the main reason I left the position.

All the while, I was expected to work long hours (sometimes up to 14 days in a row without a day off) while on minimum wage.

Overall, it's an awful business model that doesn't make any sense.  I felt absolutely ridiculous cold-calling people about a gym that they'd never heard of or ever visited.

If you want to be treated with respect and paid fairly for the responsibility and workload you receive then don’t bother with this place. Lifeguards need a qualification to do their job and you need to keep the qualification up to date with monthly training and then a reassessment every couple of years, but you get paid the same as the cleaners and reception staff who require no qualifications. 
There’s no reward for doing your jobs well but will instantly get reprimanded for other people not doing their jobs right. They have an award ceremony in London every year that the usual suspects go to and they throw one or two token names in there to make it seem fair but in reality it’s just an excuse for the majority of the management to go on an all expenses paid trip to London for the night. 
Head office don’t care about you and will happily suspend and investigate you for doing nothing wrong but won’t investigate and suspend customers memberships for poor parenting that results in lifeguards having to save a child. You also won’t get any thanks for saving a child either. 
Poor work life balance due to shifts & very unsociable hours. 

Staff turnover is awful because it doesn’t take new starters long to realise what they’ve signed up for. Prioritise uni students over full time staff. 
On days off it’s like they expect you to not be doing anything other than sat in a dark room waiting for the ‘can you come and cover?’ Phone call.

I left after a long service, being miserable every day I went in and now I couldn’t be happier and realise I wasted a lot of years at this place. 

Management are what made my experience of working for VA very tough. It seems as though everything was passed on and never actually dealt with and a lot of the blame was continuously passed on. Management 100% have their favourites and are fully prepared to be really nice to your face but then really nasty about you behind your back even though half the time you do absolutely nothing wrong. I had to lie for my GM and my line manager was very rude to me on a number of occasions. Also be prepared to NEVER feel good about your performance. My line manager was literally never encouraging about my performance, always picked out all of the negatives. 

Promised a 16k salary that was advertised when I applied for the job and when I signed the contract for the job... only to find out that the salary is a lot less than 16k. 
I had a probationary period of 6 months for a front of house job which is ridiculous and far too long... the idea of 'progressing your career' ...be warned, you cant even start progressing your career until you're out of your 6 MONTH probationary period. 

The only good things about working for VA is: free membership and buddy membership, Virgin Tribe which offers you discounts on trains and things like that, people BELOW management are genuinely what makes working at VA bareable. 

I would HIGHLY reccommened NOT working for VA.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Personal trainer 4 salaries reported	£20.75 per hour
Swim instructor 1 salary reported	£20.00 per hour
Sales consultant 3 salaries reported	£22,333 per year
Membership sales 13 salaries reported	£26,136 per year
Instructor 13 salaries reported	£25.65 per hour

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