A Career In Skydiving
Our very own Matt Mckay performed a keynote speech at the Career-A-Thon, a 12 hour long broadcast by the Auckland Business Chamber to secondary schools. The event was aimed at bridging the gap between schools, job seekers and the wider world of work.
You can catch all the action here.
Matt tells us what inspired him to choose skydiving as a career and tells his background and how he managed to get to where he is now. He has been skydiving for just over 3 years, and has been working in the skydiving industry for just over 2 and a half years. He is currently a tandem master, taking customers for their experience of a lifetime. He is also a skydiving instructor and coach, teaching others to skydive solo.
“The things that inspire me in my job now are the same things that inspired me when I first started. First and foremost, it’s fun! There is nothing like it in the world!”
One of his career highlights was when his Dad chose to do his very first skydive and Matt was in the sky filming him having his experience of a lifetime.
When Matt chose skydiving as a career, he enrolled at the New Zealand Skydiving School, based at Skydive Auckland, and started his 32 week Diploma in Commercial Skydiving in April 2019. The course includes 200 skydives, and there were guys and girls on the course who had never ever done a skydive ever before.
“We worked our way through the course until we had become very skilled skydivers with impeccable safety standards. We learnt the skills we needed to film tandem customer and we built key skills and knowledge that we are expected to know and perform when we are working in the skydiving industry. After I had completed the Diploma and had finished my work placement at Skydive Auckland, the first jobs I was offered was to be a parachute packer and videographer. As a videographer I got paid to film tandem customers. I got paid to skydive and fly around them and film them. I had taken my first steps into becoming an instructor and I got paid to have the time of my life.”
Want to have a career in skydiving or know someone that does? The New Zealand Skydiving School is based in Parakai, West Auckland. This 32 week, NZQA approved Diploma includes 200 skydives, an international work experience placement opportunities and has an excellent employment rate. NZ or Oz residents could qualify for Fees Free.
