How does the internship duty works?
We run a freediving internship program every calendar quarter for students who want to learn freediving from beginner to instructor. The internship comes with a more significant discount, free 3-month housing, and a free weekday lunch in exchange for working for the academy.
Until late 2023, we asked our interns to help out for 16 hours a week – this was fixed for one full day and two afternoons, but we found that this didn’t really work. Flexibility is much nicer for both the interns and for us organizing work. Interns usually clean the equipment, the buoys, and the gears. Sometimes, they also assist instructors with their courses, and aside from freediving courses, we also run a tour business. For our guests, we organize different tours in and around Bohol, and sometimes, we need help with the various activities. We also regularly ask our interns to guide the fun diving tours. It is also a good learning opportunity for future instructors to handle customers and guests.
Coming to Panglao for internships while also doing home-based or remote work is still not accepted. We need the interns to focus on their training and help around the academy fully. Still, we found that with the flexible schedule, the interns have more time to schedule in a way they prefer.