How do you become a ski-instructor?

Are you planning to instruct just for your gap year, or are you talking as a career? You don't require any formal qualifications usually, (depends on the country), but obviously you need to be very, very good at skiing. Instructors usually will have competed at some point or another. You need to weigh up whether this is a realistic idea when you have only been once... You will be competing against skiers from the native country who have been every winter since they were 4 or 5, also wanting to be instructors. You will have to ski any slope comfortably, off-piste and possibly backwards too. They will put you through some tests if you apply. (My friend in Canada had to ski down a black run with one ski and no poles to get the job. He wasn't allowed to fall over or he failed.) It's not an easy job to get.