Didn't mean to get you hung up on age....I turned 30 during my IOE and It was a kick in the nuts, but by no stretch of the imagination do I think 45 is "old", in the larger scheme of things. For people just entering the 121 world, 45 is getting up there , when you consider you have to retire by 65. I'd imagine most guys in their 40's and 50's don't want to take the QOL hit that a 20 or 30 yo is willing to take, they've mostly already been through that stage of life.
As an aside, I commend you for getting back into it. The GA sector needs more guys like you, and when you get to 121 , if that is your goal , there will be a seat i'm sure.
Appreciate the kind words, but really no plans to move on from instructing. I’m probably never going to jump through that degree hoop. And didn’t mean to sound “triggered” as they say, about the age thing. I just chuckle at folks when they truly think 40s or 50s is old.
I'm all about higher education just for the sake of education, but as an employer, I've found no correlation between college and the worth of the employee. All it is is a screening mechanism so lazy HR departments can reduce their stack of applications.
A wise old engineer once told me to remember that there’s virtually nobody who said as a kid, “I want to work as an HR professional” growing up. Not that there aren’t people who love it and do it really well, and no offense meant to anyone working in HR roles, but in many organizations there can be an undercurrent of, “I hate this job” and the HR person just wants to put in their time and go home.
I see LESS of that in Aviation than tech, but I took his advice to heart one day when as a young whippersnapper engineer I was grousing about HR.
He continued, “Many of them, if they could do your job instead, they would. In a heartbeat. They don’t have the skill set. So don’t be so hard on them. They’re just doing a job as best they know how.”
This was at a giant $100B revenue tech company who had good pay and good benefits and attracted some really good people in all departments, including HR. Smaller/weaker companies, think about who and why they’re in that job...
Works for keeping oneself sane when thinking about a LOT of people in a lot of job roles. But HR... maybe lazy, maybe not, but a lot don’t want to be there. It’s not high on the “dream job” list for many.
I mean, realistically, the best way I've seen to screen pilots is a sim session, a tech interview, and then a "why don't we go grab a beer." After a few beers whether the guy will be a good match for your operation tends to emerge.
I’d be a little leery of mixing alcohol with a job interview in any way, to be honest with you. Even if I liked the recruiter and found them friendly and personable, I’d likely graciously come along to the bar and feign being tired or otherwise figure out a way to not be drinking with a recruiter.
If someone pressed the issue or got weird about it, I’d politely tell the truth... “Too many alcoholics in my extended family, worked with too many functional alcoholics in my past work, and have an alcoholic brother in law who killed himself and his blood alcohol content was 0.28 on the autopsy table... so if you don’t mind, I’ll be drinking a Diet Coke tonight, thanks.”
I’d think with the pilot profession finally getting a better mix of gender, suggesting “Let’s go have a beer” is a good recruiting tool, could lead to serious liability issues for other reasons as well.
Not a fan. I get it. I can tell a lot about someone when they’ve had a few also, but I wouldn’t use it in my business as any sort of regular screening method. Master Caution blinking for sure, if not Warning, just reading that.
you may have to drag me to the answer I am missing here that may be plain as day for everyone else except those of us willing to get into an airframe that is intentionally shaking itself apart in flight.
