Heya,
I'm up kinda late tonight (for me), have a few minutes on my hands and thought I'd throw something up here about something that has been bugging me. This topic comes up pretty often so I figured, why not throw down my opinion on the subject, as I seem to give my opinion on just about everything else in the world. It didn't really fit within the degree thread, so this one is getting started.
For you cats out there that are getting into this gig and want to meet the minimum standards for this job, I've got some really bad news for you; you're most likely in a lot of trouble. Do you guys actually think that you can get into this industry, meet the minimum qualifications and have choice companies knocking on your door?
We've got kids out there who come on and ask, "Do I REALLY need a degree?" or, "I don't wanna flight instruct! Do I have to?" As far as I'm concerned, if you need to ask the question, you need not apply.
To all you new guys; listen up. You are entering a profession of overachievers, people smarter than you, people more driven than you, people more dedicated than you, people that have 4.0's from schools you didn't even dare apply to, people that are better looking than you, people that are more likable than you and people that have better training than you.
THESE are the people you are competing with for jobs. Read that word again; competing. You are trying to best these people in order to get the job that BOTH of you want, and in some situations only one of you will get it.
If you think that it's a good idea to skip flight instructing, skip college, skip flying freight, skip the regionals, skip charter, skip corporate or skip any number of things that will make you a better, more well rounded pilot in addition to a better, more well rounded person then you might as well just get your application to Mesa in order because that could well be the final stop for you.
I don't mean to be TOO negative, but there needs to be a bit of a reality check in this department. There has been so much hiring going on in the last few years at the regionals that I think everybody has gotten the idea that all you EVER needed to get a job at an airline was 600/100. Let me tell you what kids.
Two years ago when I was looking flight instructor jobs, I was told at something like 10 different interviews from the get go that if I didn't go to Riddle or UND, they probably weren't interested. 6 months later people couldn't find enough instructors. A year and a half ago when I was looking for work at a regional you couldn't buy an interview with under 1000/200. Now? 250/0 and you're flying Dash-8's or EMB-145's. Upgrades were running ULTRA fast at some companies. A year at Skywest, 18 months at Express, a year at CHQ.
This is not the norm, and things WILL start to slide back in the other direction. It always has and it always will.
Things are slowing down. Hiring is slowing down, the economy is slowing down and the qualifications to get these jobs WILL go up. Do you really think it's a prudent idea to forgo college, forgo having a flight instructor certificate and forgo any other chance you may have of building some PIC time doing banner tow, throwing meat missiles or any other ways to build time BEFORE you get to an airline cockpit? What are you going to have when the furlough comes, and believe me if you miss a furlough in this industry count yourself among the lucky ones. That 500 hours of SIC ERJ time like the other 700 guys you just ended up on the street with isn't going to get you much.
Me? I'm 25, flight instructed, spent time in a large air carrier's training department, passed three part 135 checkouts, passed a 121 checkout, never failed a check ride, never had a student fail a check ride (part 91 or 135), have a college degree, a cute fiance and I've got a lot of friends that would walk in a resume for me. And to be completely honest with you, I still VERY much view myself as an extremely low time pilot and that I'm not that well qualified, but I'd put my resume up to a cat that walked outta some academy with no degree and no real world experience.
So what are you going to do to combat that and make yourself a more marketable pilot who will get the job instead of me?
You're going to do everything you can to become a well rounded pilot, a better connected pilot, a well rounded individual and if you're smart you'll try like heck to best me in every way that you possibly can because when the furlough hits, I'm not worried in any way about being able to find another flying job. And if I can't? Tough luck, I go to law school and make more money than I would as a pilot anyway. I can do that because, guess what kids, I went to college and got a pre-law degree.
What makes YOU more marketable? Folks have GOT to start looking at this stuff and saying, "How can I make myself a better, more marketable pilot" instead of saying, "Oh gee whiz I've gotta teach! Oh no! That's horrible! I just wanna fly a jet! I don't want to do anything more than the minimum amount of work!"
And since I didn't mention it, GO TO NETWORK JETCAREERS! Anybody that doesn't make it is simply making it harder for themselves to get a job. I've gotten every job I've had in the aviation industry because of people I met at NJC, and I imagine that trend will continue.
Make yourself more marketable, make yourself stand out, go ABOVE AND BEYOND EVERYBODY ELSE, don't go for the minimum standard, network and make friends and if I haven't said it yet GO TO COLLEGE and be ready and willing to WALK AWAY from this career if it doesn't give YOU what you want out of it.
