Florida CFI Job

hambone said:
Yea Marc, what a great guy he is. Remember that time back in February 09 when we all struggling because our student count was down and he lowered our pay from 30/hr to 22/hr, and used the poor economy as a scapegoat for doing so? Even though as a flight instructor there, you only got paid when you flew. Or how bout getting paid 10/hr for ground lessons and sim lessons? Or that time when he hired a chief pilot whose sole responsibility was to come in every day and tell us how he gets 50 applications a day as a way of "motivating" us. Or how bout that fuel surcharge that the students had to pay, even though they had to pay for their own fuel on their solo x countries, so in essence, they were paying for fuel twice.

I actually do agree that talking when Marc in person, he actually seems like an ok guy, but cfitime, actions speak way louder than words. That guy is cutthroat business man through and through who is out to make money and that is it.
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Sounds like the real world. I work a for fortune 100 company and these management practices goes on everywhere. I took a 10k pay cut in 08 too, that's everywhere. My company has had wage freezes in place since 2008. Do you blame a business owner for lowering your wage because the economic times called for this? Your lucky you still had a job because many schools closed shop. Do you read the paper? The economy is horse crap and he has every right to use the economy as an escape-goat. I hear all day how college grads will do our job for 1/2 the money. Ask some of the 121 guys how they feel working for 40% less. Sounds like you got a dose of the real world.

Since some airlines(Spirit ect) are charging for everything I'm guess you wouldn't work for them due to their business practices too? I'm not trying to be an • but I've seen this type of crap with every employer. Every 121 friend of mine complains about the same crap(employee/management relationship), just suck it up and do the job and move on.
 
elmetal said:
That's not a businessman, that sounds like a......

Anyway, a businessman would adapt to the environment and he would know that fuel surcharges and making students pay for fuel on a wet rental is not the way to get students to come back.
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Agree, not a good way to obtain referrals, but he did adapt by lowering overhead to keep his business going during the biggest receision in our history.
 
cfitime said:
Agree, not a good way to obtain referrals, but he did adapt by lowering overhead to keep his business going during the biggest receision in our history.
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yeah but at the same time he could've kept less employees with higher wages. it's a toss up and either one sucks

although fuel surcharges for fuel the student doesn't pay is BS. just raise the dang price of the rental.
 
So the alternative is layoff employees or keep what you have and pay less. laying off is worse because it adds to the whole economic problem. The problem is these students expect result in a short time, so having enough instructors is key in being able to deliver his product. Raising the price in the wost economy is small business suicide. If you look at the prices now he actually had to lower the dual given to me more competitive with the competition. So the end result would was lowering staff wages to run more effectively and efficiently. It defiantly sucks, but propbaly a wise decision considering the market at that time. The good part is the market is getting better and those wages will most likely rise as CFI become more scarce. From talking with friends the general consensus is we are heading for a CFI shortage since Americans are not training due to a lack of financing and overall cost of training. Therefore this will bring wages up and schools will become more desperate for instructors. This is why employment at a school that caters to foreigners is a good choice to begin your career. Your time will build faster then a mom and pop 61 FBO enabling you to more on to a 135 or 121 faster.
 
cfitime said:
I worked there and it wasn't that bad. If you want to build time quick this is the place to go. Just don't get caught up in the gossip. Just show up, fly with your students, and go home. The problem is tom many flight instructors get caught in the gossip and that when management will have it out for you. Any place you go to will have the typical employee owner BS. Just do the job and don't complain. Have you sat down and ever spoke with Mark? he really is good guy. He just a business owner wearing many hats. Don't get me wrong, I don't endorse illegal visas but you have these practices in all lines of business.

Swisspilot have you gone to little Brazil on I drive? You think those employees are all legit? Come on, you know the practice of business owners from Latin America?
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I instructed there for a year too and still visit often and talk with the folks there. As was said above, it's actually a good place if you're wanting to do good flying and build time fast. Just show up and be willing to fly. If you are scared of your own shadow, you won't get along with the CP, but if you're willing, he'll let you take the plane and students up in anything and you really can build time fast. Plus, there is a constant pipeline of intl students that you won't find in many places. If you're interested, I can forward your resume to some people in admin there.
 
cfitime said:
I worked there and it wasn't that bad. If you want to build time quick this is the place to go. Just don't get caught up in the gossip. Just show up, fly with your students, and go home. The problem is tom many flight instructors get caught in the gossip and that when management will have it out for you. Any place you go to will have the typical employee owner BS. Just do the job and don't complain. Have you sat down and ever spoke with Mark? he really is good guy. He just a business owner wearing many hats. Don't get me wrong, I don't endorse illegal visas but you have these practices in all lines of business.

Swisspilot have you gone to little Brazil on I drive? You think those employees are all legit? Come on, you know the practice of business owners from Latin America?
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Here all the Flight Schools have legal CFIs working, they all get a sort of govt 401K and free Health care.

Other companies are different, but you can`t compare Brazil to the USA, This country has been in decades of military dictatorship (not too long ago), corruption is everywhere and aviation is a mess as far as how it is organized.

The USA have amazing flight schools, and probably the best quality training all over the world! But there are lots of peoples in that industry that do things outside the law and don`t take care of their employees.

Would you work for somebody that hires illegal workers, because they work for free, and leaves home American residents home?

Just go on pprune and look how many flight schools in Florida, Texas and California use foreigns unpaid CFIs to work there, I`m not talking about F1 and J1 holders....

If you want I can look for the e-mail sent to my friend, of the OFT owner asking my friend to come to work on a M1 student visa..
 
Saw Naple's Air center in Naples, Fl on climbto350.com looking for CFI's!! It's current and hopefully this will help someone get a job!
 
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