As others have said, be willing to relocate. I moved hundreds of miles away for my first job at a regional and will have to do the same all over again when I go the mainline (more on that in a bit). I got my DX cert early last summer and received 4 offers from various regionals but ultimately chose the one that made the most sense to me. Some things to consider when choosing a regional would be:
- average desk load
- union vs non union airlines
- cost of living
- flight benefits (if you like to travel or are commuting)
- length and level of initial operating training
At the end of the day these are just extra things to consider if you have the luxury of having multiple options. I happened to be finishing school at a time when multiple airlines were hiring so I was lucky in that regard. However, when talking with the newest group that got hired it seems that they did not have as many options and / or many just weren't hiring as much.
AA just had something like 10 Envoy dispatchers flow into them, then they have an external class coming in as well next month. Southwest is hiring up to 40 for a January class. United tries to hire at least 20 for every academy and they have at
least 4 classes scheduled for next year. With the most recent exercise option in their already massive aircraft order, I would only expect classes to continue into 2025. Delta has a November class (of all internals) and another allegedly planned for the spring. You also still have Frontier and Breeze that are currently hiring, and a few cargo operations that are hiring or periodically open up (although not as much in that sector recently due to downturn).
I say all that to make two points:
- The staffing vacuum created by majors in the regional environment (although not as bad as it was a year ago) looks to still be in a thing well into the foreseeable future.
- Where you want to go and what you want to do in this industry is completely up to you.
- You want to travel the world? Work towards a legacy.
- Favor Quality of Life and would rather live in a specific city or region? Odds are there's some sort of operation that'll fit that need.
- Want to be the guy that dispatches the JANET aircraft back and forth to Groom Lake? there's even a posting for that! the world is your oyster.
Best of luck to you in your schooling! Study as much as you can and keep your ear to the ground and eyes on this forum. There is a lot of great information on here from some really knowledgeable people.