Salaried CFI Jobs

I have one, sort of. It's a combination of salary for my office duties, hourly for my flying, and commission for my recruiting customers/managing other staff instructors. I came in to this position because I worked for about a year as an hourly staff instructor and did well, so my boss sort of made a new position for me and we negotiated the pay.

Advertised salaried positions are pretty rare. Unless it's a massive flight school with guaranteed business, like the two places you mentioned, it's easy for an operation to quickly start hemorrhaging money by paying salaries to instructors who aren't pulling their weight. Unfortunately, most instructors, especially new instructors, aren't very good. Employers know this.

If you're wanting a salary, I'm assuming you want to work as a CFI at least semi-long term (at least a year or two?).

If this is the case, I'd talk to potential employers and try to negotiate a salary. They probably won't be interested in paying a salary to somebody they have no background with. As part of the negotiation, you could maybe work for 2-3 months at an hourly rate to prove you're a good instructor, or to prove your worth to the the operation with duties outside of teaching (cleaning planes, meeting with potential customers, etc.). Do this with the understanding that if you meet certain goals, you'll switch to a salary of at least X dollars at the end of that time frame, as well as promise you'll stick around for at least a year.

Another option would be to negotiate a sort of "hybrid" compensation. Get a base salary of $10k/year, then get paid a reduced hourly rate, like $10 or $12/hour. This type of system will smooth out the highs and lows. You won't make as much as you could when you're really rockin' the busy summer season, but you won't starve during extended periods of bad weather in the winter, either. The trick with this setup is to convince your employer you actually will hustle all year, rather than slack off in the summer and collect an automatic pay check. That's every employer's worst fear when they're shelling out cash for an unproven person in this industry.

PM me if you have any specific situations in mind and I'd be happy to give you more ideas.
 
Definitely some good things to think about there. It's always tough to get the bills paid when the winter months hit and the flights start getting canceled.
 
jrh said:
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Another option would be to negotiate a sort of "hybrid" compensation. Get a base salary of $10k/year, then get paid a reduced hourly rate, like $10 or $12/hour. This type of system will smooth out the highs and lows.
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I had this for my year of full-time CFI work and I actually kind of liked it. It worked especially well in a University setting where there were 2 periods each year (Christmas and Summer) where I went several weeks with mandatory no flying-and therefore no hourly pay.
 
deadringer86 said:
Definitely some good things to think about there. It's always tough to get the bills paid when the winter months hit and the flights start getting canceled.
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I hear ya. Just remember, your employer is saying the same thing.

Keep that in mind when negotiating for a salary. Any business that is going to pay you a salary is going to want their money's worth in one way or another. *You* are the company's bill that needs to get paid, even during times of slow revenue, therefore they have to figure out a way to bring in more income in another area...be it future growth thanks to your mad skillz, extra revenue that you aren't getting paid for in the busy season, etc.

The more you can think like your employer, the better off you'll be. Something I personally do is crosscheck the amount of revenue I'm bringing in versus what I'm getting paid. In my case, the direct revenue from what I bill out every year is about 20% higher than what I'm getting paid every year. Throw in some expenses to my employer like workman's comp insurance, taxes, etc. and I'm probably a break-even asset to the company right now. That tells me I probably have good job security, but I probably don't have any grounds to be asking for a raise, either. At least that's what I'd be thinking if I were my boss.

Seeing both sides of the equation will always help you negotiate a fair deal no matter what kind of work you're doing.
 
jrh said:
Another option would be to negotiate a sort of "hybrid" compensation. Get a base salary of $10k/year, then get paid a reduced hourly rate, like $10 or $12/hour. This type of system will smooth out the highs and lows. You won't make as much as you could when you're really rockin' the busy summer season, but you won't starve during extended periods of bad weather in the winter, either.
Click to expand...

I wish my school did this. That way when the weather puts us down or we have students getting through stage checks we still have a stream of income, even if it's only a couple hundred a week.
 
at1024 said:
I wish my school did this. That way when the weather puts us down or we have students getting through stage checks we still have a stream of income, even if it's only a couple hundred a week.
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Negotiate it then ;)
 
My current CFI gig is at an hourly rate with a monthly guarantee FWIW... The minimum pay is roughly 55 hours billed.
 
The 141 school that I am at gives a set amount of hours (7.5) per week, per student (usually 4 for part-time instructors like myself).
 
tlewis95 said:
The 141 school that I am at gives a set amount of hours (7.5) per week, per student (usually 4 for part-time instructors like myself).
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Wait...7.5 hours x 4 clients x 4 weeks = 120 hours/month? For a part time instructor?

Am I calculating this right? If so, that's a pretty sweet gig! At $20/hour that's $2400/month.
 
jrh said:
Wait...7.5 hours x 4 clients x 4 weeks = 120 hours/month? For a part time instructor?

Am I calculating this right? If so, that's a pretty sweet gig! At $20/hour that's $2400/month.
Click to expand...

(but I didn't tell you that it was $8.80/hr) :/
 
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