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4 year degree

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saviboy

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 29, 2003
Posts
506
Hi I am currently working on a 4year degree in management and also instructing to build my time.
I am getting a bachelor's degree "just in case" my pilot carreer has to stop for some reasons.
What are the odds of getting a management job with no previous experience at around let's say 35.(I am currently 30)
A lot of poeple are getting degrees in case they lose their medical or are furloughed. I am trying to find out what are the chances of getting a good job in a field that is not necessairly your field of expertise.
thanks
 
5 years?

If you are only going to give a flying career a five year shot, there is good chance you will not get very far. The fallback valve of old degree is questionable. I have BS and a Master's, but at age 53 I was making $250/wk loading cargo. After Zantop pretended to go out of went out of business in 1997, I had been a temporary High School Chemistry Teacher up until two weeks before the cargo job came along. But they do not teach school in the summer. The value of an unused degree is highly over rated. 53 year old unemployed airline pilots are not eagerly greeted in any industry that I know of, even of having a couple degrees. Of course I did not apply for many of the "College degree preferred jobs" such as apt manager, telephone direct sales, plumping floor manager at Home Depot, etc. If you get a college degree you have to use the knowledge gained in college to develop a career or the degree is basically useless. After getting a degree, flying an airplane is not a knowledge expanding experience; it is skill development experience. Anyone care to chime in and share their experiences on entering the non-avaiton job market after being out of college 20-30 years?
 
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Pilotyip hit the nail on the head! A 4yr degree is good to fill the square on the airline application, but if you dont have any experience using it...it dosent do a lot of good.

I was furloughed in Feb 2002. I have a BS in Business Administration. At the time of my furlough there werent many flying jobs to be had. So I looked in the private sector. You name it I applied for it. Most places would look at what I used to do (fly for an airline) and would say why dont you just get another flying job?.....Duh! I finally got a job driving a city bus for $10.50/hr. And the only reason I believe I got that job is because the manager always want to be a pilot and we hit it off.

My advice is if you want to fall back on your degree get some experience using it!
 
YIP,

Was the masters degree of any use to you? I've been considering an MBA just to enhance my qualifications in case the poo hits the preverbial fan once again. I honestly dont know, however, what doors this might open for me.

Thanks
 
Yes, I think the Master's in Business help me get promoted in the Navy Reserve, and I did start my own business once when I was between jobs. I understood the legal basis of business, could read an accounting statement, understood finance, I really liked statistics, the degree was a great help in starting my business. I also used it Chief Pilot, Director of Training positions, budgeting, projection models. Etc. I think it helps in your investing decisions and running a household.
 
Mick, sounds like you have been there and done that. It is hard to get an employer to look at you seriously for a job outside of aviation once you have made a living flying airplanes.
 
I happen to agree with YIP on this one. I'm always thinking about what happens if I lose my medical, and I'm hoping I can make a strong presentation to a technology company (my BS is in Comp Sci) that develops aviation software. I'm also going to be pursuing an aviation management degree, although I'd really like to do an MBA. That goal would be to go work for a consulting firm if crap hit the fan.
 
To back MICK up, I also found it very difficult to find any decent work after leaving the airlines.

In six months I got two interviews (one for mailroom in an advertising firm, one for Comcast technician), two job offers without interviews (part time delivery for a deli and part time researcher for background checks), and a lot of questions why I would want to do something else.

By the way, the mailroom people never called back. I went with Comcast. Sucks crawling through attics in the summer, but working outside and near my home isn't all bad.
 
If you are not too macho to do it, get a degree in nursing. It makes me more money part time than flying full time for now. You do work your butt off during the shift, but if you only do it part time it is not bad. There's also a major nursing shortage right now that's supposed to be going on for at least 10 years. Not only that, but if you are a dude you have a better shot at a job because you are the "minority" in the profession. Best decision I ever made. Good Luck.
 
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At grad school, if you're not a schmuck, you'll make contacts that can easily get you a job when you decide you don't want to fly or get furloughed. If you get an undergrad with no experience you can probably get a foot in the door lousy job but have the option of moving to better after a year or less. Of course, if you live in East Bumfu&K USA with no jobs available, it probably won't make any difference.

Good Luck in your studies.
Mr. I.
 
Don't know how much this will help, but....I had a BS from a pretty prestigious school and a Masters from a very well-known European school. I flew in the military, and when I got out and wanted to make $$ instead of fly, the degress really helped me to get into scome pretty lucrative spots. A few years ago I had a "change of life" and wanted to get back into flying, which I did at the bargain basement end, ie seasonal stuff and smaller freight. In the meantime, have looked at other things when I got sick of eating ramen noodles, and the remarks are always the same---"You're a pilot now, not a businessman" or "Nice degress, but your current experience doesn't fall in line with what you studied." So, I end up bartending at t*tty bars to make ends meet at the end of the month---I'm sure some of my old professors, not to mention my classmates, would roll over in their graves! The up side is, I'm much happier poor and flying than I ever was well-off and sitting behind a desk. It all depends on what you want---I know I'll never be rich, and that doesn't scare me a bit---but I like being happy and I want that to continue. Good luck.
 
My best advice is to not wait until you lose your job in aviation to have a plan B. A degree is nice, but you need to start someting before you find yourself out of work. Best thing to do is to build a business on the side. Many of us own rental property. Others have invested in other kinds small business. As the only certainty in aviation is unemployment it's wise to have something on the side to keep you going through the difficult times. I can tell you first hand that it saved me.
 
Any degree somewhere

I am sure there is school somewhere who will give you a degree in anything if you have the money
 
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Finally someone brought this up! For all of you 18-25 I joined the military out of high school as an ATC, got out, went to college and graduated in business, was hired on with a major oil company in marketing making some good $$ and began taking up flying lessons because I could finally afford to. Recently I was laid off and have been interviewing with numerous companies looking for decent jobs. Believe me I live in a major metropolitan area and it is still tough if you do not have a solid background in something with 3-5 years of experience. That is what I am dealing with anyway. The days of getting hired directly into management because you earned a degree in socialogy have been over for a long time now.

Its got to be tough for an out of work pilot these days because employers know that once the economy picks up and so does the aviation industry, they will probably lose those pilots that they hired back to aviation in a heartbeat. Find something you like outside of flying as a career in addition to having earned a degree, one without the other is just not enough these days.
 
So much for the "fall back value of a degree"
 
Ah! The old degree thread, real degrees are not useless. Long time no see Hugh. Degrees that are not used become nearly useless, other than decorating someone's wall, after many years of not using the knowledge developed during the degree. Been a lot of post here about trying to return to the job market outside of flying. Did not see too many success stories.
 
Greetings..

I have had a massage practice for 10 years now on the side. It is not that expensive to train(2,000-3,000 including equipment). I like it because I can do it around my airline schedule fairly easily. Anyway, thats what I do for fall back, plus I have a BS in rest/Hotel/Institutoinal mgt and an associates in occupational therapy. I would not trade my education for anything. Remember, aviation is turning to nothing but a big black hole.

Take care
 

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