CFI Marketability

[Flyingtoohigh]

Okay, here's the scenario. My personal contacts at two local flight schools are not getting me anywhere on my quest towards my first CFI job.

I'm looking for suggestions to increase my marketability to flight schools that I do not have any personal contacts with.

Here's what I have:

- 300TT / 20ME
- 4 hours dual given
- CFI-I
- MEI by the end of the month
- AGI & IGI
- 4-year degree, 3.96 GPA
- Recently completed 6-month internship with a major airlne.

What is my next move to improve my marketability, short of buying hours with a massive loan? I was thinking of working towards a glider certificate and possibly looking towards teaching glider pilots. Suggestions?

 

[plunger]

i'm in the same boat you are. pretty much the same credentials as well. other than i have my mei. just keep sending out resumes and most imortantly BE WILLING TO RELOCATE. look on AOPA's website. they have postings for cfi jobs. also, i found that a follow up phone call is good after sending your resume. www.private2atp.com has an enormus list of flight schools. if your not a member it won't connect you to the schools webpage but you can still view all the schools and type them into a search engine and get their webpages. start calling places and asking if they are hiring. summer is the busy season so things will be opening up. good luck!

 

[banned username 2]

Don't waste your money buying time...

Make sure your resume and cover letter are top notch. Get contact info for every flight school in your area (and within a reasonable driving distance outside your area). Make sure your info is accurate (spelling counts).

If possible, hand deliver your resume to these schools, stop back about once a month and "check in", express how interested you are in obtaining gainful employment. Be persistent, but don't be a pest (there is a fine line).

Get you MEI ASAP... Do the rating at a school that might hire you (one that might have a need for a new CFI in the near future)... Most places wouldn't have you teaching in a twin right away, but having that rating might give you the edge over another applicant.

Get your AGI & IGI... Yeah, I know they really don't mean anything if you have your CFI, but it is just another thing to fill the resume, and makes you appear to be one to fill all the boxes.

When you go to these schools, dress neat and professionally... ALWAYS act professional while you are there. Be polite, courteous and attentive, don't be afraid to ask questions about the school.

These are just a few helpful items... Don't get discouraged, aviation jobs don't come quick or easy... You sound like you probably just graduated from college... expect that it could take several months to get your first flying job... Get another job in the mean time, it shows you are motivated and willing to do what needs to be done to obtain your goals...

Good Luck...

 

[Flyingtoohigh]

Thanks for the kind words. I do have my AGI and IGI already. I'm about to graduate in another two weeks and I have all my coursework done and I know my grades.

After busting my butt in college I was all geared up to start teaching. Right now I've got an interview lined up to throw bags for SkyWest. Hopefully that counts as the "job" you were referring to Falcon.

I'm open to any other suggestions!

 

[Dutch]

Resumes do help but every offer I got after graduation was because I showed up in person. Make sure you look the part when you do this. Even if the school has no dress code you wont get the job if you're wearing board shorts and a wife beater. Another thing, if you can line up a student or two that you'd have before getting the job.

Dutch

 

[Khirsah]

Having worked for an FBO-based 141 school, allow me to give you a few tips for trying to land a job at one. They may not be universally helpful tips, but I believe they might.

If your cover letter contains a 10 line, one sentence (run-on) paragraph that only a drug addict could decode, it proceeds directly to the wastebasket. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200. We've had a rash of them lately from all kinds of backgrounds, so I can't blame it on one school. I have actually been asked to pre-screen resumes based on the cover letter.

If you wish to talk to someone in charge of hiring CFIs, and I tell you that he is not available right now, it means exactly that. I don't have him tied up in the back, maliciously keeping CFI applicants from speaking to him...honest. If contact information is on your resume, and we are currently hiring CFIs, most likely he will call you and let you know that we have your information and will let you know if we want to interview you.

Be persistent, but keep it a light to moderate persistence. If I have to tell you, "Sorry, he's not available" 3 times in any single week, you're not getting hired. The only time this rule may be broken is if he's already let you know he wants to interview you and you're just trying to schedule something.

I may not know if we are hiring CFIs at the moment. So if I say, "I don't know if we need CFIs, why don't you fill out an application and I'll have someone call you," don't get that puppy dog, misty eyed, "I'm never gonna get hired" shot down look, because you haven't been shot down. You have been told the honest to God truth. And for the love of God stay and fill out the application. You might just get an interview offer in a week.

Internal recommendations are almost never required, but nevertheless can be incredibly important in a small, close-knit company like an FBO. Not LORs, but spoken recommendations. I go out drinking with the boss once a week. and he has a little bit of respect for my opinion. So if you were cool, calm, collected, and professional when dealing with me (since he was probably not available at the time), you'll get a, "You know, you should really hire this guy," next time I talk to the boss. And that goes a long way.

Just make sure you're not the guy we poke fun at during our weekly drinking sessions. "So this guy shows up with a resume that looks like it's been typed by a 3 year old. Get this! He wouldn't believe me when I said you weren't there. He went running through the FBO looking for someone in charge of hiring. And he seemed really emotionally fragile. He burst into tears when I said I didn't know if we were hiring CFIs. After I got him calmed down and reassured, he went home. So he calls 8 times in the next 2 days..."

All joking and sarcasm aside, professionalism is the key. A professional looking resume and cover letter, walked in instead of faxed in or mailed in, followed by a professional attitude while you are there. Dress well, but don't overdress. Be polite and courteous to everyone there (you never know exactly who is involved in the hiring process, so it's best not to piss anyone off).

Don't be afraid to go somewhere to get your MEI and ask about being hired on afterwards. That's how we get a good number of our CFIs.

And finally, if you do land the interview, and the people conducting the interview are an older guy in a 3 piece suit and a younger guy in an oil-stained beater and jeans, don't be put off. It's as normal as things get around here.

 

[DCMartin]

CFI Jobs

Flyingtoohigh & Plunger,

Our flight school on the east coast is looking for a few instructors. Our boss likes hiring instructors from aviation colleges however its not a requiremnet. If your interested PM me and we can talk about it more.

Hope things work out

DC

 

[plunger]

DC- i pm'd ya

 

[Flyingtoohigh]

Thanks for the informed replies!

I have had some meaningful conversations with some folks at two smaller airports in New Jersey. The thing is that both airports are pretty small and neither has had a full-time flight instructor for about a year. I'm a little apprehensive about jumping in and teaching all by myself without another, more experienced CFI to turn to. Am I worried about nothing or should I seek a larger organization to get my start teaching?

 

[350DRIVER]

Flyingtoohigh.

You have 2 options---- 1) Take a chance with something that is going to require you to relocate OR 2) be patient and wait until you find that "ideal" job that meets your desires/wishes. Sometimes a "gamble" with opportunity built in is the better bet, atleast in my opinion. If you are not getting anywhere present day then why not risk a move as long as the negatives are not outweighing the positives.? If it were me I would seriously look into the schools in NJ, these schools even though they may be "small" in comparison to others may provide you with a lot of flying hours per month.


It is good to be picky but I seriously would not pass up the opportunity to get your feet wet and build the experience that will be the foundation for your flying career.



c h e e r s

3 5 0

 

[lymanm]

Q

The gist of my argument is go where the jobs are, don't be stubborn and stay in your local area.

My situation was similar a few years ago:

I had finished my ratings up to CFI at a large FL-flight school right out of highschool, then went back to do a degree, leaving me with summers off to hopefully use my CFI. So, there I was, 19, no dual given, only my CFI, 1 year of college under my belt and looking for only summer work. Not a recipe for job search success!

I looked up the AOPA listings for flight schools by entire states. At first I picked the 2 states closest to me, but eventually widened the search to cover 6 states. I called each one and asked if they had any flight instructor needs; those that did not were crossed off my list; the rest got a CV via fax right away.

I followed up every fax with a phone call to verify its reception and to see if there were any further questions. I'd then get a feel about the school itself, the numbers/nature of the student load and the aircraft they flew. Most said they'd get back to me (ie - no thanks), while a few were enthusiastic.

For those that showed enthusiasm, I decided to visit personally and meet the people. So I packed up the car for a weekend and drove about 17 hours visiting 6 flight schools. Each one except one (where the chief CFI was sick) had great discussion and were all very positive. Upon my return home, I had 3 job offers: one that wanted me right away, one that wanted me right away but who needed my to buy my own CFI insurance and one that wanted to do trial flight before offering me a job. Based on this and my general vibes about the personalities and business from my visits, I chose the one that offered my the job right away (a busy, but laid back part 61 school on a grass strip - a far cry from my p141 former FL school!)

So I worked at that flight school during my freshman summer, getting about 230 hours over approx. 3 months. It was an awesome experience, the location has become a comfortable 2nd home, and I'm going back for my 3rd summer there next week. The ownership of the place has changed hands, but I'm well known in the local flying scene just because I keep coming back and generate extra summer revenue. Sure, it's frustrating to have to give away all your students come September, but there are always new ones.

Anyway, the long and short of the story, as I mentioned in my disclaimer, is that there are jobs out ther RIGHT NOW if you are willing to go find them. During the initial search, I called EVERY flight school in ME, NH, VT, MA and about half of NY, then sent about 40 CVs, then made about 20-25 calls and then 6 visits. Be politely persistent. Sure, I live 10 hours from home when I CFI for the summer, but in aviation, we rarely have the luxury of living "at home". The solution is simple: go where there is a job and make that place your "new home". Also, don't be afraid to try out smaller or unfamiliar types of operations - flight hours are flight hours, regardless of whether or not the school has 3 dispatchers and 24 aircraft or 2 aircraft and a 16 year old manning the phones. The way I see if, by the time I retire from aviation, I'll have lived in 20+ cities, so just resign yourself to that fate and have fun building those hours, wherever they may be!

Good luck!

Sorry to ramble, I *think* there's a message in there somewhere

 

[bobbysamd]

Getting the first job . . . . .

. . . . or any flying job, for that matter, at any level of experience, is an SOB. Take it from someone who knows. That does not mean that you cannot succeed. It can be done without buying hours or doing you-know-what.

The trick is to apply, apply, apply. Get a list of every training organization in the universe, such as this one. Here's a list of FBOs from Flying magazine; you can distill training providers from this list. Send resumes with cover letters to all of them. Try to find out a little about these outfits if you can so you can customize your standard cover letter.

Look for flight school ads in pilot magazines. Flight school ads are another rich source of potential employers. I figured that if they're advertising for students they might need instructors. That worked for me at least three times. E.g., I never knew that Mesa had its own flight school until I saw it advertised in a magazine. I didn't know that FlightSafety had an ab initio school or that Lufthansa pilots trained at Airline Training Center Arizona until I saw ads in magazines. (Actually, I picked up on ATCA from a Beech ad for Bonanzas.) I eventually got jobs at FSI and Mesa, and was offered a job at ATCA.

You have to be creative, and persistent. Hand-deliver resumes and cover letters to every operator within driving distance. Dress like you were going to an interview. After a time, follow-up with these people. Try to keep a reminder system for your followups.

Getting any flying job is extremely hard work. Tons of people compete for every flying job, but that does not mean that you cannot be hired. Chances are, if you really put forth the effort you will be hired, eventually.

Hope that helps. Best of luck with your efforts.