Opinions!

[countbat]

With small exceptions all the aviation industry suffers. Many pilots have lost their jobs temporary or permanently. What about if in this thread we advice each other in how to get over this difficult times? Or just to share your personal experience with us? Jobs are not too many and maybe many of us are making a living out of aviation now! We all need a piece of advice to a point or another in our life. Myself I am furloughed from a 121 cargo operator. It looks like I can not find an aviation job. Nobody replies back to my resumes. I don't know when I will be called back. I have been trying to find a job outside aviation, but it looks many economic branches are very affected by this recession. Nobody is hiring.

 

[bobbysamd]

Back To The Future, again

Two words: it sucks. Here's my story:

I changed careers to full-time aviation in the late eighties. There was a hiring boom. I finally learned to fly at age 31 in the early eighties and kept working on ratings because I loved flying and wanted to be the best pilot possible. I grew increasingly disenchanted with my line of work and thought about flying full-time. Then, I heard about the "pilot shortage" and thought that I might have a chance. So, at age 36, I decided to change careers. I already had a bunch of hours, but no multi time. All I needed was my multi and MEI. I got them and got a job instructing at ERAU in Prescott. All the while, before my Riddle job and even with little multi, I was sending out resumes to the commuters because I kept hearing about prodigious amounts of hiring. The few responses I received either said I was low on time or "you will be contacted if a position for which you are qualified opens." Mostly, I got no responses. All I ever wanted to do was fly for a decent commuter.

Finally, in about 1990, I got my ATP and built enough multi to meet the quals on paper. I attended my first interview at the exact time the Gulf conflict began. I also remember all the buzz that day at my interview that hiring was stopping and classes were being canceled. I did manage three more interviews and one cattle call at Express One. No job offers. I blame most of it on me being older than most commuter applicants along with being a career changer, but quite a bit on the Gulf War and the economy.

I had no more airline interviews after early 1991, though I kept trying. I tried for six years with some commuters. I must have felled entire forests to provide the paper I dispatched in search of the elusive commuter job. In the meantime, I got what I thought were better instructing jobs. That was fine, because I (apparently was one of the few people who) liked flight instructing. Along the way I ran into difficulties at a couple of my last jobs. Finally, I gave up, realizing that I had too many strikes against me. That realization was my turning point, though to this day, as you may have gathered, it's been hard to accept. That's my story.

I was disappointed and maybe a little bitter over my apparent bad luck, though I do not regret trying. That's what you have to do. Give it your best shot. Keep applying and expect no replies. I say that to avoid being set up for disappointment. Do your best to hold on to any aviation job that you do get. 2002 isn't much different that 1992, and times got better after 1992, right?

Hang in there.

 

[pilotyip]

Advice

Take any job that keeps you in flying, currency is important to many operators. We just hired a guy as a DA-20 F/O, who was a DC-8 Capt at Emery. He said he was happy to get a job and was willing to do anything to work back into a career positon. We were his first and only interview in 10 months. I routinely talk to prospective employees who make demands and conditions about being hired, like "I will only come to work for you if you put me in the DC-9", "I am a DA-20 Captain and I will only apply if you hire me as a Captain off the street" "I would not consider working for you unless you base me in Fla." Incidently the DA-20 Captain might have been hired as a F/O, and has recently indicated, after not finding another job, that DA-20 F/O would be just fine. He missed two classes he might have been in. To get an interview, set no condtions about where you want to live, what you will fly, and personal feelings about training contracts, days off, etc. When you set conditons you really turn off the interviewer. The interview is the first step to get by.

 

[mar]

Persistence and Flexibility

Countbat--Bobbysamd and Pilotyip give good advice.

If you are to persevere in this industry you really must have the ability to recover from at least *one* setback.

We would all like to progress in a linear fashion; that is to say, bigger airplanes, more pay, greater seniority, etc.

The sad fact is our business (for a lot of different reasons) just doesn't work like that.

The most successful pilots, in my opinion, are either very well connected and very lucky--they happen to always be in the right spot at the right time. Or...

...like most of us--they have organized their life (financially, geographically, professionally, even romantically) to be able to absorb the inevitable set-backs.

Granted: The conditions of this particular "set-back" in the industry are dire. Thousands of pilots on the street, more bankruptcy is imminent, war looms--a healthy recovery is years away. And when it does recover we can expect the industry to have changed permanently in numerable ways.

Up to this post you've received some good advice (keep trying and stay current no matter what).

Here's some questionable advice that I've been mulling around in my own head when I drove past a sign that read "Failure is a lack of persistence."

I thought: Yeah, and sometimes you need to just cut your losses and run.

Everybody has different circumstances. And nobody should take any flack for doing what they thought was right at the time.

You gotta do what's right for you (and your family, if any).

Best wishes

 

[mar]

And another thing...

I just thought of something else:

Use this slow time in the industry to make yourself more competitive.

If you don't have a four-year degree, go get one.

Build your multi time.

Get a type rating.

I dunno. These all take time and money. But if you have the money I think you probably have the time.

Good luck.

 

[rice]

How ironic this thread pops up today!!
Yesterday I got canned, and today one of my bud's hooks me up with a guy who's interviewing me tomorrow.
I have know idea if I'll get the job or how much it pays but the point is "never burn a bridge" and "always treat others the way you'd like to be treated".
If this gig pans out I know I'll be buying him a bottle of his favorite scotch and a nice dinner for his wife. (might even take him to dinner too)

Keep the Faith!!

Rice

 

[CCDiscoB]

Hey Rice,

That was guick. Good Luck. I hope it's not an interview for this job: "Attention pilots and CFIs, make extra income part-time marketing pilot logbook software, " or the one that included telemarketing.