Originally Posted by
Negan
There is no jobs available right now. Don't give the big Integrated the schools the satisfaction of your £100k.
Just get him to do a PPL at a local flight club somewhere and see how the job market is in one year.
There are no airline jobs whatsoever now, regardless your experience, except for the odd cargo or corporate gig that gets instantly snapped up by someone with relevant experience. Hopefully, if we assume that the acute phase of the medical crisis is getting behind us, in 6 to 12 months there will be limited openings for experienced crew. After that, give it another year or two for the market to soak up everyone who dropped out in the past 3 months. So, for the next 2 or 3 years, opportunities for new joiners with no experience will be pretty much non-existent since there will be more than enough experienced pilots to fill the vacancies.
You can choose to start your full-time course now and then spend one or two years struggling to stay current and lamenting your choice - or you can approach it rationally and end up far better off in the long-term run. If you are finishing your A-levels now, apply for university in the autumn and spend the gap year getting experience. Even the proverbial job stacking shelves or one as a barista, cashier or delivery man will introduce you to the world of work and give you a thing or two to talk about in an airline interview at a later stage. You can also do volunteering if you are inclined towards such a thing, it's also a valuable experience. In the meantime, do your PPL. Maybe start some small weekend job with the flying club. Something as simple as manning a reception desk will give you valuable exposure and contacts. Work hard and play hard at university and keep a watchful eye on the industry. If it's picking up nicely, there might be cadetships out there towards your final year. If there aren't or you decide that that's not your thing - fair enough, keep studying and flying by the modular route in your downtime. By graduation time you can be either done with it or within a couple of months from the finish line - and you will have spent your time and money far more wisely than if you jump into it right now. Your expected working life is long enough to fit an awful lot of flying, especially with flying close to the 900-hour annual limit becoming the norm at more and more airlines. So, delaying flight training a bit and ramping up on your other skills and qualifications won't do you any long-term harm. Quite the opposite, you will end up in a far better position in terms of employability, transferable skills and life experience in the end of it.