MPL Pilot student, what to do?
I am a MPL pilot student in Scandinavia which I am on the end stretch in. We are flying MCC 737 FNPTII right now and will soon continue to 737 FFS then 737 TGL's to complete the MPL cycle and receive our certificates. The school itself is funded from the government so I have all intention to finish, of course. What I should do afterwards is what i'm wondering.
We have a possibility in Sweden from another school to convert our MPL to CPL ME/IR which will cost us approx 9000€ for 10H SEP and 5H ME which is all required, quite expensive but decent to get everything handled. This is valid for everyone who was 70h PIC flying. In total right now I have about 100h and 30h PIC in airplanes together with ~170H FNPTII + FFS once we are finished. This would require 40h flying PIC which would cost me another approx. €3.4-5.5k depending on airplane and club.
What are your thoughts on either,
(i) Once I'm finished, proceed to fly PIC to get the 70H and then do the CPL ME/IR conversion to be able to fly single pilot IFR ops to rack up those hrs.
(ii) Wait until the airline business recovers and then try to score a job with current licenses, and if no luck - do the CPL conversion course then
Mixed feelings, our airline has told us that what they value most are IFR hrs and that VFR hrs in SEP's doesn't matter to them so much. They have invested alot in the MPL program and have hired lots of pilots with this license, the question is when they will start hiring again.
Not sure what to do, all opinions and thoughts are appreciated.