Hi Petra,
Don't listen to the misanthropes.
Young / new pilots have had a bit of bad luck entering the aviation industry during a global pandemic, but do not give up.
Use this time to put some money in the bank, increase your employability in preparation for the new normal (whatever that is going to look like). Obtain a bus licence, senior first aid, book keeping skills (MYOB / Xero), anything that will make you more employable to a GA Charter company than the next new pilot resume in the pile.
Whilst it is true that international travel is kaput at present and border closures etc are causing challenges, remember that a pilots first flying job is usually located in remote parts of Northern of Australia.
Try to book a caravan site or hotel room in Cairns, Kununurra or Broome,,,, you can't, they are all full.
The Aboriginal Communities are still busy, services and produce flying in and out.
So, why don't you have a flying job ?
You are not likely to be offered a job whilst you are sitting thousands of KMS away.
Pick a place where your first job is, move there, get a job picking fruit, pulling beers and/or some other job you can do. Submit your resume with local operators, become a part of the furniture and wait. Be very careful how you behave, these are small towns and stories of bad behaviour will spread very quickly. My first job was with an operator in Kununurra, the owner was a clever bloke, the final step before employment was the Friday afternoon BBQ, the prospective pilot would be fed full of full strength beers and the boss would sit back and see what emerged, it was quite breathtaking at times. One person got into an argument with the CP (who was a top bloke), another got totally wiped out then jumped into his/her car and drove back to town...
Above you have read about B777 Captains that are unemployed, you are not competing with these people for your first job. They are unlikely to be willing to work in the locations where these jobs are, for the money on offer. But most importantly when their B777 jobs restart, they will return to those jobs immediately (I sincerely hope this happens sooner rather than later), and the GA Charter operators know this.
Don't fly for free, ever.
Last edited by Josh Cox; 11th Sep 2021 at 11:21.