Hello everyone it is my first time posting in this website so I am really sorry if I break any rule or my tone is a little less professional. I am a second year student in a well known university in europe and I am considering applying my home countries flag carriers cadet program. I really enjoy playing flight simulators but I always saw it as a hobby not a potential career path because of a number of reasons (lower wages, keeping up can be hard after a while, kinda unconventional etc.) but as time pass it is becoming more and more attractive. It is not really easy to find a job in high finance as I am an international student who is not an EU citizen also most jobs require a masters degree which is additional 2 years -a couple months longer than entire cadet program- also being a pilot ironically seems like one of the safest career choices against AI. Even though AI hasn’t affected finance as much as tech it is hard to guess what will happen in a few years. I know cadet programs are competitive but I am really really academically inclined and good at interviews because of my major, so I think I can get accepted if I can hopefully pass health check without a surprise. Also the thing which I am worried most about is exit opportunities. I will have a business degree from a very well respected university so maybe I can switch to an office role after a certain time(45-50 years old)?
Below I will list pros and cons of the program so you can have a better picture.
Pros:
Being able to start as a first officer in a legacy airline. If you get accepted to program you automatically graduate as a FO on 737 or a320
Paying after starting to work. You don’t pay anything until you start working as a FO. Until then airline gives you a monthly stipend during your flight training.
Big fleet with a lot of new orders: the fleet is pretty big with really ambitious targets for 2030s (around 600 additional aircraft) they also made a big order from being very very recently so maybe I can move to a widebody faster especially considering I will start working on 2030 if I get accepted
Many destinations: It flies more destinations than any other airlines I like seeing new places so it is a positive for me
Cons:
Signing a bond: As I said you pay for training after starting to work, you also need to sign an agreement guaranteeing that you will work until you pay back your loan. My family probably can help me with loan but I don’t know if airline will accept paying some of it to shorten service time
Many domestic flights: there are a lot of domestic flights to small cities so I have to spend considerable time in my home country. This is the worst part for me
I also Have to do 1 month of mandatory military service as I will return to my home country
Thanks for reading I am looking out for your answers.