Originally Posted by hangar-rat
Chances of a grad going into a line maintenance position are virtually zero, and so they should be. Consider this, the average guy in line maintenance has served a 3 or 4 year apprenticeship, has several years post apprenticeship experience and at least an A licence. For a certifying B licence holder, chances are he has spent about 7 years + getting to a position where he is competant to do the job. Also a "liney" is not just a liney. Many have spent time in hangars doing A checks C checks and majors etc. Compare that to your average ppruners time spent in training. Don't get me wrong the skill that most graduates have are very usefull in the industry, but not in line maintenance.
Having recently reviewed CVs for my company looking for techs and LAEs there is very little out there experience wise that could fill the role. In fact most company's now will only employ people with several years experience on wide body, 737 or whatever. The traditional route is a school/college leaver is to go the apprentice route. If this was not possible then many joined the armed forces to get the training. At 23 and a graduate you are too old to just switch to be an engineer without putting in the slog for the next 7 years.
Get real guys - do the several years hands on starting at the bottom on crap wages, when you have enough experience and hands on to know how aircraft work then take your licenses. Not the arse about face way it is done now, college - licence and then look for a job at £45K a year and bleat when no one wants you.
Call me old fashioned but keep graduates where they belong - in the offices. Most hands on engineers knew what they wanted to do when they were 10, never mind 23 !!