With the BALPA EOC you have to recognise that, as a wannabe, the event is not designed especially for you. However, since you are welcome to attend, it is a real opportunity to make an impression in a world where such opportunities are more than a little scarce. Just being there, shaking hands and spending 2 mins with a range of people who will in all probability shape your future career was, to my mind, the only thing worth joining BALPA for at that stage.
I went as a wannabe in '04 the day after I finished my training and again in '05. In '04 it was a sobering reality check...I think the only thing I might have qualified for was CABAIR's single engine instructor scheme! [Actually looking back I did get what I thought was a foot in the door with one regional operator based in the south west, but (god rest his soul) the gentleman concerned passed away shortly afterwards, seemingly along with my hopes of a Q400 type rating!]
By '05 I was an Instructor, I felt a bit more confident because I could demonstrate that I had been doing all the right things, my ratings and medical were freshly renewed and my aviation CV had progressed. Some recruiters remembered my face, and were willing to offer me an update on the world as they saw it. Professional yet short and snappy encounters is what they seem to like..not that I go in for it, but this is basically "Aviation Speed Dating" ! :-) Others came up and said hello, one even bought me a beer! Give them a good reason and many will take your CV..even those who say otherwise! I absorbed a lot of sound advice, took a reality check on what the TRTOs were telling me, and got a better feeling for the 'market', though my expectations weren't high.
To my delight I did get a few "you're on file, we might call you in the future" letters and an interview with a UK based 737 operator which led to an immediate assessment and then ... the holding-pool. This was fantastic, but for the fact that it all happened during the first 2 weeks of my self-sponsored A320 course at GECAT !
Timing (and hindsight) is everything of course but I'd gone past the point of no return...fate has been good to me and, thankfully, I am now flying 320/1s out of LHR.
I know it is easy to become disillusioned, but my advice would be not to underestimate the opportunity this conference presents...at least one of my subsequent job offers (they really are like London buses) came as a result of a face-to-face encounter at the BALPA EOC ... and there are others out there who will at least get to meet you and put a name to a face. At some stage in the future, that might make a difference.
Happy Landings and Be Lucky !
George.