From what I can make out wot you need to do is find ways of making your CV stand out a bit from the pile of them on a chief pilots desk.
I got my MCC about a month ago, with first time passes all round and around 250 hrs total time. I quickly realised that there are many in the same position with the same credentials and that my CV had absolutely nothing on it to distinguish it from anyone elses.
So I am trying to make small steps to distinguish it a bit. Ive been doing a bit of flying with a local aerial photographer, extra hours and "experience of flying commercially." Not a big deal, but makes a bit of a difference I think.
Applied the other day for the GAPAN jet orientation course scholarship which in the event that im lucky enough to get it will add a little bit more to my viability.
Also am on the verge of signing up for an instructors course, will add hours, improve my flying and shows a commitment to aviation. Could be good fun as well. Just a shame the pay is so ****.
I reckon that once these little things add up, eventually my CV will end up in a different pile to all the 250 hrs guys straight from flying school and I might be in with a chance of getting something im looking for. Its gonna be a pain in the arse having no money while it happens, i reckon im gonna need to get about 500 or so extra hours to move my self up a grade in the eyes of the recruiters, which will take a good year or so, but what else can I do?
I do sympathise with Vito Corleone however to a degree. I too was not prepared for the brick wall of unemployment that hit me after I finished training and I do feel a bit angry and frustrated at the situation I am in (its only been a month as well!). It is not asking much to be in with a chance of earning a decent wage from something youve worked so had at for the past year and a half is it? Sadly I can't see that happening for at least a year, life is very much gonna have to go on hold for a while. Part of the reason I feel a bit pissed off is that all through my training I was constantly being told that there were "loads of jobs out there" due to a boom in aviation and that it wouldn't take me long to get a job. Even my IR examiner said that he thought "the queue of people looking for jobs is not very long at the moment". Looks like I got the wrong end of the stick.
If I persist I WILL achieve my aims eventually, of that Im sure.
Oh yeh, to all the people who say that just sending out CVs will never get you a job, what else is there to do? Stalk a chief pilot and befriend him in a pub? Get a job as a cleaner in the Chief Pilots office? Blackmail him in some way? For those of us without a father or friend who works at an airline, sending out CVs and perhaps the odd phone call is our only means of making contact, I am intrigued to hear other ways of going about it.
Last edited by badboy raggamuffin; 26th Jul 2007 at 14:16.