rex cadetship
Hey guys,
First ever blog, thought id throw my two bobs in about the rex cadetship.
I applied by filling out the application form about a month ago and got called up on Wednesday asking if i could come in for a interview in the next day or two.(It must be noted i never sent my HSC results in, only ever filled out their form)
Down I went, with a negative view of their cadetship (attitude formed from this site and other student pilots) but thinking the testing/interview would be a good experiance for other airlines/jobs etc.
Im 20, got gfpt and less then 30 hours, one cpl subject, studying full time, expect to complete cpl/atpl/irex and multi in the next year. i got the impression i was the type of demographic they are after.
(in 2005 i recieved UAI of 79, HR chick thought that was good, so that tells you what type of brains they are after)
I left believing what they are offering isnt as bad as some people without the full knowledge are making it out to be. I was interviewed for more then an hour by the senior pilot and a senior HR chick.
The 80k is a one off cost, includes everything such as lodgeing, food, casa and medical fees, text books and documents. Includes cpl and irex on brand new full glass cockpit warrior3s, and a multi. After the 32 odd weeks, right hand seat in a aircraft in the rex GROUP, if you want to know their wages look up the REX pilot agreement on google. Im currently studying full time and expect to pay around 65k including atpl- i believe the other 15grand isnt a major rip off (considering the average outlay is around 2K before a student start flying - medicals, license, headset, books/documents, plus ongoing living and eating and travel costs, and then start looking for work...)Also, cadets with some of the above (like myself) wont have to pay the full 80k.
The training is "acadamy style" similar to boarding school/military. The training will be a crash course, without much opportunity to kick back, which is logical, and you will be trained the way they want you to be, which also makes sense.
a few questions i asked is how do rex promote FO to Captains, and was told about the seniority system, and how currently it takes about "12 to 18"months to be offered captain. Im assuming those pilots had enough before the joined to make it to the 2000 hours in that time... Can anyone in the know vouch for that time frame?
Also not really mentioned is that Rex will be offering 20k scholarships (to 10 out of 20 cadets). the only catch is this will be repaid if leaving the company before serving 5 or 6 years, cant remember which.
And ATPL isnt being offered at the moment as its not a priority, however will be offered later.
This would be an awesome opportunity if a student had a lazy 80k lying around as it would be a quick training period and then gauranteed hours in twins. For me personally, if i was offered the cadetship(and after considering it VERY carefully), i may not be able to afford it as im paying for my training at the moment but will have to borrow, beg and perhaps steal to complete it all.
Something else i found out from one of their prospectus lying around their offices was that the rex group made a profit of 25 mil last year, up a lazy 54%... so maybe there is room to be paying pilots more????
Anyways, im sure ive left lots of stuff out, but will be interested to hear what you guys all think.
thanks