There are some S/Os who have been in the company for less than one year and will start their F/O training within the next year.
Conversely there are some who've been S/Os by choice for 10+ years (commuting from interstate, family complications, or dare I say it... lifestyle)
Despite the fact that seniority (ie from the day one joins) is a major factor, one's progression will be impacted by many other factors not limited to:
- the uncertainty of continued/projected expansion in the face of management's "crisis of choice" this week,
- the flexibility of future resource allocation between QF & JQ which may vary the fleet growth of either entity,
- one's willingness to relocate between bases (ie from joining in SYD to MEL,PER or BNE) for promotion,
- one's willingness to change aircraft types for promotion,
- one's preparedness to be 'junior' in the next-higher rank,
- one's assessment of the relative pay & lifestyle between types on different awards in different ranks,
- one's assessment of the urgency of seeking promotion (ego, challenge, economic, portability),
- one's marital/family status,
- the career priorities and/or willingness of one's significant other to compromise, and perhaps finally
- the choices about all these issues made by those senior to you.
In short, there are many choices and no option is a given right. QF is awash with stories of extremes;
- rapid promotion which cost marriages, to
- old joiners still with wife one who've promoted happily to be junior captains, to
- pilots who've happily deferred promotion for the sake of a young family or working wife's career.
What
is nice is that the choice is yours; and that ain't all bad.
