This thread used to be about the joys of working for Ryanair. Now that it's degnerated into utter chaos, I feel qualified to add my blissful ignorance to the debate.
Having worked as a lawyer for 5 years in the UK and therefore spent the preceding 5 years at University and Law School getting incredibly drunk, and now holding a shiny new CPL/IR in my hand after a nicely timed (
)career change and a fair dollup of hard work, I can confirm that other careers are also overrated and underpaid.
Not one of my friends who heard about my proposed career change recoiled in horror and told me to stick to my white collar job in the office. On the contrary, every-single friend, colleague and family member was jealous and full of support. Ironically, half of them seem to be out of work at the moment due to redundancy...
Look, everyone hates Ryanair. MOL is singularly unpleasant man. The irony is that the late Tony Ryan set up a company that prided itself on beating its competition on price
and service. In the early years apparently even MOL himself argued that Ryanair didn't need Unions because all its staff were happy. Is that the case now?
MOL then went on to import Southwest Airline's low cost business model but decided to poo-poo their emphasis on customer service, staff happiness (it's heavily unionised but they have few problems) and transparent pricing. Yet MOL has effectively ensured that Ryanair is the complete opposite, that is, except for providing low fares. He seems to be driven by an obsession with the
No Frills concept in order to make profit at the expense of his employees.
But in the current job market, where there are no jobs for anyone let alone 250 hour newbies, Ryanair's recruitment continues and most of us are drawn to the company out of necessity not choice. I have empathy with those who state, with religious zeal, that they would never work for MOL. Given the choice, neither would I. However, I don't have many options and neither do most of those graduating with their new blue books. If Ryanair offer me a job contingent on paying for a TR, I'll take it.
Is flying a 738 for Ryanair my dream job? Nope. I'd be happy flying a Kingair around Africa or a 146 into LCY. The irony is that my best chance of
any flying job is with Ryanair.