Nemo, - how many experienced commercial pilots do you know? I’m guessing not many, because you badly need some advice . . .
I guess all we read on here is doom and gloom, because the guys who are out there who are getting jobs are not posting on here, and maybe the ones who cant have nothing better to do but post doom on here.
Nope, I’m afraid that’s wishful thinking. It really is that bad out there. Really. Honestly. There is virtually no movement in the job market, nor has there been for some time, and it’s got a while to go yet. There are still unemployed XL pilots out there, and it would be a brave man to predict we’ll make it through the winter without at least one more UK airline falling over. The effect on the job market shouldn’t need spelling out, but just in case it isn’t clear enough, my airline is inundated with low-hours CVs
when times are good. And there are (were) opportunities, because people were moving on to big and better paid things at the rate of 10-12 per month. They needed replacing. However, at the moment there is nowhere else to go. When last I heard (right from the horse’s mouth) we had had no resignations for over 5 months. I’m sure it’s more like 9 or 10 months now. Put simply, that’s 100 or so FO positions that aren’t available any more. At just one airline. And we’re not the biggest, not by a long way. I know someone with 5 years’ seniority at BA who is twitchy about his job prospects . . .
Doom and gloom is a natural part of the signal to noise ratio on these forums, but don’t kid yourself that your job prospects are anything other than awful, whatever Oxford, FTE, Cabair or whoever try and suggest.
I have had the exact worry at 30 and although it would be so easy staying in my current lifestyle and job that pays me very well, I know the years are slipping by, and its really now or never for me.
Rubbish. The age question gets asked at least once a week, and a ten-minute trawl of the threads will tell you that you are not too old. If anything, by career-changer standards, you are young. I managed to get my first job aged 36, Danny (Captain PPrune) did it at 37, and I could introduce you to many, many colleagues who started off in their thirties or older.
If you really want to jeopardise your chances of making it to a right hand seat, it’s not age you should be worried about - it’s qualifying when there are virtually no jobs out there, and bleeding your finances to death by trying to keep an IR current while you wait for things to improve.
It’s all about timing.