So where do I go from here?

[Andy Pandy]

So here I am and the dream hasn't happened.

37 yr old, 1000 hours, part time FI, 737 type rated and no job. And sick of bloody applying to airlines for the last 5 years.

Where do I go now?

Andy Pandy

[MJR]

The Samaritans

Sorry Andy, I'm in a similar position to you but 3 years older.

I continue to be optimistic or naive, one of them!

cheers

MJR

[Freebird17]

Older and less well qualified than AP. There are lots of us about.

Would you do it again?? Possibly not is how I feel at the moment!

[smith]

Are Ryanair not desperate for TR'd 737 pilots?

[Andy Pandy]

The samaritans - what aircraft do they fly?

Good answer though!

I have to get on with life - postponed marriage, postponed dream holidays, a house I want to live in, a car that cost more than my ( admittedly low) IQ etc etc, not hanging around spending my hard earned on more flying, more courses, lost weekends chasing a few extra hours in a C152.

When would you decide enough is enough?


And if all these airlines are so desperate, why are there lots of even more desperate unemployed pilots?

[Bean75767]

Guys, I don't envy your position one bit, but I do know what it is like to be there. The most important thing is not to give up. The dream job needs to be WON not just got. In the mean time, maybe try looking to the less well paid t/prop operators and really learning the trade. Nothing beats learning how to fly about in all kinds of weather at all times of day and night. The bonus to this is getting paid for it, accumulating hours and at your next jet job interview having an airline at the top of 'Previous Employment'. Not too many people want to go down this route, instead favouring spending cash on a 737/A320 rating with no guarantees but a very happy smiling TRTO promising you the world if you spend even more cash on the base training to go with the type rating.
This time last year a friend of mine paid for his own rating on a shed. He joined another shed operator (not the TRTO) and narrowly avoided redundancy during a winter downturn as some of the f/os more senior to him moved on to bigger things. He has just secured himself a position on a regional jet. In 12 months.! Where will you be in 12 months from now? Still wondering if you should call it a day and get a 'normal' job, or securing your second airline job on a jet.
Remember, whatever the bird, the adult will soar high with confidence, the chick will learn by experience.
Good luck to you all ;)

[Ray D'Avecta]

Hi Guys, and Gals,

I second everything the previous poster said. Dont give up......it will happen........just a case of when.

I got my first job at 34, and 2 years later, ended up at a major European flag carrier. I have a mate who got a 757 position with a charter airline, straight after his modular CPL/IR at the age of 40. Similarly, I know 2 or 3 guys who got their first jobs on Turboprops with a UK regional operator. all were 38 or over.

Basically, it has happened in the past,.........and it will still happen in the future.........you just need to put yourself in the position to be the one it happens to!!!!

My advice is to not give up, but instead, re-focus your efforts. Give yourself a competitive advantage.......use the age to your advantage by highlighting the advantages it gives you over others, highlight additional skills your other pre-flying jobs gave you, make contacts.......people our age are the very people in airlines that are making recommendations to chief pilots.......and you will have more in common with them than a 21 year old!!!

Also, do not confine your job search to the UK, and the common bombardment of anything resembling an airline with your cv!!! Do your research, understand the industry, and reflect these in your cv covering letter. Read Airliner World, in addition to the likes of flight international.........know who is acquiring aircraft and expanding, opening new bases, etc.........and target them specifically.....it impresses.

Look all over the world, and apply to even the unlikeliest companies. If Air Taliban are recruiting, apply!!! :ooh: Use them as a practise application if nothing else............and if you get offered a job and subsequently turn them down...........at least you've proven to yourself that it can be done, and you should not give up!!!!!!!!

Good luck :ok:

(PS - India seems to be a market that is crying out for pilots at the mo)

[jamestkirk]

Windsheer

Thats where i have been going wrong. I actually have to send CV and apply to airlines.

Get it on the right desk at the right time: when is that exactly.

OK. I will definately NOT wait for an advert. I cannot believe i have done that. Where on earth did i send those 400, yes 400 CV's.

Oh, bloody hell. You mean the smaller airlines. And there is me with my 600 hours in a C152 sending my details to Virgin and Emirates.

Why, oh why, oh why, has no-one given me this advice before.

Thanks windsheer. You are a career GURU amongst un-educated would be F/O pagans.

JTK

[pablo]

Windsheer,

your first post was a bit bitter too, so please.

I think next time will be better to take a whip or a stick along and hit us yelling: "Lazy boys, ROW!!!ROW!!!" like in the galleys.

Most of us do whatever is needed to get a job, so you should understand someone getting annoyed when you are treating him like a dumb. At least next time you could try to be less authoritarian and more complacent and constructive when giving advice.

Some of us are even sending CVs (or even handing in and droping by from time to time) for Ops Desk jobs and baggage handling so please don't take for granted that we are just waiting 24hrs in front of the screen for a job offer to appear in the Wannabes subforum of pprune.

Regards,

pablo

[CAP509castaway]

Hi have you contacted ryanair or jet2 or thomsonfly?
If not why not?How lomg ago did you get the 737 Rating ?Now is the best time to get a job so get on the phone and put yourself in the shop window!

Good Luck!!!:ok:

[jamestkirk]

It's quite obvious we are not 'pals'.

If you actually read the post, its quite obvious, it was a bit of a laugh.

But, like one or two other egotisticals on this forum, you take offence to being questioned, take it too seriously and resort to insults.

Stop taking life too seriously, I can hear your arteries hardening from here.

See. No insults or angst coming through here.