Graduation from OAT and FTE

[link4]

Hi,

I was hoping if anyone could shed some light on the likelyhood of getting a job after or within say 6 months of training from FTE as opposed to OAT, I realise no job is guaranteed and all FTO's will say anything and everything under the sun to get their hands on our money!

But i would like to know the success rate for both integrated courses from people who have previously attended or have had experiences.

Cheers ;)

[scoobiedont]

I graduated from OAT around 6 months ago (Integrated) and not a single interview. :(

[97robem]

The thing to remember is that, roughly, for every FTE student there are two OAT students as the amount on each monthly course at OAT is double that at FTE so for example if OAT were to say ,and i stress were,that 50% of their students find a job within 6 months of completing the course this would relate to 100% of FTE students by number so it is very difficult to give a percentage of people who get jobs after training without doing the calculations of how one schools results correalate to the others in terms of actual numbers of students.

[PILOTOWL]

TWIT-TWOO !!

Firstly, you have as much chance as everybody else - doesn't really matter if it's PilOAT (I haven't forgotten) of FTE , intergrated/modular, FAA (then conversion) or straight JAA.

You'll find many schools are quite dishonest about employment. They will never be honest (they'd be bust within a week). If they said that they trained 250 people last year and say 80 got employment that would be more honest and thus draw our own conclusion. However, schools use percentages and other "techniques" to massage the figures.

Finally, This word "Graduate" that alot of the big 4 use. You will Never Ever be a graduate from these unless they start doing a 3 year University programme. Its a way of them talking themselves up. Let "we" be honest the exams are A level at the top level with a dash of GCSE maths and physics.

I prefer the word "pilot" as thats what your training for.

TWIT-TWOO!!!!!:O

[michaelknight]

TWIT-TWOO !!

I graduated from FTE many moons ago, and I'll be bluntly honest, they did sweet f*** all to help in getting a job & SFA communiation too. I got through the course on time. A friend of mine recently finished and he got through on time as well, but still the same deal. So I hope you know the CEO of an airline.

But to answer the intial question, it took 9 months to get an interview, and 2 came in the one month. Just like a bus. I took one of the jobs on offer.

MK

TWIT-TWOO !!

[Superpilot]

link4,

I considered the above two mentioned FTO's too. Asked many people about job prospects but in the end decided it was not worth it. Personally, I would only pay that sort of money for a training course if a job was guaranteed on paper. I then looked into the Oxford Waypoint programme. Which is Modular but also boasts employment support. After a few words with them about the course I am now satisfied that it too is marketing hype. Stapleford Modular here we come! :cool:

[finals]

I was an Oxford APP graduate on a course that finished about 3 months ago, and i'm one of 7 on a course of 12 who have jobs, with the rest going through interviews at the moment. I think the courses directly before and after us have above 50% of their students in emplyoment already.

As far as I know, no-one on our course has any regrets about doing the course and going to Oxford.

Good luck :ok:

[97robem]

I would be interested to hear off past students of FTE who have finished their training. Do the help you look for jobs etc or do they just leave you in the lurch??? I personally think that the FTO should invest time in you after you have finished your training up until the time you get your first job, after all you are spending £65K + on them!!!

[WingDown]

I believe that alot of it comes down to luck upon graduating from either of these courses. Timing also has alot to do with it. It's in everyones interest for them to do so, it strengthens the schools reputation and places graduates into jobs. However if airlines are not requesting cv's then there is little either can do to assist you. Most reports from people discussing their job successes from any training route usually state the same story, that it was their own hard work that gained them their first job regardless of any assisstance they recieved from their school. Presuming you will be fast tracked into any job after graduating from these courses is unrealistic to say the least.

WD

[Busbo]

Yes, its definitly all down to timing. If you're newly qualified and fresh then not only are you going to be sharper on any technical questions but you'll also be alot more attractive to an airline as someone with such recent hours. As soon as you get a bit of a wait then your hours are getting older all the time and other courses are finishing and churning out fresher pilots than you. So much of it is down to luck and the job market conditions when you finish, you've just got to keep the faith and all that crap people tell you when you're sitting on your arse at home flicking through the back pages of flight international. I should know, that was me since July last year finally landed on my feet now with a really nice airline, I'm sure I'll become just another statistic for Oxford's website now!

[George Foreman]

...whether at OAT, FTE or elsewhere, and I'm fairly sure the schools in question would agree.

The hard facts are that any FTO (or TRTO for that matter) has a limited number of opportunities for their "graduating" students. Anecdotal evidence is that Oxford put more of their graduates forward for airline interviews, but as has already been pointed out they do train a *lot* of pilots. After visiting several UK FTOs, I went to BAe/FTE and I think your decision to go anywhere has to be based on personal factors, your gut feeling about the place, price, and perceived quality of training (they will all spin the "Ps" of the marketing mix to their own advantage, so make sure you have your b-s filter switched on!). You 'pays your money and takes your choice' ... be prepared for your views on these things to change over time, and be prepared to come out of any training school with little more than a blue-bound licence and, importantly, a decent character reference ... otherwise don't expect any guarantees!

In my experience any airline worth it's salt will want their own representatives to assess you directly in a sim of their choosing, and many are really looking for just a little more experience and for you to have shown just a little more determination than you will have demonstrated straight out of an integrated school.

With an integrated course, once you pay your first deposit there *are* no further choices! While these schools (amongst others, I know) provide excellent basic training, with hindsight I would have liked to have moved on from my ab-initio schooling after the IR, and to have done the MCC and any Jet Orientation training at a proper TRTO where this type of advanced training is their core business, standardisation is assured, and they have better connections with a wider variety of airline customers, on a daily basis.

I became an Instructor, kept all of my ratings more than current, buddied up with others preparing for airline selections at places like PARC and GECAT, undertook a couple of 737-sim sessions myself and got my most useful references from the instructors (all current TRI/TREs at major airlines) at these places. Almost a year after leaving Jerez, and as the winter was starting to spoil my fun, I took the decision to self sponsor an A320 rating on a pre-approved airline scheme. Timing is everything of course and no sooner than the ink was dry on the contract, I had offers of interview from 2 other jet and one TP operator, so yes, the analogy with London buses is a good one! I'm now flying shiny new A320s and I have an open offer of employment from the offspring of a well known UK-based carrier, so while all this might have taken a little longer than I'd hoped, the journey has been fun, and I'm happy :-)

Airline industry hiring is highly cyclical as we all know, so the statistics for all schools (integrated and modular), will vary markedly with market demand over time ...they *ought* to be much better right now. Looking back I think the important thing is to realise that however good your marks are, as a low hours pilot you are very much a "semi finished product", with very little really to differentiate you from the next guy or gal, and there are still quite a few of us for the airlines to choose from ...

Just my two penneth, don't shoot me down!
George

[jamesiek]

In my opinion, with regards to getting a job after training, the most important thing is that you have something a little extra that distinguishes you from the crowd and may help you get a job. At an ab initio stage, training and experience amoung all candidates is relatively low so if you have for example, a college education, say a degree or a masters then i believe this would be a huge help in attaining that much sought after first job and will place you in higher regard amoung employers.

Note: This is just my opinion, criticisms welcomed!

[97robem]

Do you not think that experience within the aviation industry also has a big impact on how airlines view you? A recent survey that was performed by GAPAN and which was sent out to all the major airlines asking them questions regarding what they look for in pilots etc ranked education 7th in the list. So in terms of degrees i think airlines have made their perfectly clear, i think that FTO's, when offering "sponsorship" deals have to look at A levels and Degrees just to wittle down the vast number of candidates to a more managable chunk.

I do feel with a passion that experience and doing a hands on job in the aviation field, such as crew, dispatcher, flight planner etc says much more about you as a determined person wanting to suceed as a pilot than someone who goes to UNI, as you want to get experience and the best way to do that is hands on as the majority of information about the aviation industry can not be learnt from books, after all the basic maths and physics etc that are required for gaining your ATPL are not higher than A level so a degree is not really needed.

I am under no illusion that some people will disagree with my views and therefore I would appreciate any feedback on what you think of my views be it postive or negative, especially from people who have progressed into airlines as flight deck members and how they have have got theire and what they did.

Thanks for your time.