Looking for a Job

[Aerodramaticist]

Hey everybody,

since I´m new to PPRuNe and the world of aviation I´ll first like to introduce myself. I´m from germany and did my flighttraining at InterCockpit. I graduated in october and recieved my licence plus all the other necessary stuff in november.
I already applied at 135 companies and it looks like I´m pretty screwed right now. Having only about 200hours in aviation and no TR is, like you all know, very hard to sell.
Well... I´m still hoping for the best, even in times like these.
It would be glad if someone who was in a similar situation could tell me how he made into the cockpit. I´m willing to do and fly anything everywhere. Bushflying in Africa or being a flightinstructor on SE piston in America, I would take every opportunity.
I encourage everyone to share their experiences.
Thanks

P.s. I did not use the search tool, just hoping a thread like this does not already exist and if it does, its not up to date.

[RTN11]

I'm sure Halfwayback will be along to close this one soon, but basically you should have done your research before you did you CPL/IR as to how you would get a job at the end of it.

You've already listed your options, instructing or bush flying being the main two, but even those are very competitive now.

There is no shortage of inexperienced pilots, so you need to get over the 1000 hour mark somehow.

[Ixixly]

Good for you, you applied to a bunch of jobs a month ago and haven't heard back and are starting to panic... if you'd done your research you'd have been ready to go to Africa in November to be in time for their hiring season but you've missed that turn off now...

And you couldn't be bothered to use the very simple search function to see whats been mentioned before? Sorry to sound hostile but god help us all!! Theres a myriad of threads on here covering this EXACT TOPIC, stop being a lazy turd and expecting someone to give you the answer on a silver platter. If you can't figure this part out and are panicking that you haven't walked straight out of training into a job then do us all a favour now and go find a new career before you leave a smoking hole in the ground and take some other poor souls with you.

Rant over!

[Aerodramaticist]

First of all, thank you for your opinions, I appreciate them. Even if they sound hostile and question my ability to fly an aircraft.
Second, I´m not panicking, just considering other possibilities. I´ve done my research and know what I have to do to convert my licence into a SAA one, if I want to do so. I also have a contact at a flightschool there.
I wasn´t expecting an answer on a silver platter just hoping that someone would share his or her experiences.
Saying that I didn´t use the search tool should be a joke... I saw a lot of threads and wanted to start a new one anyway for several reasons.
And yes I´m concerned about the job situation although I applied for a bunch of jobs a month ago, I recieved a lot of rejections.
I also did my research before I started the CPL course and to defend myself I have to say, at that time the situation seemed way better. My school was cooperating with several airlines and the class who started before mine is in a selection process. They shut the doors just before I was finished. What was in October/november which also explains why I´m not already in Africa.

[Flying Mechanic]

Only been looking for 4 months, took me 3 years!! Out of the 135 , how many doors have you knocked on?to make it in this profession, think outside the box.

[FairPilot]

Don´t just apply for flying positions, today the offices are full of people with licences waiting for a chance to get into a cockpit.

[Turbavykas]

Hello Aerodramaticist,

How did you manage to find 135 companies? I have been applying for almost a year already. I haven't been counting but I don't expect the number to be so high! I haven't tried a lot of French or German speaking countries because I think I have no any chances there. I thought situation in Germany was one of the best actually compared to other countries. I saw adds even without TR there. Usually I don't even get rejection letters :) I have seen some movement in Russian speaking countries but nothing yet.

[Aerodramaticist]

Hi Turbavykas,

I did some internet research and found a platform with a great amount of airlines in every part of the world. Then I started with Germany, Austria and Switzerland continued with europe and finished with the whole world.
Many of this airlines didn´t even publish if they have requirements so I just applied proactive.
From little single engine planes for local flight to big airlines which fly all over the world I wrote letters to em all, and still are writing.

[Pace152]

Here's a tip for you, might be worth a go.

If you speak German get yourself on a flight to Namibia now and go knock on some doors, I'm fairly sure they may still hire in Jan/Feb and if you speak German you'll have a big advantage.

Start of in Windhoek and then go to Swakopmund if nothing doing there.

Best of luck :ok:

[RTN11]

I can't see one post on here which would question your ability to fly an aeroplane.

I'm sure we all expect that you can fly an aeroplane just as well as anyone fresh out of flight school with a CPL/IR. Unfortunately, modern airline flying is actually very little to do with your ability to fly an aeroplane, since the autopilot does that, and very much more to do with decision making, fuel planning, and understanding weather systems, all of which can be gained purely from experience. Therefore you will really struggle to find a decent job without some hours behind you, or paying for a type rating and likely line training too.

The only reason you are being met with hostility is your lack of research, and your comment about the search function.

Buzzing out 135 cvs is pretty much useless, you'd be far better off finding 10 companies that are actually likely to hire you and make appointments to see people, phone them, badger them, follow them round, talk to people who already work there, do their laundry, whatever it takes to get a job.

[Aerodramaticist]

I was refering to Ixixlys´ last sentence but however. If I knew 10 companies which are likley to hire me I would do as you just said RTN11. Fact is I don´t. I would lick your boots if you can tell me some.
Writing that much applications might not seem clever to you but I say to myself that only one of them has to say yes to make my dream come true.
I´m on the waiting list of several airlines which would be my first choice, I phoned them up and they told me I there will be no screening in 2013.
So I wait and do some research about africa, america and asia. This thread was thought for people to tell me how they managed to do it. Where have they done their licence conversion? What subjects did they have to rewrite, how many flying hours does it take, which flying companies can they recommend and so on.

[RTN11]

There are none that will take you on fresh from school without you paying for more training.

The airline I always wanted to work for seemed to require 1000+ hours, so from day one I factored an instructor rating and instructing for a few years into my plans. 4 years after quitting my office job to start ATPL studies I'm now working for that very airline, but I was targeting myself towards them from day one.

If I'd ever applied to Ryanair for example (which I never did) I'm sure they wouldn't even of asked me to interview, because I never set myself up as what they wanted.

Different airlines have different recruitment needs, and so you need to target yourself at what you want.

[Piloto2011]

RTN11, Well said. Great advice. Could not agree more.

[pilotchute]

Aiminghigh,

Where in Asia are you going to look? I can tell you now that the only place hiring expats in Asia with 200 hours is Susi Air. Unfortunately they don't interview walk ins so you will have to submit your resume with the hundreds of others they get a month. There were some jobs going in Indonesia in the past but they have caught on quickly that silly 200 hour foreigners will pay big dollars to sit in the RHS of anything!

[Aerouk]

The company I'm working for get a huge amount of CVs, applications and letters every week, they're then put into a huge folder by an administrator and then binned a month later.

It's tough right now! You need to think out of the box rather than doing the same thing that thousands of others are doing, I recently seen an application from a low hour pilot offering to be our office cleaner if we didn't have any roles!! :ugh:

[zondaracer]

The problem is, despite the bad economy and pilot outlook, everyone who starts training these days is thinking......
Dumb and Dumber - You're telling me there's a chance - YouTube