Thundercat
19th Jul 2002, 15:56
Options, options....it's nice to have them don't you think? But I'm at a juncture in life which has some is throwing some serious decisions at me! I've recently finished my job to concentrate on a career as an aviator of some sort. Nothing new there in this forum I hear you say. Indeed you're probably right - there are clearly thousands of Wannabees out there and a dauntingly large pool of unemployed yet experienced airline pilots. Yet one day, in I dare say in the not too distant future, an advertisement will be found in the Classified section of Flight International in very small print for XXX airline recruiting or sponsoring. That advert will be known about within nanoseconds of the magazine hitting the shelves and naturally this Pprune forum will be flooded with posts on the merits, drawbacks and conspiracy theories on the subject. All well and good, but the killer question is - What makes you think you are good enough? :confused: :confused:
I'm sure none of us doubt that hundreds if not thousands of applications will be sent when this happens. And it will happen. It is just a question of when. Yet each of us has an innate arrogance to believe we may be in with a chance, at least for an interview. What is this based on? I'd love to believe that I could secure a job put against the rest of you but that just isn't reality.
You see my point here is that largely, from a recruitment perspective, we are all the same. Ok, you may be able to filter out a few that don't meet the medical standards or the GAPAN aptitude tests, but on paper by a large, most of us will be seen as the same - wannabees of varying flying hours and experience having the same tunnel vision that a flying career is what they were made for. The airlines will be laughing when it comes to recruitment time again. They are gonna have a plethora of highly skilled, self-funded wannabees to choose from, many with over 1000 hours P1! And what is more, this wealthy pool of airline pilot potentials is vast enough to fill any posts for a good few years as it currently stands!:confused:
This is definitely not normal behaviour! No other recruitment processes would expect such high risk investment in their career in the face of such adversity. The 50 - 60k that many are investing in their airline hopeful careers, would quite comfortably get you through 4-5 years of medical or law school with an almost guaranteed first job and a handsome salary to go with it! But you've got to love the Wannabees for their steely nerve and blind faith in their dedication. I'd be lying if it doesn't scare the hell out of me, but somehow I get reassurance from knowing I'm not alone in this endeavour. And please, please, Saddam keep your index finger away from that red button, and Bush just try to say something that isn't controversial for once - we Wannabees don't need any further setbacks - our nerves and certainly our bank accounts couldn't hack another 11/9! :eek:
So guys and girls, what can we do to improve our prospects? At the moment we are all competing by ploughing more money into hours and ratings in an attempt to stand out above the crowd. I don't believe the situation has ever been this tough. But surely there must be a better way? Can we put more pressure on the government to help or maybe secure more private investment deals? The essence of the Malgus idea isn't such a bad one, but one would have more confidence if perhaps it was CAA backed or run. Does anyone else have any ideas on this? Surely what we need is more creative thinking, rather than just ploughing on with hours building and currency like most of us have become obsessed with. Sorry to sound a bit Nat-West here, but come on guys, there has to be a better way! Through the skills and knowledge in this forum I’m sure we can generate some really new thinking and apply some significant pressure where we need to.
Reply, even if it's a seemingly meaningless idea or comment, just reply - it might just be the change of direction we need.
The Cat.
I'm sure none of us doubt that hundreds if not thousands of applications will be sent when this happens. And it will happen. It is just a question of when. Yet each of us has an innate arrogance to believe we may be in with a chance, at least for an interview. What is this based on? I'd love to believe that I could secure a job put against the rest of you but that just isn't reality.
You see my point here is that largely, from a recruitment perspective, we are all the same. Ok, you may be able to filter out a few that don't meet the medical standards or the GAPAN aptitude tests, but on paper by a large, most of us will be seen as the same - wannabees of varying flying hours and experience having the same tunnel vision that a flying career is what they were made for. The airlines will be laughing when it comes to recruitment time again. They are gonna have a plethora of highly skilled, self-funded wannabees to choose from, many with over 1000 hours P1! And what is more, this wealthy pool of airline pilot potentials is vast enough to fill any posts for a good few years as it currently stands!:confused:
This is definitely not normal behaviour! No other recruitment processes would expect such high risk investment in their career in the face of such adversity. The 50 - 60k that many are investing in their airline hopeful careers, would quite comfortably get you through 4-5 years of medical or law school with an almost guaranteed first job and a handsome salary to go with it! But you've got to love the Wannabees for their steely nerve and blind faith in their dedication. I'd be lying if it doesn't scare the hell out of me, but somehow I get reassurance from knowing I'm not alone in this endeavour. And please, please, Saddam keep your index finger away from that red button, and Bush just try to say something that isn't controversial for once - we Wannabees don't need any further setbacks - our nerves and certainly our bank accounts couldn't hack another 11/9! :eek:
So guys and girls, what can we do to improve our prospects? At the moment we are all competing by ploughing more money into hours and ratings in an attempt to stand out above the crowd. I don't believe the situation has ever been this tough. But surely there must be a better way? Can we put more pressure on the government to help or maybe secure more private investment deals? The essence of the Malgus idea isn't such a bad one, but one would have more confidence if perhaps it was CAA backed or run. Does anyone else have any ideas on this? Surely what we need is more creative thinking, rather than just ploughing on with hours building and currency like most of us have become obsessed with. Sorry to sound a bit Nat-West here, but come on guys, there has to be a better way! Through the skills and knowledge in this forum I’m sure we can generate some really new thinking and apply some significant pressure where we need to.
Reply, even if it's a seemingly meaningless idea or comment, just reply - it might just be the change of direction we need.
The Cat.