After 3 months of looking got my first airline job.... AND I TURNED IT DOWN
 

Finished the IR in March this year.. been looking for a job ever since... nothing then all of a sudden three interviews on the cards.

i went for an interview last week with emerald....
got the phone call offered a job on the BAE 748 flying approx 3 hours per day... 18K etc etc etc..

BUT have to pay out 10+K for the rating to enter the hold for the "next available" job...

So I said NO !!! now think maybe i am mad.. but did not want to jump into the first thing that came along especially as they are the only people to fly this lovely by antique aeroplane..

if i have made a good move or bad.. we will only see...

TR2004

Personally I think you did the right thing, as you said, a 748 type rating isn't going to be much use after Emerald.

Gutsiest move I ever saw, man ! :cool:

Probably the right decision. There are people out there who paid out for their TR training with Emerald...............and waited and waited and waited. Several were offered jobs with other airlines but I think there might be one or two still waiting.

Brave decision and I hope I would do the same if I was in your shoes.

Each to his own, but it sounds like you made a sensible decision to me !! Good luck !:ok:

Never pass a job offer.

500hrs of experience later you'll find a whole host of airline more interested in your CV than now.

Mind you it is about the crumiest deal around. Been the springboard for many a pilots later glittering career though. Only three years ago people would have been climbing over each other for the job you just turned down.

Things are looking up. Expansion in the Middle East, India, Asia and China is really starting to bite now and there are NO contract pilots out of work anywhere. Pretty soon the deals to go Expat will start to get good enough to tempt people out of the less well paying/too hard working airlines.

When that happens things will get most interesting. I'd hate to be the mug that predicts a pilot shortage but a lot of people are uttering the words under their breath again.

Experienced capable Captains have been a rare commodity for some time now. Experienced capable First Officers are finding they have more career options right now and in time they will become a more rare commodity.

All good news for the Wannabes. So maybe turning down this job will prove to be a good move. Hindisght will be a wonderful thing.

Good luck,


WWW

thereceiver2004
 

That must have been a tough decision. Some people on prune have said that they would do what you have just done. Not sure how many actually would have had the guts to do it.

To not sell yourself under what you think you are worth is a dignified decision.

Hopefully more will take your example and so try and improve T&C's by action (if needed).

I hope you find the job you want. That would make two of us!

Gutsy move turning down a first job, even if it was on the 748!

Hope the other interviews work out for you

I would like to think I would of done the same as you, But until it happens I don't know if I would? However, I totally understand your logic, Seems sensible.

Good luck with your future, I am sure it will come together?

YYZ

On your head be it! This post may sound angry but it is not supposed to so I apologise now.
As WWW said earlier, 500 hours of flying about in a commercial environment will send you to the top of the tree for interviews and type ratings for next spring and autumn 2006. I hope for your sake that you are not in the same position next year. 18K with a bond is not unreasonable for the experience you will get. If you work your sums, 500 hours will put you in the frame for that currently illusive jet job on a salary of about £35k with flight pay and extras taking you to about 40ish. I don't believe that the bond would warrant not leaving and paying it off. Always take the first job you are offered or why did you apply in the first place? Once you are in it is fairly easy to move about, I hope you don't stay on the outside too long. This industry is only so big, and all the training captains and fleet managers know each other if only by association. I hope this move doesn't return to bite you on the @rse.!!

;) The 748 is a brilliant machine. At 21,000kgs (or thereabouts) it's heavier than an F27, and really comes close to being a Heavy Turbo Prop. (If you ever want a laugh, check out the drill for radio crate failure).(Very British).
As a stepping stone I would have thought the job a good idea.
After all, if you stuck it for a while and then moved on to jets; your increased pay would very soon allow you to make up the £10k you'd already forked out.
But the idea that you should spend a lot of money and then enter a holding pool is, in my opinion, usurious. In fact, I wonder whether such a requirement on their part is even legal?
I am sure that six months after you'd finished the rating you would be told that you were no longer current - more conditions, more moolah!
Let me refer you to the website: www. bad-aviationjobs.com, there you will find mention of Emerald under the paragraph on Eastern.
A lucky escape, I should have thought.
Good luck anyway.
:=

;) Sorry to butt in again.

I have just read Bean75767. If you were actually offered a flight job then I must agree absolutely with him. I was under the impression that you paid your 10k and entered a pool.
If a decent heavy turbine job is available; go for it with both hands. You will indeed then be Cock Robin after the magic 500 ours.:)

Why do people not read properly...:rolleyes:

Bean, old bean, the guy has been asked to pay 10 grand up front, a very big gamble knowing how this company operates with regards actually getting a start with them. If it was a bond, then yes take it, but pay up front is a different matter.

thereceiver2004, who are the other interviews with?

Just Re-read it. The bit that stood out was "got a call & offered Job". A bit of research on Emerald would show fairly high turn over of staff so holding time not likely to be that long. However nothing to stop one accepting offer and carrying on search with at least 'something in the bag'. If thinking of spending that kind of money on a type rating then try other t-prop operators too. You never know who might need a self sponsoring F/O at this time of year. Good Luck

Bad move mate, lets say there was a terrorist attcak on a BA jumbo tommorrow or a 9/11 event. You would be stuffed for 5 years. What is wrong with people nowadays, a licence is not a right to a job. Yes the market is good but unless your high houred you cannot be so fussy.

Good luck.

I dont think it was a bad move really. I think you might be better off funding something like an ATR rating. It wont cost much more and there are loads of ATR operators worldwide.

Sorry Bean and WWW, but there was no "job offer" just another rip off scheme ! If there was a concrete offer of a job, then you could argue your point. I personally think receiver made the right choice and should be commended for it !

Well done mate !
sp

if emerald want crews they will have to pay for the TR and bond



emerald as a company is on rocky ground at the moment so it could be 10K of your hard earned being wasted if they do go under.

I say plucky move and if there is any and i mean any other job take it

i would steer clear of emerald at all costs take it from someone whos been there

as mentioned in other threads

great crews/engineers /support staff BUT crap management with no management skills between them and a tyrant CEO

Good decision. None of the naysayers have ever worked for this shower....

Avoid!!

Personally I would have said yes as at least it is a secured start on the long ladder and it is a better place to start than other possibilities!
However you have taken a brave step and now other options are available such as mentioned before the ATR/Dash are becoming highly sought after recently and a great place to start from ratings starting at around £16000-£18000 (a bit more than 10k though?)

Well done for turning this down. How anyone can call paying £10,000 to put an obsolete type on their licence a ' secured start' is beyond me.