Where have all the jobs gone?
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Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Somewhere between AU & NZ
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Where have all the jobs gone?
After arriving in oz over 6 months ago and taking up a job buzzing round the outback on cattle stations i'm finding myself stuck in a rut and looking for a job outside of aviation because i can't find any in!
I've since left the outback and have now taken up watching the sun travel across the sky and the bank balance go down!
Not to mention calling as many CP's as i can find the numbers for!
When i came over in June there were jobs left right an centre and now... zilch! Help anyone?
440TT, MECIR, CSU/Retractable, Tailwheel...
Perhaps time to take up the dreaded 'Controlled Death Prevention' and get the instructors rating?
I've since left the outback and have now taken up watching the sun travel across the sky and the bank balance go down!
Not to mention calling as many CP's as i can find the numbers for!When i came over in June there were jobs left right an centre and now... zilch! Help anyone?
440TT, MECIR, CSU/Retractable, Tailwheel...
Perhaps time to take up the dreaded 'Controlled Death Prevention' and get the instructors rating?
Join Date: Dec 2003
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FloRider...welcome to aviation circa 1990s'. The period we have just witnessed in aviation i.e. jobs abound for everyone is the first time I have seen it like that in my 24 year career. I suspect it will be the last...who really knows?
What I do know is that if we are heading back to the period like the early 90s' then only those that are dedicated to making a career out of aviation will still be around for the next "boom." Aviation comes at a price and I'm not just talking about the monetary cost of licences, endorsements etc.
Personally I have taken time out from the industry these last 2 years and have found life outside of aviation extremely rewarding...earning up to 4 times as much as I ever did as a regional airline pilot...and having some really good bosses. I think the best thing has been the appreciation that they show for my efforts. Not only has the financial side of it been rewarding I have also managed to have six months off in those two years (and still earn 4 times as much???) However this "moment" of skills shortage is now over and it's back to the millstone for me.
As for jobs they are being removed from the landscape at a great rate of knots. Especially in the mining industry, contracts are being suspended...engineers are being laid off, whole divisions are shutting up shop. The last mine I was at laid off 80 workers in one go. Not sure why this isn't making the news headlines yet??
If there is any good news in this it's that if you are worth employing and can make yourself valuable to the company then you will still get work...it's just that the days of walking in off the street and getting a start straight away are over...til the next time.
PS if I could offer any advice it would be to leave the phone calls for every one else and get on the road...back out west and up north.
What I do know is that if we are heading back to the period like the early 90s' then only those that are dedicated to making a career out of aviation will still be around for the next "boom." Aviation comes at a price and I'm not just talking about the monetary cost of licences, endorsements etc.
Personally I have taken time out from the industry these last 2 years and have found life outside of aviation extremely rewarding...earning up to 4 times as much as I ever did as a regional airline pilot...and having some really good bosses. I think the best thing has been the appreciation that they show for my efforts. Not only has the financial side of it been rewarding I have also managed to have six months off in those two years (and still earn 4 times as much???) However this "moment" of skills shortage is now over and it's back to the millstone for me.
As for jobs they are being removed from the landscape at a great rate of knots. Especially in the mining industry, contracts are being suspended...engineers are being laid off, whole divisions are shutting up shop. The last mine I was at laid off 80 workers in one go. Not sure why this isn't making the news headlines yet??
If there is any good news in this it's that if you are worth employing and can make yourself valuable to the company then you will still get work...it's just that the days of walking in off the street and getting a start straight away are over...til the next time.
PS if I could offer any advice it would be to leave the phone calls for every one else and get on the road...back out west and up north.
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'Ralph', it's uninformed cynical comments like yours that piss soo many people off on this forum. I don't feel the need to justify to you why i left the station job and speculation is usually only destructive. Oh and your comments about 'back in the day' and taking a stab at my generation is pure generalisation. Why do you think i went into the outback to start with?
The point of the post was to discuss the current job climate and to see if anyone knew of an opportunity out there that i might be able to follow up on. Save your whinging for somone elses thread.
E & H - Thanks for your comments, if i could hit the road i would (no vehicle). It just seems such a waste of money to be looking at other industries so early on in the peice.
The point of the post was to discuss the current job climate and to see if anyone knew of an opportunity out there that i might be able to follow up on. Save your whinging for somone elses thread.
E & H - Thanks for your comments, if i could hit the road i would (no vehicle). It just seems such a waste of money to be looking at other industries so early on in the peice.
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Don,t know much but just making phone calls never worked for me. It always seemed that if you turn up at an office of a company that you may wish to work for (or even make an appointment) wearing some neat clothes and with a positive attitude then the jobs are easier to find.
Just my 2 cents
Just my 2 cents
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Florider, your backlash at Ralph just proves his point even further. Your response makes you sound just like one of the generation y that he was explaining that you say not to generalise about. I think he has proved his point. I think Ralphs comment were valid and polite, and provided some worthy advice and not in any way deserving of your response.
I will be less polite- take your 400hrs and go back to the bush in your "rut"(geez you must have done at least 200hrs out there), come back when you have some decent hours and lost the attitude.........................and then you may find your next job
or
go back to where you came from
I will be less polite- take your 400hrs and go back to the bush in your "rut"(geez you must have done at least 200hrs out there), come back when you have some decent hours and lost the attitude.........................and then you may find your next job
or
go back to where you came from
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just out of interest, I check the AFAP aviation pages every day just to see what sort of job demands there are. Here's one that was posted today:
Renaissance Air
Expressions of interest are requested from motivated, professional, twin-engine pilots seeking entry-level part-time/full time employment. The positions are based in Adelaide, South Australia with an expanding, dynamic charter organisation.
Respondents should meet the following criteria:
Essential
* Minimum 500 hours total time
* Current MECIR
* Current DG
* Current Class 1 medical
* CPL(A)
Desirable
* Night experience
* 50 hours under the IFR
All EOIs/queries will be treated confidentially. Telephone enquiries will not be taken. Please forward your CV with covering letter to [email protected]
try that? I had a look at their website - they operate out of Parafield, SA and have a range of a/c. If you don't know it, the AFAP website is http://www.afap.org.au.
Good luck mate. I wish I was in your position
Renaissance Air
Expressions of interest are requested from motivated, professional, twin-engine pilots seeking entry-level part-time/full time employment. The positions are based in Adelaide, South Australia with an expanding, dynamic charter organisation.
Respondents should meet the following criteria:
Essential
* Minimum 500 hours total time
* Current MECIR
* Current DG
* Current Class 1 medical
* CPL(A)
Desirable
* Night experience
* 50 hours under the IFR
All EOIs/queries will be treated confidentially. Telephone enquiries will not be taken. Please forward your CV with covering letter to [email protected]
try that? I had a look at their website - they operate out of Parafield, SA and have a range of a/c. If you don't know it, the AFAP website is http://www.afap.org.au.
Good luck mate. I wish I was in your position
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No Problem FloRider...seems a waste to have all this knowledge about the industry and not make some use of it.. The overriding theme in the coming months/years will be to not give up and to have a plan...and a car. Make use of the xmas period to get a job (while your working your not spending) and put some money together with the view to being ready to hit the road Feb/March next year.
I got my first job that way...with a massive 200 hours and a C210 endorsement. My first ever charter was from Alice to Weipa in a C210 to carry a spare part for a trawler. I flew along the coast of cape yorke and marvelled at all the lights of the trawlers (they had just started a new idea where they would open the Gulf up for seasonal periods and they were all there waiting for the start)
I had to wash planes, work maintenance and bus passengers around for 5 months...anybody that was around in those days will tell of similar stories...we got good at pulling beer, waitering...or in my case anything in civil constuction, waiting for that call to come in for some piecemeal work or the odd charter.
Do not sit around that is what a lot of my mates did..some made it but a lot didn't...also regards Ralph the Bong comments unfortunately what he says appears to have some truth in it. In as much as I work for three companies and they are all telling me the same thing... they are over it with employing younger people. There comments are that they just do not put the work in. Not trying to start a Gen Y bash here...when I was about 35 the big thing was that if you were over 45 you were considered too old. Maybe for once I am in the right age group??? (47)
To add a bit more about the financial side of things I sold down and bought as cheap as possible...e.g. I bought an old HQ station wagon so that if I had to I could sleep in it (never did)...also parts were cheap and even my wife learnt how to get out when the lights were green and politely give the prick behind who was tooting his horn, the bird, while diving under the bonnet and unjamming the gear selectors before driving off just as the lights turned red again.
Anyways just don't stop trying and take on board all comments here...a lot of experience from people who have had to do it the hard way...and they survived.
I got my first job that way...with a massive 200 hours and a C210 endorsement. My first ever charter was from Alice to Weipa in a C210 to carry a spare part for a trawler. I flew along the coast of cape yorke and marvelled at all the lights of the trawlers (they had just started a new idea where they would open the Gulf up for seasonal periods and they were all there waiting for the start)
I had to wash planes, work maintenance and bus passengers around for 5 months...anybody that was around in those days will tell of similar stories...we got good at pulling beer, waitering...or in my case anything in civil constuction, waiting for that call to come in for some piecemeal work or the odd charter.
Do not sit around that is what a lot of my mates did..some made it but a lot didn't...also regards Ralph the Bong comments unfortunately what he says appears to have some truth in it. In as much as I work for three companies and they are all telling me the same thing... they are over it with employing younger people. There comments are that they just do not put the work in. Not trying to start a Gen Y bash here...when I was about 35 the big thing was that if you were over 45 you were considered too old. Maybe for once I am in the right age group??? (47)
To add a bit more about the financial side of things I sold down and bought as cheap as possible...e.g. I bought an old HQ station wagon so that if I had to I could sleep in it (never did)...also parts were cheap and even my wife learnt how to get out when the lights were green and politely give the prick behind who was tooting his horn, the bird, while diving under the bonnet and unjamming the gear selectors before driving off just as the lights turned red again.
Anyways just don't stop trying and take on board all comments here...a lot of experience from people who have had to do it the hard way...and they survived.
Last edited by E&H; 3rd Dec 2008 at 06:00.
Perhaps time to take up the dreaded 'Controlled Death Prevention' and get the instructors rating?
The point of the post was to discuss the current job climate and to see if anyone knew of an opportunity out there that i might be able to follow up on
Why do you think i went into the outback to start with?
Oh, and that key marked "SHIFT" turns am "i" into an "I". If you ever get around (between watching sunrises) to actually WRITING any applications, I'd learn to use it!
Does it occur to you that CPs and people in recruiting positions read this forum? Do you think the attitude and sloppy English you show here would pre-dispose any of them to hire you when plenty of more qualified, better motivated candidates are available??
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It seems like a big risk these days to even consider contemplating spending the $$$ and doing a CPL. Can anyone advise a newbie like myself, if you do land a job in the outback on a cattle station, can you survive on the pay, considering you will need to buy necessities such as food, cloths and accommodation? Or do most have to work two jobs in order to survive?
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If you work for a cattle station they usually supply food and accomodation, which leaves you not much to spend your cash on, except grog of course...
Ralph,
With due respect you have no fecking idea.
Whingeing about a Command after 18 months, try asking about Commands or Jet upgrades less than 18 DAYS into F/O line training.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
With due respect you have no fecking idea.
Whingeing about a Command after 18 months, try asking about Commands or Jet upgrades less than 18 DAYS into F/O line training.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Boys its the same as this every year 
It goes quite as the wet hits up north and all the nomads retreat south, the government charter stops while the public servants take leave and in general it all halts a little. Many pilots head south for Christmas knocking off MECIRS/ATPL's etc and when the roads get wet the charter kicks off again along with the hiring.
Come Jan/March it will be on the boil again and the movement will start all over
It goes quite as the wet hits up north and all the nomads retreat south, the government charter stops while the public servants take leave and in general it all halts a little. Many pilots head south for Christmas knocking off MECIRS/ATPL's etc and when the roads get wet the charter kicks off again along with the hiring.
Come Jan/March it will be on the boil again and the movement will start all over
2 things, Sir Joe will always be the only "Florider". And I can't believe it hasn't been said yet, " Phuck off back to New Zealand", kiwi's that come to oz thinking the joint owes them a living give me the ****ts.
" Phuck off back to New Zealand", kiwi's that come to oz thinking the joint owes them a living give me the ****ts.
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Flo,
It seems like 500TT, 700TT and 1000TT are good numbers. Why would you not stick around to increase your chances of finding that next job? Keep in mind that your next potential employer will look at how long you lasted in the dust.
Think like this.. if you were a CP would you take yourself on?
Good luck
It seems like 500TT, 700TT and 1000TT are good numbers. Why would you not stick around to increase your chances of finding that next job? Keep in mind that your next potential employer will look at how long you lasted in the dust.
Think like this.. if you were a CP would you take yourself on?
Good luck