Needing some advice

[pilot#476398]

Actually its the same story. You can't get good customer service skills as a waiter if you can't find a job to develop those skills.

 

As for plenty of low time jobs? Well there's also pleny of applicants,...too many from what I've seen and heard! While talking with a guy at Heliexpo I asked why Papillon would bother showing up to the job fair there, they must get hundreds of resumes every season. He said yeah they do as well as himself and other employers he knows. He then said he doesn't know how they sort through all those resumes, or why he keeps hearing others say they can't find pilots,...there everywhere, just look at the stack on my desk!

 

If there really were "plenty of low time jobs" you wouldn't have to "be one of the lucky ones" to "catch that break"!

 

From the top you might see plenty of jobs and a booming industry, but from down here at the bottom all I see is long lines, closed doors and no vacancy signs!

Edited March 26, 2014 by pilot#476398

[Flying Pig]

While talking with a guy at Heliexpo I asked why Papillon would bother showing up to the job fair there, they must get hundreds of resumes every season.

Because no matter how many resumes they have emailed to them, nothing beats a face to face conversation.

The job I have now, 26 people made the cut of applications. I don't know how many people actually applied. Of those 26 people, 2 made the effort to travel to the location in person. I was one of those two, and I was probably about the middle based on quals and experience. I traveled 3000 miles for an interview and here I am.

[avbug]

Somehow I doubt that. I don't think you have to work very hard to be uninteresting. Rather, I think it comes very naturally to you.

 

 

You can't help but go out of your way to be an ass, can you?

 

Actually its the same story. You can't get good customer service skills as a waiter if you can't find a job to develop those skills.

 

 

It's not an employers obligation to train you to be a waiter, especially when there is an endless supply of qualified waiters already seeking employment. Your comments seem to suggest that some how the employer bears some burden here.

 

This is aviation. Go get qualified if you want work, but don't complain that no one will hire you for lack of qualifications.

 

There are always qualifications one won't have; specific aircraft type experience, specific kinds of operational experience, and so on. In that case, a particular avenue of work may not be available until one works one's way up to being qualified. It takes time. It's not an easy road. It takes commitment. Such is life.

 

Prospective employees are owed nothing by the employers out there; they're not under an obligation to train you up to be something your'e not yet qualified to be. Nobody owes you experience. If you're not qualified for the job, find a different job, gain experience, and build your career one step at a time.

[helipilotm]

Actually its the same story. You can't get good customer service skills as a waiter if you can't find a job to develop those skills.

 

As for plenty of low time jobs? Well there's also pleny of applicants,...too many from what I've seen and heard! While talking with a guy at Heliexpo I asked why Papillon would bother showing up to the job fair there, they must get hundreds of resumes every season. He said yeah they do as well as himself and other employers he knows. He then said he doesn't know how they sort through all those resumes, or why he keeps hearing others say they can't find pilots,...there everywhere, just look at the stack on my desk!

 

If there really were "plenty of low time jobs" you wouldn't have to "be one of the lucky ones" to "catch that break"!

 

From the top you might see plenty of jobs and a booming industry, but from down here at the bottom all I see is long lines, closed doors and no vacancy signs!

Ok I understand what your saying about the resturant. About all the other stuff...

First off its allot better for the industry to have long lines of pilots and only a few of those getting hired. There will always be pilots who wash out of training. This industry is not as easy as it seems. Sure anybody can wiggle sticks, but it's about using the round thing on top of your shoulders to make decisions. The right one in some situations without thinking about it.

 

Like somebody else said the employers don't owe employees any sort of training. If you don't have the qualifications get a job that's gonna get you where you want to be. I blame the flight schools for marketing the "pipe dream". Its also the pilots fault for not doing the research. And don't complain to me or any other pilot about how "tough it is. I've been there as has every other pilot. If you don't like the price of entrance then do something else!

[cburg]

I assume you’ve worked all the typical angles: networking, cold calling, database mining, mass distributing resumes, posted in Barnstormers, etc. You haven’t done anything until you’ve sent at least a thousand out…in the manufacturing management field anyway...more competitive than piloting. It's a numbers game.

 

This is something that may not work, but it could. I’ve done it with great success when selling aircraft in tough times. Make a one page flyer with your quals and a photo and post it on every GA bulletin board you can find at every airport. You will be amazed how many guys (some rich and influential) look at them while fueling up. They, or somebody they know, may have a slot. It’s a gift that keeps on giving. I’ve had calls years later from airports all over the southeast for an aircraft I sold many years prior. I ask them to toss the flyer…sometimes they leave them up for years.

 

I would typically drive to every airport in a three state area posting flyers. Sounds hokey…but it works…and might work for a job too. But do all the typical stuff first.

[pilot#476398]

Its only when I here that its an employer who's whining that they can't find enough experienced pilots that I believe they should either do something about it, or just shut the hell up!

[helipilotm]

Its only when I here that its an employer who's whining that they can't find enough experienced pilots that I believe they should either do something about it, or just shut the hell up!

 

Hahahaha that seriously made me laugh out loud. They do something about it. They do one of two things. Wait patiently for a qualified candidate or train somebody who is close to being qualified. The company I work for wants a minimum of 3000 total time, 1,000 turbine. Of those totals they want most of it flying at max GW and/or lots of high DA time. They want that for a reason. All of our fire contracts are out west in the high and hot places. They don't want somebody who has 1500 total time and not allot of max GW/high DA dropping a load of firefighters on a ridge at 9,000' and 80 degrees with swirly winds.

 

When I got hired I had all the times except longline time. Guess what? They trained me.

 

If it was me and I wanted to fly tours in the ditch. I would drive/fly in the fall or spring and drop of resumes at all the operators in Vegas and the South rim. And keep in touch with them.

 

I did that, started in Vegas ended up on the South rim. Didn't get a good feeling about any of them until the last one. Was interviewed on the spot and was hired. I couldn't afford to make the trip, it went all on credit cards that were close to maxed out. My wife was pregnant and I had been laid off for 2 months. I had nothing to lose, and it worked out!

 

5 years later I'm happy as can be working for a company I have wanted to work for since I was a commercial student. If your the type to just send a résumé to company's that have a job post out and/or only meet the minimums. Good luck! It's gonna take some effort and persistence. It's a tough industry and a tougher job market.

[pilot#476398]

 

If it was me and I wanted to fly tours in the ditch. I would drive/fly in the fall or spring and drop of resumes at all the operators in Vegas and the South rim. And keep in touch with them.

 

 

 

Me too,...once I get to 1000.

 

If I were the OP though with 1500 hours, I'd just move to Nevada and get a job at a casino. That way I could periodically just "pop-in" for a visit,...and maybe one day, a job offer?

[avbug]

Its only when I here that its an employer who's whining that they can't find enough experienced pilots that I believe they should either do something about it, or just shut the hell up!

 

 

Ataboy! Way to go. You take that big thick resume of yours, all that experience in the industry, and go tell the employers what they need to do. Tell them who to hire, while you're at it, and don't forget to spell out the details.

 

You might want to find a leg to stand on first.

[pilot#476398]

Your attitude always makes me smile!

[Spike]

I did that, started in Vegas ended up on the South rim. Didn't get a good feeling about any of them until the last one. Was interviewed on the spot and was hired.

 

Please clarify for those who continue to fail to understand. That is, how many hours did you have and what was your previous work experience background up to this point?

[helipilotm]

 

Please clarify for those who continue to fail to understand. That is, how many hours did you have and what was your previous work experience background up to this point?

That was 6 years ago not 5 BTW

At that point I had 1400 ish TT and about 50 turbine. My background prior to that was instruction with about 200 hours of "commercial" work (up & downs, photo flights) I was on the 135 ticket in the R44 and B206. I hadn't done much 135 work in the 44 and none in the 206. All my turbine time was ferry flights.

 

Also all of the other company's I had applied to had adds out and didn't require turbine time. The company that hired me didn't have an add and I was 200 hours short of the "minimum" turbine time and 100 short of TT. So again if your going to only apply to jobs that are posted and have the "minimums" good luck.

Edited March 27, 2014 by helipilotm

[Spike]

That was 6 years ago not 5 BTW

At that point I had 1400 ish TT and about 50 turbine. My background prior to that was instruction with about 200 hours of "commercial" work (up & downs, photo flights) I was on the 135 ticket in the R44 and B206. I hadn't done much 135 work in the 44 and none in the 206. All my turbine time was ferry flights.

 

Also all of the other company's I had applied to had adds out and didn't require turbine time. The company that hired me didn't have an add and I was 200 hours short of the "minimum" turbine time and 100 short of TT. So again if your going to only apply to jobs that are posted and have the "minimums" good luck.

 

Thank you for the clarification. Obviously it was your previous work experience which got you the job and not the 1400 hours……. Simply put, it’s what you did during those 1400 hours that counts. And, the fact the bulk of the time was as a CFI is what probably got you in under the minimums….. Either way, you’re a textbook example of how this business works. As it was for me….. And just about every other successful pilot I know….. Nice work!

[aeroscout]

Your attitude always makes me smile!

The best attitude is gratitude.