What's the risk of not finding employment after training?

[avbug]

How many years do you claim to have been looking for a job?

[SBuzzkill]

I've always wondered how productive light signs and banner towing is...

[Pohi]

How many years do you claim to have been looking for a job?

Silly Avbug, up to your old and tired tactics of trying to pick fights again. I believe that question was already answered in his post. Take some reading comprehension classes when you get to middle school.

[r22butters]

How many years do you claim to have been looking for a job?

 

 

I posted a thread back in April in the Career Forum entitled, Happy Anniversary where I summarized the past 8 years, so I won’t go into it any further except to add this:

I left out this first job offer (which took 5 years 8 months to get) because I didn’t want to admit that I had my one and only shot,…and blew it! Then I saw Cryesis’ post and thought, “Well I guess that’s me, I should just be honest with myself and accept that when opportunity came knockin’ I turned off the lights and pretended I wasn’t home!”

Sometimes I wonder if the only reason he offered me the job was that I was willing to pay him $3500 for the training? Kinda like how if anyone pays boatpix $20k they’ll “offer” them a job taking pictures of boats? Then again who really cares? A job’s a job,…right?

Anyway it was actually pretty cool flying that R-22 with the digital sign attached,…good guess by the way SBuzzkill. Seems I’ll just never stop kicking myself for not taking it! (where’s the emoticon for banging head against wall? ),…but what can I say,…I had a bad feeling, I woussed out? Oh’ well, live and learn, life goes on, blah, blah, blah…

- Butters

Over and out.

[Spike]

Anytime, I say again, ANYTIME a supposed job requires payment for “training”, it’s not a job, it’s a scam……

[aclark79]

Butters, sounds to me like you made the right decison. Going broke for 30 hours isn't step forward, its a major step backwards. Add in the danger level and I think you made the right decision.

 

Have you thought about Tuna boats?

[avbug]

believe that question was already answered in his post.

 

You believe incorrectly. All we got were a lot of "yet one more thing," and "a few years ago." That, and he claims he's on chapter 6 of his book about a failed career attempt. Perhaps he or she will call it "the little engine that couldn't."

 

In a later post he alludes to at least eight years of time having passed, but states nothing about the actual time spent looking for the job. He continues to post and whine about it, however, so at least eight years of failed effort. How much more?

 

I can tell you, having been employed in aviation for several decades now, that if one can't find a job in eight years, especially one in which one needn't pay for training or buy the job, there are serious problems. I have seen some very inept individuals hired who couldn't scarcely fly their way out of a wet paper bag, yet managed to find and keep a job.

 

How many thousands of resumes were sent out? How many dozens or hundreds of road trips to find work? How many dossiers and profiles did "butters" build? To how many job services, listings, and publications was she subscribed? A sad tale about "another thing, another thing, another thing," but really a chain of pointless excuses for little effort expended. A sad story of self-pity.

 

A student reading "butters" half-baked attempt pity party stories might be forgiven for thinking such is reality, or that this might be an expectation of that student. This is simply untrue. It's nothing more than a withered tale of someone unwilling to expend the effort to find work; flotsam and jetsam of the training process, having given up on the road to success.

 

There are a lot of students who never make it as professional aviators, who give up and fall away. "Butters" is but one of thousands. That none of those made it isn't a testament to the futility of trying; it's a testament to the certainty of giving up.

 

Therein lies the great difference.

[avbug]

I've always wondered how productive light signs and banner towing is...

 

I started and ran a banner towing operation. It was productive. No charging for training. No excessive hours. No experimental aircraft. Established equipment.

 

Financially, how productive really depends on the operation and location. Mine was a niche market; there was no competition, and I towed over public venues, ski resorts, etc.

 

A friend with a light sign was able to support his family, and did well enough. One may not become a millionaire that way, but so be it.

[WolftalonID]

Im thinking being a truck driver would be the road trip opportunity from Heaven!!! Free gas, paid trip, resumes out the yang, so many chances.... And thats all I can cay about that..

[Joe_P148]

Can you believe there are people that don't make it as professional aviators even with hundreds of hours of FREE turbine time?!

 

Bottom line, not everyone is cut out for this line of work.

 

Your risks of not finding work are directly reflected to your ability to maintain your determination.

 

And to be frank, You dont need a pep talk from a bunch of strangers on the internet to figure out what you want to do with your life.

[r22butters]

Butters, sounds to me like you made the right decison. Going broke for 30 hours isn't step forward, its a major step backwards. Add in the danger level and I think you made the right decision.

 

Have you thought about Tuna boats?

 

 

I’ve only managed to make contact with one company’s chief pilot. He said that even though he’s going to go through the more experienced guys first, there’s always someone coming off a hitch, and I am qualified, so keep trying. Plus it seems I’m going to have to really work at convincing him that as an American I will stick it out for the entire years contract, since it seems we have a tendency to bail due to the 3rd world conditions on the boat. Though it seems like someone else's bailing could be my way in? I remember a post on another forum where a guy called Hansen like a thousand times, but got nowhere. Then one day out of the blue they called him! It seems like a low-timer getting onto a boat is all about timing? So just keep reminding them that you’re out there and who knows… ?

Wolf, they are ALWAYS hiring long-haul truckers and some companies will even take the cost of training out of your paycheck, allowing you to GET STARTED without paying a thing. Imagine if aviation were like that!

Now if you all will excuse me, its late, and I need to finish my cheerios then go get a six-pack and a hooker ,…while I still have the energy.

- Butters

Ok that’s three, so last post. My therapist says no more than three posts per thread, otherwise I’ll never be cured!

Edited August 7, 2014 by r22butters

[MurderedOutTaco]

Thank you all for the feedback and discussion -- there has been a lot of interesting perspective brought to the table, and I appreciate every nugget of insight that has been shared. I don't need a "pep talk" as one poster suggested, I simply wanted to sample from a population of experienced professionals some opinions about what the perception of career success is. I'm considering this as a major career change at a crux point of my life, and I want to do as much homework as I can to hedge my bets in the most prudent possible way.

 

P.s., for those who mentioned that I should go to college instead, I have multiple degrees in the field in which I currently make my living (unrelated to aviation). However my current occupation doesn't exactly give me that warm fuzzy feeling to get out of bed and go to work every day.

 

[avbug]

 

Wolf, they are ALWAYS hiring long-haul truckers and some companies will even take the cost of training out of your paycheck, allowing you to get started without paying a thing. Imagine if aviation were like that!

- Butters

 

 

Most of aviation is like that. Reputable companies don't charge for training. No need to take it out of your paycheck. If you're qualified for the job, you shouldn't be paying for training. That's a company's responsibility. If you pay for it, you're buying your job. If that's the only way you can get hired, you should rethink what your'e doing in the business to begin with.

 

There are plenty of companies that will hire a pilot without requiring the pilot to subsidize his employment, and the vast majority of aviation works that way. A few bad apples charge, but that only speaks volumes about how poor an employer they are. It also speaks very poorly of the pilots who elect to go there.

 

In fact, if I come across a resume from a pilot who bought his job, it gets trash canned right away. No interest in speaking with him, looking at his resume, let alone inviting him for an interview. Your past work history speaks much more loudly about you than what you have to say about you. If your history includes having bought your job, it doesn't say good things about you. Think very carefully before you lower the bar for everyone by taking a job in which you pay, rather than get paid. Don't justify it by saying you'll get paid later, or that you're getting your foot in the door. Tens of thousands of us have managed just fine without stooping that low. Don't defecate in the bed in which you hope to some day sleep.