Originally Posted by
ocskyguy
I don't chime in very often, but this is a subject near to my heart. I will be gone from K4 in a little over a year. When I walked in the door in 1992, I would have sworn that this would be a 6 month job while I looked for a better gig. Funny how life changes.
You get a couple choices in destiny. Be happy with your life. Or, chase the money. Sometimes you get to hit the lottery and get both. But not often.
I have career long friends who work for the majors. Most of them are content. Some are not (American). But, very few are genuinely happy with their life. They are pretty much the ones who moved to their base, which took out multiple monthly commutes.
Couldn't say which way I would vote right now. It is a bet on the future to stick around K4. But, Doug and Cory are definitely focused to continue Connie's legacy. And, there are a lot of management folk who are hanging their hat on this being a lifetime job.
Having said that. You can be confident that a job with the big 5 (7 if you count UPS and FedEx) will keep you well for your career. But, if it is just for the money, don't count out the little airline that could. We had just over 150 employees when I showed up. Think we have a few more now...
It will be sad to see ocskyguy leave, he has done a tremendous amount of work towards getting us to the point we are now. Him and the folks like him are one of the reasons I am here and hope to stay.
No one can tell any of us any single choice that is right for us and our families- each of us individually needs to decide that for ourselves based on our needs and wants and responsibilities. For myself, I can say that Kalitta is a great match for my lifestyle and my personality. Enough so that I have turned down legacy opportunities which I didn't feel were as good of a match for me. So those of you looking for a slot with the legacies, you're welcome ;-)
That being said, it's important for all of us to look at not only our present needs and wants, but trying to project to the future. And I think that's an area that K4 could definitely improve on, as many of the legacies offer significantly better retirement savings packages. For those of us who don't have another 20-30 years to go and who've already been fortunate enough to build up a decent 401k from our past careers, it's maybe not as important. For younger folks with family, it's certainly much more of a factor to consider.