Originally Posted by JohnBurke

I suggest a more aggressive, proactive approach. Talk to the graduates. Go to the school and check it out.

Down the line, no one cares mch where you got your basic pilot certification. They do care if you can fly, and that's on you: skill and proficiency. But the brand where you got your flight training isn't particularly noteworthy, unless it was military training (widely vetted, recognized). Expensive training doesn't add any more weight to the resume. What will propel you forward is a place that's busy, that will hire you to keep instructing, then an industry cycle that offers hiring opportunities. That cycle just ended. It will come around again, though almost certainly nothing like just happened over the last year and a half, or two years. The industry runs in cycles, sometimes called waves, with hiring on one side, and no hiring and furloughs, on the other. Your career becomes a bit like a surfer, waiting for his set; timing plays a big role.

There are no heroes. Most of us are closer to zeros. Some are just paid a little better than others.