Originally Posted by
banja12
Alright, so it's officially the end of the year and it's time for me to make some changes. A year and a half ago I had quit my airline job for what I thought were greener pastures in a career change. Needless to say, it didn't pan out. Since then I have been picking up odd jobs just to stay afloat, all the while sinking more and more into debt.
I've been actively seeking a job doing ANYTHING for the past 3 months with little to no luck. I've tried Home Depot, Office Depot, even Pizza Hut won't hire me all on account of being "over-qualified." It seems that non-pilots really can't see pilots doing anything else for a living. This leads me back to aviation. When they say that it gets in your blood I'm pretty sure that it's a way of saying "pigeon-holed into a career".
Here are my qualifications:
2000TT, 1300ME, 1100 TURBINE SIC, 800PIC, EMB-145 SIC Type.
Stupidly, I let my CFI expire a couple of years ago since I was overwhelmed by recurrent at the time of renewal.
All I am looking for is a little good news, if anyone has it. I would really like to stay here in southeast Texas, but I'm willing to relocate anywhere if need be. I'm hoping to hear that maybe Eagle or XJT may be hiring in the next 6 months but I'm not even sure I can wait that long.
Any advice or constructive criticism is welcomed!
Your story and flight times are about a duplicate of mine. One bit of advice, don't mention anything about aviation on applications when trying to get non aviation jobs. This is a killer and does not help get you in anywhere. It's actually better to have "holes" in your employment history than to mention aviation. Hell, for some of the jobs you applied for you might not want to even mention anything about college, if you have any. Unfortunately, aviation is an unstable, life commitment type of career....if that makes sense.
There are rumors of companies hiring soon, but I think a lot of it is them trying to pool apps in case the economy takes off soon. They want to be ready. I read a lot of financial web sites, and I see nothing that indicates things are getting better. Aviation is in lock step with the economy.When it's up aviation is up, when it's down aviation is down. Remove the aviation from your resume, apply for a regular jobs and keep an eye on web sites like this one.