Getting your break
 

As a young person looking forward to a career in aviation, i have a couple of questions for you corporate guys. What is the best, or at least your way of getting into a corporate gig? Did you fly freight, go to the regionals or some other route? Also, how does a typical corp flight department work at a national sized company? Multiple pilots and multiple aircraft? Looking forward to any input.

Your questions are really going to need to be narrowed down to a specific company to get exact answers. Every corporate dept. works different, because each company has differing needs. Some work just like a scheduled airline in a sense, some are more like on-demand charter hours. Some companies use a SR-22 even! So the beauty of it all, you can most likely find something that fits your wants and needs also

Ok, say we are talking about a company like Oakley(my fav), Nike, Whirlpool,Walmart, Exxon... What are their flight departments like and what(beside an inside reference) does it take to get a job at corporations like these?

From what little I know, an inside reference is the primary attribbute to getting these kinds of jobs. You would do well to look up the flight departments you want to work for and see if they need any ground crew at their facilities - this would give you a great chance to network with the flight crew. If the department does not have their own hanger, go to work at that FBO that they keep the plan at and accomplish the above. More than anything in Corporate it is "who you know". Just my opinion.

With departments that you've listed, it's pretty difficult. You either need to already know someone, or have a lot of time and a type rating in the equipment that they operate.

In either case, timing plays a key role also. If they aren't looking, your qualifications won't matter. By that same token if they are looking but you are someplace else in your life at the time, the window won't stay open very long.

One of your choices, Walmart, is a bit of an exception. From what I understand, they tend to hire lower time individuals from time to time. They have fairly high turnover for a corporate department, the pay and benefits are not exceptional and not everyone can happily live in Arkansas. Not saying it's a bad job, but it may not be a career position for everybody.

This has been my path:

Student
Flight Instructor
Freight Pilot
Charter Pilot

This route has taken me approx 7 yrs. Although because things have changed in recent times this might be fast tracked.
Right now I work for a great charter company, and have had offers to fly for private individuals. The past two jobs have allowed me to network and continue to climb the ladder.

To answer your question about various flight departments it depends. Nike has very close ties to an on-field charter/management operation. They told me if I wanted a job with them, then go get hired onto company B. Needless to say that didn't happen.

not to hijack the thread- what about fractional?

Not to hijack the thread? That's a total jihad hijacking... there is another forum called "Fractionals" dude. :confused:

Fractionals all require either 2500 or 3000 hours as a minimum for insurance reasons. If you have 1500-2000 hours of turbine time-including international experience, they will ask you to come back when you 'get a little more experience'. If you have 2600 hours in a C172, they can/might hire you (~2003 on FlightInfo someone asking for help after getting hired by Netjets with NO turbine time).

Personally experienced one, hearsay about the other (FI post might have been flamebait).

Just like anything in the aviation world....skill is expected but luck and timing go along way. The given would be that you are qualified. I would recommend, and ambition can go a long way. Research various airports in your area with corporate aviation. If you find one that you would like to possibly work for, try to contact the chief pilot or someone you can try to sell your self to.

Goodlick...