Finding Students
 

Hi new CFI, Just got a job instructing at a local 61/141 FBO looking for some good ways to recruit new students (where to find them, what sells them, etc). Let me know what has worked for you.

Printing business cards, posting them everywhere, and having a website has worked for me.
- www.flyintallahassee.com -

Don't just looking for people that are willing to start flight training. Find anyone that wants to go up in an airplane and some of these will end up as your students. Word of mouth goes a LONG way. More than 1/2 of my students are referrals from older students.

Get into the school's records and call EVERYONE on their list. Some gave up flying, some are not current, etc. All they need is a little push. I've seen new CFI's get 1000 hours in a year after doing this.

Where are you flying out of?

When I was in your shoes, I went over to the local community college where this guy had been teaching private pilot ground school for years. Turns out, no CFI had ever come in a pushed flight training. I got three students out of 10 in the class. Or, maybe you could find a school that would let YOU teach a PPL ground class as a non-credit course.

Have a nice business card made up and make some flyers you can post at unaligned FBO's, airport cafes, college campuses, workout clubs, Safeways, ect...

Craigslist. Maybe even Ebay.

As much as I hate sales, I'd love to take a crack at selling GA flight instruction. I just don't want to do all the flight training. You're not around Spokane, are you?

Business cards work. I put them up everywhere. I put one up at a "jet center" wx breifing room. Not a good place to find students, but a guy called me and offered me a right seat corporate job over the phone.

As a comm. pilot who will be done with his CFI soon, what do you guys suggest putting on the business card? Should I list down what I can do? For example, I will have the following:

-Commercial single and multi-engine land, and commercial single-engine sea.
-Instrument Rated
-CFI/CFII/MEI

If you live in the same city as your high school, call the administration and see if you can set up a 'career talk' with some juniors or seniors. Or perhaps, just see if there are any career exploration events going on at nearby high schools, colleges, universities.

Of course the easiest thing to do that will make you feel accomplished in actively recruiting would simply be to put up flyers around coffee shops and any other gathering space of people. Wealthy neighborhoods are the best of course.

Thanks for the good ideas, I am in Seattle.

Landings: Aviation's Databases

Use this database and direct mail people local to you offering to finish their ratings,BFR etc..

Still wondering about this:

As a comm. pilot who will be done with his CFI soon, what do you guys suggest putting on the business card? Should I list down what I can do? For example, I will have the following:

-Commercial single and multi-engine land, and commercial single-engine sea.
-Instrument Rated
-CFI/CFII/MEI

I've read and been told to keep it limited, CFI and Comm. pilot or even just professional pilot. By doing this they have to contact you to know more. Also, if you get 250 cards made and a month later you get your MEI are you going to pay to get more made?

Recommend on reading "job hunting for pilots" or "The Savvy flight instructor"

I would suggest keeping it simple. I bet most prospective students don't even know the meaning of all those ratings. Example:

Your Name
Commercial Pilot, CFI

Flight Instruction, Flight Reviews, Proficiency Checks

I have my name, phone number, website and this:
Commercial Pilot
CFI, CFII, MEI.

I just got my CFI a few weeks ago, and I have not had one student yet. I'm in a really small town in Ohio, and the local airport does not have enough students to go around for the now 3 CFI's including me. The obvious answer is to move to somewhere with more students, or get a job at an FBO. Problem is...I can not find anywhere that is hiring. Seems like its a horrible cycle, that is not ending anytime soon.

Sorry to hear your frustrations with finding a CFI job. I can understand this would be tough.

I still think finding a CFI is possible in this day and age if you called around enough. Literally calling all flight schools, especially since summer usually means a bump in students coming in.

Get on the phone with every darn flight school you can find the phone number for/and or where you would want to live. I think its definitely feasible to find something with summer quickly approaching.

Good luck

Oracle 21, thats a bummer to hear about the lack of students.

It sounds like you don't have a bad location though being in Ohio. I know Ohio State University is supposed to have a good aviation program. Perhaps try getting hired to instruct at the school, or find out where those students go to get instruction?

Also, a lot of high schools associate themselves with vocational schools or polytech. I know this because I went through one to learn about engine repair and found out that it also offered aviation ground training, but no flight training. Something like that would spark a kids interest, and if you went in there with some good looking flyers and business cards some of the kids might make the investment, and the school wouldn't have a problem with it because your selling a service they don't even offer.

OSU has it's own airport and program at OSU.

Oracle, you may not have a lot of students right now, but I'd bet that if you really make it a priority to find some students, they can be had. If you wait for them to come to you, it won't happen. You don't have a reputation like Bill Kershner or Machado, etc. You need to make a name and that means you need to look at everyone you meet as a potential client. If you have any buddies that are going into sales, they could probably help you out with some strategies.

All are good suggestions. I'll add a couple of thoughts.

Put "Flight Instructor" on your card. A new pilot may not know what a CFI is.

Volunteer or at least go to FAA wings programs. Join your local EAA chapter and rub elbows with fellow pilots. How about your local airport support group? Touch base with any flying clubs in the area. Ask if they allow CFI's to instruct in their planes. Have you ever though about teaching a ground school course?

If you have experience with a specific type of plane or maybe an avionics type, adversitise with COPA, ABS, CPA.

Hope this helps.