Getting that first flight instructor job - advise request

[Hawk009]

I have been trying to land that first flight instructor job for quite a bit now and thought I might get some insight to change my approach since emailing and online applications proved to not be very useful.
I realize these are challenging times but doesn’t hurt to be hopeful that I’ll get a different response than “we’ll keep your resume and get in touch when we start hiring instructors again”.

How did you do it? How did you get that first instructor job? Will an unannounced road trip to the CFI be appreciated still in the pandemic?

[yhz41]

It's worth a shot.

[Heavy Rayn]

A lot of wet ink instructors land their first job at the school that provided the training, that’s how I did it. Any chance of doing that for yourself? It also helps to have an aviation specific résumé. No one gives a shit if you worked at Home Depot in 2015, or something along those lines. Aviation specific experience only, and if you don’t have any past experience maybe try and volunteer somewhere or get a ramp job (if possible) while you’re applying to FI jobs. Having a competitive résumé is crucial right now. There are a few good threads on here about how to make an effective one, or PM me and I can send you a template or take a look at yours and provide some advice, if I have any.

[Hawk009]

A lot of wet ink instructors land their first job at the school that provided the training, that’s how I did it. Any chance of doing that for yourself?

Unfortunately the school I did my training at and the few ones around the corner are not hiring any instructors at the moment. They said I’d be considered in the future but who knows how long that would be
I definitely could use an opinion on my resume. I’ll PM you

[Bede]

No one gives a shit if you worked at Home Depot in 2015, or something along those lines. Aviation specific experience only,

Completely disagree. Almost everyone starting in aviation has the same resume. 223.4 hrs, graduate of some aviation puppy mill. Experience flying C172 or DA40 or whatever. When someone who is hiring is going through resumes it's the little things that catch the eye and warrant a second look: this guy was an electrician, this guy has a degree in pure math, this guy volunteered for years at a shelter. These little things may not get you the job, but the resume will get looked at for more than 10 seconds.

[Blowin' In The Wind]

One can’t overestimate the importance of doing your instructor rating with the school you’re trying to be hired at. This was true before the pandemic, and it’s even more true now. The school I’m affiliated with has a large pool of home-grown candidates, and I see little reason for us to look outside that pool when it comes to new class IV instructors.

If nothing else, try to strike a fine balance between persistence and annoyance at the FTU with which you’re already familiar. All the best.

[Hawk009]

a large pool of home-grown candidates,

This is precisely the uncertainty forcing me and other fresh class iv’s to be impatient and a bit restless knowing there are a lot of people in that pool and who knows when the next recruitment will take place :/

How would you suggest insinuating that persistence?

[Shinyjetsyndrome]

One can’t overestimate the importance of doing your instructor rating with the school you’re trying to be hired at. This was true before the pandemic, and it’s even more true now. The school I’m affiliated with has a large pool of home-grown candidates, and I see little reason for us to look outside that pool when it comes to new class IV instructors.

If nothing else, try to strike a fine balance between persistence and annoyance at the FTU with which you’re already familiar. All the best.

What if you had access to a cheap aircraft and a freelance class 1 instructor, which combined, would nearly halve the cost of the rating? Would it be worth going that route or would you recommend just saving up a few more months to do the rating at the local flight school? Tough call to make when sitting in 100k of debt. It's my current conundrum. Neither route is a guarantee in the current employment climate.

[Heavy Rayn]

No one gives a shit if you worked at Home Depot in 2015, or something along those lines. Aviation specific experience only,

Completely disagree. Almost everyone starting in aviation has the same resume. 223.4 hrs, graduate of some aviation puppy mill. Experience flying C172 or DA40 or whatever. When someone who is hiring is going through resumes it's the little things that catch the eye and warrant a second look: this guy was an electrician, this guy has a degree in pure math, this guy volunteered for years at a shelter. These little things may not get you the job, but the resume will get looked at for more than 10 seconds.

Yeah if you’ve got a blank résumé after tossing your times in you can add that sort of stuff. Please note that I said a job at Home Depot, which takes little to no skill, depending on what you’re doing. It was an example of a low skill job. I’m arguing a résumé shouldn’t be made up of 2 pages of low skill jobs. Being an electrician shows skill and practical knowledge, volunteer work shows dedication, pure math shows intelligence and an analytical mind, very different than a cashier at a box store. Those experiences you stated can be included if you don’t have much/any industry experience, but still, keep the description short. Cashing people out at Home Depot, or something similar to that doesn’t show skill so doesn’t need to take up half a page on a résumé for a pilot position. Sorry if I wasn’t clear in my previous comment.

[Bede]

^ Yep. Agree.

[Jack Klumpus]

Have any previous students gotten jobs outside of the FTU that you attended? Try hitting them up.

While I was doing my rating, one of our senior instructors got a CFI job at an FTU in a different city. He called me one day and asked me if I was interested in joining that same FTU once I finished my rating. I jumped all over it, rather than wait for my FTU which may or may have not hired me.

[redlaser]

With the high cost of becoming a flight instructor and all the requirements imposed by TC on flight instructors soon there won't be any flight instructors left, It's already a problem and a great many FTU's have a problem finding CFI's, for their students, It's much cheeper to get your multi engine and instrument rating and go work for an Air carrier. Right now TC isn't even doing instructor renewals.

[Blueontop]

Get any job at an FTU. Anything such as working the desk, fuelling planes, even taking out the trash lol. Whatever it takes to get your foot in the door. Then start your training with them. That way your already on the payroll and the easiest (or hardest not too lol) too hire into the flight department. There might even be an employee discount on flight training/aircraft rentals. There may not be a lot of movement flying wise now but there maybe other jobs to do

[Conflicting Traffic]

With the high cost of becoming a flight instructor

Adjusted for inflation, becoming a flight instructor is no more expensive now than it ever was. In fact, it's probably cheaper. By my rough calculation with a lowball inflation estimate of 3%, instructor ratings today are about 30% cheaper than they were when I did mine in '95.

all the requirements imposed by TC on flight instructors

?? What requirements are you talking about? The requirements are not onerous, and never have been. Fly properly and safely. Teach effectively. Keep good records. Done.

there won't be any flight instructors left, It's already a problem and a great many FTU's have a problem finding CFI's, for their students

You seem to be implying that this is a bad thing. It's not. If supply drops, the price will go up. I think it would be awesome if the average instructor could actually make a living.

It's much cheeper to get your multi engine and instrument rating and go work for an Air carrier.

I'm not sure this is true, but if it is, you again seem to be implying that it's a bad thing. It isn't. Most pilot don't want to be instructors. They do it because it's the only feasible way to get hours in their logbook so that they can get a "real" job. If/when that changes, it will be cause for celebration.

Right now TC isn't even doing instructor renewals.

Sure they are. My instructor rating has been renewed several times since COVID. I'm currently scheduled to have my next renewal issued on April 24th. Granted, it's a bit of a PITA to renew 3 months at a time. I'd rather do a ride and get it out of the way for the next 12 years. But this is workable as a short-term solution to get us through the crisis.

[Aviatard]

Right now TC isn't even doing instructor renewals.

This wasn’t true the last time you said it and it’s not true now.

[Blowin' In The Wind]

With the high cost of becoming a flight instructor

Adjusted for inflation, becoming a flight instructor is no more expensive now than it ever was. In fact, it's probably cheaper. By my rough calculation with a lowball inflation estimate of 3%, instructor ratings today are about 30% cheaper than they were when I did mine in '95.

all the requirements imposed by TC on flight instructors

?? What requirements are you talking about? The requirements are not onerous, and never have been. Fly properly and safely. Teach effectively. Keep good records. Done.

there won't be any flight instructors left, It's already a problem and a great many FTU's have a problem finding CFI's, for their students

You seem to be implying that this is a bad thing. It's not. If supply drops, the price will go up. I think it would be awesome if the average instructor could actually make a living.

It's much cheeper to get your multi engine and instrument rating and go work for an Air carrier.

I'm not sure this is true, but if it is, you again seem to be implying that it's a bad thing. It isn't. Most pilot don't want to be instructors. They do it because it's the only feasible way to get hours in their logbook so that they can get a "real" job. If/when that changes, it will be cause for celebration.

Right now TC isn't even doing instructor renewals.

Sure they are. My instructor rating has been renewed several times since COVID. I'm currently scheduled to have my next renewal issued on April 24th. Granted, it's a bit of a PITA to renew 3 months at a time. I'd rather do a ride and get it out of the way for the next 12 years. But this is workable as a short-term solution to get us through the crisis.

+1

Also: some renewal and initial rides are happening. I did a renewal ride a month ago, and our organization has had multiple other instructors do the same.

[GoodGuy]

Granted, it's a bit of a PITA to renew 3 months at a time. I'd rather do a ride and get it out of the way for the next 12 years.

What is it that you're renewing that expires every 3 months?

[Conflicting Traffic]

Granted, it's a bit of a PITA to renew 3 months at a time. I'd rather do a ride and get it out of the way for the next 12 years.

What is it that you're renewing that expires every 3 months?

Class 1 Instructor Rating. It was originally set to expire last year when COVID kicked in, and I've been using COVID extensions ever since. I would guess that there are plenty of people in the same boat.

[redlaser]

Blowing in the wind, if you think that if there are fewer instructors out there you will get a better pay your mistaken, The FTU that you are working for will probably shut down for lack of students. Airline companies are all going broke, no future for airline pilots.

[Blowin' In The Wind]

Blowing in the wind, if you think that if there are fewer instructors out there you will get a better pay your mistaken, The FTU that you are working for will probably shut down for lack of students. Airline companies are all going broke, no future for airline pilots.

We had one of our best years ever in 2020. now in regards to pay, I expect it to continue to stagnate.

Perhaps you should focus more on fighting tickets for throwing pumpkins out of airplanes, or whatever you keep getting in trouble for...

[780Pilot]

Blowing in the wind, if you think that if there are fewer instructors out there you will get a better pay your mistaken, The FTU that you are working for will probably shut down for lack of students. Airline companies are all going broke, no future for airline pilots.

Same as a previous poster. It has been off the wall busy. For every 10 students we bring on 7 of them still wanna go all the way (CPL MIFR). People don't seem to care about the current state of the industry. The "cross that bridge when I get there" mentality seems to be the mindset of a lot of students these days. Especially when the entire course of training can easy take 2 years or more depending on personal timelines.

[redlaser]

Some want to follow that dream no matter what the costs, Over the years I've seen many pilots with an ATPL give up because of the costs involved in staying current.

[co-joe]

My experience 20 years ago was that if the school that does your instructor rating isn't willing to hire you, you've set yourself up for a much more difficult road ahead. Its a shitty spot to be in, because the schools who have a class 1 will always try to hire their own grads first, you can't freelance, you need a class 2 to supervise you so any tiny school with 1 plane doesn't need you, it's all an uphill battle.

I got my first instructing job teaching on ultralights. Over the next 50 hours teaching, I had more near death experiences than in the following 5000 hours combined. No joke.

See if you can get a job at the desk or on the ramp at a school that will put you in line for the next instructing job. Maybe they will thrown you some discovery flights or get you teaching on the sim. Once you’re in, see if they are cool with you marketing the school on your own. Make posters with phone number tabs and sell sell sell the dream. I put up thousands of them all over school campuses universities, colleges, the EI office...Every 10 posters I got one call, every 10 calls I did one discovery flight, and every 10 discovery flights I landed one student. Teach groundschool, If people like you they might ask to fly with you.