Employment gap of 2 years and about to start my pilot training. Need your advice.

[flyingjunkie]

After having done some introductory flights and taken up some flying lessons, I am feeling that I have wasted a lot of time not pursuing this passion. Though I was always interested in airplanes and aviation in general but I never considered giving it a shot and turn it into a career.

I am about to graduate from my masters program and am now thinking about going all the way in and start my flying journey finally. The problem that I feel I could have is my employment history. This is what it looks like.

2014 graduated high school

2014-2018 enrolled at a university for a Bachelors program

2016 - Dropped out due to complete lack of interest and not being mature enough to make the right decision

2016-2018 - THE GAP - Pretty much did nothing, except for volunteering at a meditation center and practicing a lot of meditation. This was the time when I was so much into meditation, I was thinking about becoming a monk.

2018 - Realized monkhood is not for me atm, so decided to go back to college, changed the program and graduated from it in 2021.

2021 - Current - Almost done with my Masters program and now I am thinking about starting my flight training.

Thats what my history looks like and I was wondering how would the employers of big airlines see this, specifically the GAP. And No I don’t have any criminal record or drug abuse past rather its more like meditation and hermit past lol.

Please let me know what should I do in this case? I was always aware that this gap could be the problem and thats why I pushed away my dream of becoming a pilot but now after having done so many different things and jobs, I really cant think about anything else except for flying as my dream job. So that is my concern right now whether I should or should not give it a shot.

[Teeg]

Focus your energy on flying... your gap year has zero relevance.

[YC87DRVR]

You’ll be fine.

Say you finish your flight training and become an instructor. At your interviews going forward they aren’t even going to really care about that phase of your life in great detail. They will ask about your educational background, but doubt they would go into great detail, especially as it is not flying related.

Hell, just tell them you took a couple years off during college to travel. They’ll likely relate to that and might even look favourably that you were able to step away from school for an extended period and had to discipline to go back and complete it.

[Eric Janson]

There are companies that want complete employment record - Asian companies being one example.

Most companies just want to see your qualifications for the job you applied for - the in person interview is just to make sure you're not a complete idiot.

If it comes up just be honest about it.

These days I'd be more concerned about what is on my Social Media.

[Bede]

Absolutely no one in Canada will care. Usually you don't even put non flying jobs on your resumes. If it comes up, which I doubt, you just tell them that you were doing volunteer work. Might even be a positive.

[Tony Jerry]

Nobody will care. All they will care about is your aviation related experience and that you meet the requirements that they're asking for. That's it.