I finally got my Class 4 Instructor Rating in Canada after all the hold ups, lockdowns and delays. It took way longer than I had anticipated. Which means I spent way more money for both flying and living costs and, of course, more time. I am happy that I have passed my flight test. This happiness is mainly due to knowing that dispatch in my flight school will stop extorting me for money. However, the smiles were short lived. I know the job seeking day will come eventually. But with all the additional spending, it puts extra pressure on what is already a stressful next step for me: Job seeking.
Instructors coming in but not going out
You see, I am a foreigner. I have limited time to find a job before I get kicked out of the country. I received my Instructor Rating in December 2020. Few people fly in winter. 2020/2021 winter is extra special – the pandemic. Flight instructors are not leaving for jobs in the air transport world (aka the airlines) and students, especially international students, are not coming in.
To make things worse, ex-flight instructors from the airlines, who probably got let go, are coming back to flight schools to instruct. I have seen them come during my training. These “new” instructors with more experience arrive at my school one after another taking up precious flight instructing positions and leaving none for me. That explains why my school suddenly has many Class 2 and Class 1 (more experienced) instructors.
All these new arrivals make me very nervous about my future of finding a job during my flight instructor training. Many pilots got laid off. Those with Instructor Rating turn to flight instructing. If they are coming to my school, it means they are also going to other schools as well.
The words I don’t want to hear
True enough, as soon as I passed my flight test, I went straight to the Chief Flight Instructor (CFI) of my school and asked if there are any job opening at the school. The conversation:
Me: “Are there any job openings for flight instructing?”
CFI: “I am certain you will be a great instructor and I will want to hire you. However, we don’t have a job opening at the moment.”
Me: “When do you think there will be any job openings?”
CFI: “We might have job openings in spring.”
Me: “Which is when? March?”
CFI: “Late March, April or even May. In the meantime, send me your Resume.”
What’s next?
There is nothing much I can do now but to prepare my Resume and send them to schools that I am eligible for. While waiting, I will be studying to convert my FAA IFR to TC IFR before the deadline. I will inform you guys of this conversion. Hopefully, things will go uphill from here. Stay tuned!
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[…] can be simply illustrated in this illustration. It is pretty similar to what I mentioned in my previous blog. I am pretty much last in line in a queue that won’t move much for at least the next few months. […]