4 posts tagged “job”

With all of the uncertainty surrounding my airline, I've been looking around for any job I can find where we wouldn't have to move.  I haven't been looking real hard...more like just keeping my eyes open for any opportunity I can find.

I was on some of the message boards a few days ago, and I find out that one of the airlines I wanted to fly for initially, but didn't because I didn't meet their requirements, is hiring quite a few people.  Normally I wouldn't consider a lateral move like this.  I'm pretty comfortable at my airline and am just looking for something with a little bit more of a future plan that would keep us here in Roanoke.  Well, this airline, ExpressJet, is opening a base somewhere in Texas, either Austin or San Antonio.  Say what?  Those are two places that Jeannie and I would love to be again.  When I was stationed at Fort Hood, we spent a lot of time in those 2 cities, and we'd love to go back.

I talked to my old flight instructor, who is a pilot for them, and he confirmed what I had heard.  He also convinced me to apply.  So I did.

A lateral move from one regional airline to another isn't necessarily the best move that one can make.  However, ExpressJet shows promise of a future, whereas Piedmont does not.  Here at Piedmont, our airplane leases are up in 2 years, our pilot contract is up in 2 years, and upgrade to Captain is taking about 6.  Not the best place to be.  At ExpressJet, their fleet plan goes out for many years, and upgrade to Captain is under 2.  And we can move back to Texas.

I just don't want to have to go through another interview process....but it's worth it.

I was seriously considering applying to Republic Airlines.  I don't meet their minimum requirements, but they usually waive those for people coming from other airlines.  I figured that I could apply, and if hired, try to get based in either Greensboro, NC, Richmond, VA, or DC.  Here's why I'm not going to apply:

1. 2 year training contract.  This isn't the biggie tho.  I wouldn't mind it if it weren't for the next reason.

2. Richmond and Greensboro haven't had much movement in seniority.  In fact, I've been told that there are some pilots at both bases who have been on reserve for over a year.  Not what I'm looking for.

DC is the furthest from here at 4 hours drive time.  I could drive to any of those with no problems, but the slow upward movement coupled with the training contract really doesn't appeal to me.  At least not today.  I've been known to change my mind on a daily basis.  Add to all of this the fact that US Airways is not buying Delta, and there's even more reason to stick around.  I think that if the Delta deal had gone through, I would jump ship to Republic.  Now it's a waiting game...will US Airways really seriously consider buying us some new airplanes?  Or will they just go try to buy another carrier like Northwest?  I won't be surprised if they bid for Northwest.  If that happens, I will probably have enough experience at that point to move somewhere else.  We'll see.

I still search the job postings on a daily basis.  I would love to get a corporate or charter job flying a jet, but SW Virginia doesn't exactly have a bunch of that.  I know a guy who flies for one of the two companies here that has their own jet.  He's younger than I am, so I doubt he's going anywhere soon.  I don't know anything about the other company.  We'll see I guess.

I'm about to go off on a 4-day trip.  Yuck.  Out and backs are the best, 2 days are ok.  Three days aren't terrible, but 4 and 5 day trips are the worst.  I need to get some damn seniority here.

I found out that one of my old flight instructors is the chief pilot at a corporate flight department outside of Dallas.  He's looking for a second pilot for his jet.  I'm just shy of the posted requirements, but he said he'll consider the right candidate with fewer hours.  I'm sure I could get this job, but it's in Texas.  I don't think I could get Jeannie to move again.  Even though we like Texas.  At least not this soon.

But the job would be great.

So what do I do?  There's no guarantee I would get it, but should I even apply?

I've got an early report tomorrow.  5:45 to be precise.  It's now 11:33pm.  I love to fly.  I hate to work.  No, not really.  I just hate being away from home so much.  I need a corporate flying job that doesn't involve so much time away.

Anyway, today involved laziness for a while, and then we got busy.  Not in that sense.

We unpacked a bunch of boxes, took out the empties, set up the Christmas tree, and bought a shredder.  We left our old shredder in Phoenix.

We left a lot of stuff in Phoenix.  We still can't find our silverware, and we've been here for a month.  We still have a few more boxes to unpack, but it's not looking good.  I can't believe the movers forgot to pack the damn silverware.

I've got J's Christmas present in my Jeep.  I really don't have any other good places to put it.  I can leave it in there and it will be fine, but I've got to wrap it eventually.  I guess when I get back on Thursday...maybe.

So she got a call today from the hospital.  They offered her the job, albeit at $21 an hour.  Just for reference, she was making $28 in Phoenix.  I guess that's to be expected, but it still sucks.  Oh well, at least it's a job.  And it's what she wants to do.  The most important thing is for her to be doing what she wants to do while I'm away all of the time.  If she were unhappy, things would really suck with me being away.

Time to iron the shirt.  I hate ironing shirts.  But I hate having wrinkled shirts even more than I hate ironing.  I guess that's the Army in me.

Speaking of the Army, I've come to the realization that I miss it.  That pisses me off.  This "grass is always greener" bullshit sucks.  No matter what you do, you always think that something else is better.  Not that I think the Army is better, 'cause it's certainly not.  I just miss the camaraderie, the paycheck, the flying, and the people.  Oh well.

Back to that shirt.  Tomorrow nite I'll be in Manchester, NH.