sorry mate could you just clarify if you have a liscense or not. Because if you're only a student pilot and a company is offering you some paid work, then i'd take the job.
But with so many posts on BS I'm guessing you are a low hr unemployed pilot with too muchfree time on their hands. Whilst itmay not be right, I'd sit back and listen to some of the advice offered on this site (from both sides)
Hi Yakking,
am quite happy to clarify my position, at the moment I am a bit over 1/2 way through CPL (H) theory training, and have now started the flying side, hopefully will be finished all including mustering endorsement in about 12-18 months time. The company was not offering me work as a student pilot, they where offering me work when I had finished my license and had gained my Mustering endorsment, plus preferably a R44 endorsment as well. The whole reason I went to see the aviation businesses in the area was to find out what was out there and what was being offered, with the outlook of trying to get some work in the shed and learning something on the ground until i'm finished the CPL.
My personal position is this, I currently own and manage two businesses (have done for over 6 yrs now) in town, employ over 11 full time staff and spend a lot of time in my office during the day, as I have built my business to the point where I can do that, which then gives me the freedom while working on books and co-ordinating my businesses to post on this site. Before I started my business I was in the mining industry for 4 yrs and for the last 3 was as a supervisor. Prior to that I had over 15 yrs in the cattle industry, the last 4 spent overseeing on two properties in the NT, I have a strong background in cattle as my family own several large properties in QLD and the NT, and I grew up on the properties so not your average "fresh faced kid", I also have a family to support and yes I did do my homework before coming into the industry, and i'm well aware that there are sacrafices to be made in order to get where I want to go, but I also have to be realistic.
I'm not about to close my businesses and fly off into the sunset for two yrs for a grand pay total of $39,000 for the two years, as I simply can not do that. If it means I have to do what i'm doing a bit longer in order to be able to land a job that pays me enough to feed my family and pay the rent well then that's what I will do. Oh and by the way i do not consider 40K per year to be good money, it is an award wage and a start off rate at that, my cleaner earns more than that a year, and flying a broom didn't cost her 100K.
Also let it be known that i'm not whining about the cost of my license or anything else for that matter, far from it, I knew how much it would cost before I started and that's not the issue here, the issue is that I (and quite rightly too) expected to be paid the award wage when I had finished my license and landed my first job, however it seems that a lot of you don't agree and the company I went and saw first off didn't either, as you seem to think its perfectly fine to pay a new pilot less than 1/2 the award wage for more than 2 yrs.
Twistgrip, that is great advice, and been my motto for years, not bitter at all, and the views from both sides of the fence have been interesting if not somewhat alarming, let me just say that if i pulled a stunt like that on one of my staff they would have me up before the ATO and wageline so fast I wouldn't blink, so why do pilots feel they are unable to demand they are paid the award? Why should we even have to demand, we should just be paid properly as per the law, no questions asked, what do they advertise when seeking job applicants "oh and by the way we pay below award"??? As for the scare tactics Its not like I don't have 100 more labourers asking me for a job every day of the week, this doesn't mean I exploit it by paying the guys I imploy less money cause I can replace them if they don't like it, but then I pay the award so I don't need to worry about that now do I?
A good idea needs landing gear as well as wings to get off the ground.