Any tips on getting a first job in 2026?

[lostav8r]

From the outside looking in it seems all movement has stopped, I keep hearing about road trips but only from people who did it 10+ years ago.

Shotgunning resumes doesn't seem to be working, but it seems like the tried and true method. Any tips on things I might be missing out on?

[cdnavater]

From the outside looking in it seems all movement has stopped, I keep hearing about road trips but only from people who did it 10+ years ago.

Shotgunning resumes doesn't seem to be working, but it seems like the tried and true method. Any tips on things I might be missing out on?

The road trip is always going to be the best option, it shows an employer that you are eager, another option is to pick up and move to an aviation town and get any job. Preferably a ramp job for a company you want to work for but there is no great answer, reality is without walking in and handing a resume, you’re just another resume on the pile.
I’ll admit my information is outdated but when I was a C.P, I had two piles, faxed and handed in, three really, those that were in town and ready to start tomorrow.
Identify the companies that hire low time and focus your time there, Thompson used to be a good place, Thunder Bay, Sioux lookout, Norman Wells

[piedpiper]

The road trip is still a tried and true method. I know people as recent as last summer having success.

Poster above me is very right with the 3 categories, one being "in town and ready to go." That's how I hooked my first real flying job with just over 200 hours. Being there and ready, and making connections in a few towns near each other. It was a lot of driving around but it worked out.

Emailing resumes is going to get you nowhere unless you are a 1/100 hiring by luck or have connections. Shotgunning resumes is not, and has never been "the tried and true method".

[leafs95]

Above posters gave solid advice. Road trip is your best bet at picking something up. I will say, in this current hiring climate people, more often than not you have people with 600/700/800+ TT going on these road trips looking for a gig. So that may be your competition for the direct entry jobs, but I doubt they're competition for ground to flight jobs.

Honestly though, I find it can also be super luck based and overall incredibly randomized to the point where your career's trajectory will look totally different compared to what you had imagined. For example, I always envisioned myself finishing training and immediately working up north on a BE20, PC12 or equivalent, moving up to captain and riding that out for a few years before going to the airlines. Hell, I even expected to work the ramp prior to being given a shot at the right seat. As of right now, I can say that things... did not go that way at all. Spent nearly 10 months post-training applying anywhere and everywhere that would allow a 250 hour wonder to apply. Finally got a hit at a survey spot and I've been here ever since, eventually moving up to CP.

You gotta be flexible and realize that first job may be completely different than necessarily planned, and that is partly pretty damn cool in and of itself. Best of luck and definitely don't give up!

[lostav8r]

Above posters gave solid advice. Road trip is your best bet at picking something up. I will say, in this current hiring climate people, more often than not you have people with 600/700/800+ TT going on these road trips looking for a gig. So that may be your competition for the direct entry jobs, but I doubt they're competition for ground to flight jobs.

Honestly though, I find it can also be super luck based and overall incredibly randomized to the point where your career's trajectory will look totally different compared to what you had imagined. For example, I always envisioned myself finishing training and immediately working up north on a BE20, PC12 or equivalent, moving up to captain and riding that out for a few years before going to the airlines. Hell, I even expected to work the ramp prior to being given a shot at the right seat. As of right now, I can say that things... did not go that way at all. Spent nearly 10 months post-training applying anywhere and everywhere that would allow a 250 hour wonder to apply. Finally got a hit at a survey spot and I've been here ever since, eventually moving up to CP.

You gotta be flexible and realize that first job may be completely different than necessarily planned, and that is partly pretty damn cool in and of itself. Best of luck and definitely don't give up!

I love a success story! I had something similar happen in my non flying career as well!

Thank you everyone for sharing!

[propfeather]

Utilize any contacts you might have at operators that hire low time people. Other students or instructors you met along the way, mentors if you have any. Any one with current or past experience with these types of operations, this will be your biggest help as far as how/when/where to apply and how to tailor your resume.

[piedpiper]

Also pro tip, use the Civil Aviation Reg Database to filter for commercial operations and by aircraft type. You may end up finding some operators you've never heard of, usually smaller ones. That's how I found my first company (followed up by showing up in person and being a pest for almost a month until they hired me).

[C-FDPB]

All good info from previous posters that I also used on my hunt for the first gig. I did the road trip with a stack of resumes, packed my car like I wouldn't be home all summer and ended up getting a 180/dock job at my first stop. Flew the beaver the next year. You HAVE to have the willingness to go to those far off places and be gone for a while. The jobs in those places will be there for the eager. Having some skills outside of aviation like carpentry, small engine repair, etc will be advantageous. Especially in the bush world. Get a leatherman.
Best of luck.

[SkyBagPiper]

Regardless of what’s happening geopolitically, some companies such as AC will be receiving aircraft this year. Which in turn cause some movement in the industry.

By the time geopolitics and the economy start to hit the hiring pattern; that will usually take a few months delay. Though all the flights are full right now and the demand for travel is still strong. Regardless of again; geopolitics. The economy has been crap since Covid. Yet the demand remains strong. We have yet to see how the Iran war will further affect jet fuel/ ticket prices. But again this will usually take a few months to manifest.

I got my license just after the 2008 crisis. It took me almost 3 years after getting the CPL/MIFR to find an entry level job. The difficulty of finding a job at the time almost made me quit this industry altogether. I recall Bearskin wanting 2000 hours and an ATPL for a left seat Metro position. It was 1000 hours and 500 PIC to get a Navajo FO job at the time. Air Transat wanted 3000 hours minimum for an FO spot on the A310. It was crazy.

Road trips. Mixed feelings. Yes it does show commitment and interest. Some have found jobs this way. But for me; road trips were mostly a waste of time and huge amounts of money. I visited dozens of places across this country and difficulty got a hit back. It was a full time job just to find a first job in aviation.

I think on average after 300 resumes sent; I only received less than 10 positive leads on an 12 month Time frame. And the positive leads weren’t a: “can you be here by Monday” type deal. They were more like: “ we might be needing someone in the next few months”. I spent hours sending out resumes and cold calling places. That technique helped me identify places that were potentially gearing up to hire once the train movement created by 705 operators started to take up people. I was calling and sending resumes almost daily.

The hardest part is getting you to 500-600 hours. You’ll definitely not be out of the woods after; but you’ll be slightly more marketable to find your first FO job maybe on a PC12, king air. After a year and a half of applying almost daily; I found my first job as a skydive pilot out west. Wasn’t the best job out there. But it got me to 500-600 total hours in almost a summer. I had to do other stuff such as cutting grass, cleaning the premisses and picking up lost skydivers with the truck if the wind blew too strong.

Second option is the work on the ground/pilot upgrade scheme. Half of the industry gets their first go at a cockpit by working some sort of ground operations. Stuff like dockhand in northern Ontario or rampie out west. This may be a long process. Some companies have a seniority list and that list may be long. A company that works that way is Air Liaison based in YQB. They’ll put you as a rampie or working reservations. They have a list. Depending on the economy; from ground to cockpit can take between 8 months to two years.

Once you got your first job on the resume; Jazz may be a good place as they have hired with less than 1000. North Star Air in TBay or Carson Air out west.

But the second step all depends on the economy and if there is an overall movement. It seems we are headed into unknown or difficult territory ahead and it will be difficult to predict where things will be by fall or winter this year.

Best advice is to keep applying. Keep calling and keep bugging them until they tell you to FOff.

[piedpiper]

Respectfully, your experience from 2008 is irrelevant.

[DanWEC]

Respectfully, your experience from 2008 is irrelevant.

Why?