Is it really as grim as they say?

R

RDUspotter

Active Member
I’m signed up for going to dispatch school this summer, I wanted to do it earlier but wasn’t able to do it for personal reasons so this summer is the best I could do.

Another website (starts with R and rhymes with credit) has a lot of doom and gloom posts about how it’s basically impossible to break into this career right now. The over all tone of that site is very negative though so I thought I would ask here, is it really as bad as they say?
I see a lot of stuff about “it takes 5 years to get to a major” but I’m not talking about that. How likely will it be that after I finish this class I will be able to get a regional job? I have no aviation experience. I’m willing to put my time in at whatever regional offers me a job but I don’t really want to shell out the money and take the time off work for a class that can’t even pull me a job at a regional.
 
RDUspotter said:
I’m signed up for going to dispatch school this summer, I wanted to do it earlier but wasn’t able to do it for personal reasons so this summer is the best I could do.

Another website (starts with R and rhymes with credit) has a lot of doom and gloom posts about how it’s basically impossible to break into this career right now. The over all tone of that site is very negative though so I thought I would ask here, is it really as bad as they say?
I see a lot of stuff about “it takes 5 years to get to a major” but I’m not talking about that. How likely will it be that after I finish this class I will be able to get a regional job? I have no aviation experience. I’m willing to put my time in at whatever regional offers me a job but I don’t really want to shell out the money and take the time off work for a class that can’t even pull me a job at a regional.
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Know the basics out of dispatch school and really practice interviewing skills. Often times interviewing well will set you apart from others, at any job/career choice.
 
Oh I feel like I should clarify because bad wording
I don’t think the school should get me the job, I get myself the job. But I mean that once getting the certificate it’ll be near impossible to actually get hired despite having the credentials.
 
RDUspotter said:
I’m signed up for going to dispatch school this summer, I wanted to do it earlier but wasn’t able to do it for personal reasons so this summer is the best I could do.

Another website (starts with R and rhymes with credit) has a lot of doom and gloom posts about how it’s basically impossible to break into this career right now. The over all tone of that site is very negative though so I thought I would ask here, is it really as bad as they say?
I see a lot of stuff about “it takes 5 years to get to a major” but I’m not talking about that. How likely will it be that after I finish this class I will be able to get a regional job? I have no aviation experience. I’m willing to put my time in at whatever regional offers me a job but I don’t really want to shell out the money and take the time off work for a class that can’t even pull me a job at a regional.
Click to expand...

I'm not going to come out here and say that it's a hot hiring environment and you only need a pulse and a certificate. You're about 9 months too late for that. the majors absolutely drained the regionals of all their dispatchers who were ready to move up (and a lot that weren't) to cover up for covid early retirements, people leaving, expected growth and needed bodies due to flightkeys training. At that point, You probably could have had your pick with no issue.

That said, regionals ARE hiring so jobs are there to be had. Just not in bulk like it was. Instead of regionals having to take basically every single person that moves because they just lost 1/5 of their dispatchers to a southwest/delta/american/ual hiring class, they can really figure out who is going to be the best fit for their classes when they have them. Gather all the knowledge you can get, stand out as much as you can in class and show a passion for the profession and a thirst to learn and you'll be alright and then keep that for 2-5 years while you grow your skills and get ready to go to a major. And you will get there. And as Sam said, really hammer down that interviewing skill. Get a coach if you need to. It's worth it.

I will advise you to take what people on that other site say with a grain of salt. There's usually a reason why the guy who's been at a regional for 7 years is still there and can't move up. And there's usually a reason why people who have had their certificate for a year or more with no luck getting any dispatch job at all. Not to say it's an automatic you'll get it right away but a lot of people spend too much time complaining about the industry being "unfair" in hiring practices, and not enough time looking inward as to why they're not getting any consideration to move up. It's a job that you can get 6 figures with zero degree. It's HIGHLY competitive at the majors. You need to stand out.
 
RDUspotter said:
I’m signed up for going to dispatch school this summer, I wanted to do it earlier but wasn’t able to do it for personal reasons so this summer is the best I could do.

Another website (starts with R and rhymes with credit) has a lot of doom and gloom posts about how it’s basically impossible to break into this career right now. The over all tone of that site is very negative though so I thought I would ask here, is it really as bad as they say?
I see a lot of stuff about “it takes 5 years to get to a major” but I’m not talking about that. How likely will it be that after I finish this class I will be able to get a regional job? I have no aviation experience. I’m willing to put my time in at whatever regional offers me a job but I don’t really want to shell out the money and take the time off work for a class that can’t even pull me a job at a regional.
Click to expand...

It's worth noting that subreddit in particular is populated by a lot of people who seem to have been told that dispatch was an easy way to make $100k without a college degree and are now extremely salty that they missed the brief wave where that was true. Everything I heard and read made sure to clarify that the post-Covid situation was unique historically, and likely would end soon... but some people didn't get the message, it seems.

And let's remember that the current abrupt slowdown is primarily due to both major aircraft manufacturers having significant issues; Boeing with... well, everything, but especially the 737 MAX program; and Airbus with the A320neo's P&W engines. When those start getting fixed, and planes start coming online en masse again, there will be another wave of hiring (provided we don't hit a recession, which none of us here are qualified to predict). There is still travel demand that the industry isn't able to fill. When the planes arrive to fill it, more bodies will be needed to make those planes fly.

Getting into a regional isn't sunshine and rainbows right now like it was even 12 months ago, and from what I'm hearing, you might have to wait a couple hiring cycles (applying to the same places, which shows you want to be there) if you don't have previous aviation experience and don't stand out in some other way. So long as you are accepting of that, and accepting of the risk that predicting the future is very imperfect, right now the long-term forecast is actually quite good for our industry, despite the current slowdown.
 
If I’m the foreigner who recently got the offer from one of regionals, you also can get the offer with better chance than me.

I feel like both luck and some studying are required to find a job. I might applied 15~20 different companies, but I only got replies from 4 different companies… followed by 1 offer.

I took offer without hesitation. 🤞
 
///AMG said:
Taking advice (or taking things seriously) from Reddit is a bad life plan. Better plan is asking this question at a place like this, where people aren't all neckbeards living in their mom's basement with no actual life experience.
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Lmao you can say that again xD

Honestly regional life doesn’t even sound bad to me, like 100X better than my current situation, with higher pay even!
I’ve been in healthcare for 7 years and still can’t clear $20/hr….
 
Probably to get your first regional job offer may be a few weeks to a few months. Schools like IFOD, Jeppesen, and Sheffield will assist you to get jobs. Some regional jobs or 135 jobs will interview you during school and give you and offer.( pending you finish your certificate)

Getting hired at the legacy carriers right now, may take 3-5 years 121 experience.

Getting hired at a mid tier airline may take 1-2 years.
(Ex: Atlas , Frontier, Allegiant, Jet blue)
Which may be a career option for some folks, starting pay is approximately 80k and topping out 150K)

I would shadow a dispatcher or request a tour at your local 121 airlines or maybe a 135 operations, before you shell out 5k of your hard earn money.
 
RDUspotter said:
I was actually thinking about seeing if I can tour PSA since I’ll be in that area!
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That’s awesome, your already going to start networking (pretty sure people here are alumni’s and have contact with the SOC)

Also if your from the RDU area, there is a 121 supplemental (IAeroways and Mount air cargo)
In the Greensboro, Denver NC area.
 
///AMG said:
Taking advice (or taking things seriously) from Reddit is a bad life plan. Better plan is asking this question at a place like this, where people aren't all neckbeards living in their mom's basement with no actual life experience.
Click to expand...
While we can seem kind of pessimistic at times on here, I feel like most of the people who have been on this forum a while are quite realistic more than anything. We won't pump rainbows up your you know where while at the same time we won't go all doom and gloom. On top of that, if you have any questions you will almost always get a bunch of good answers and solid advice (mixed with sarcasm and dark humor, but that's just aviation).
 
Reddit is the last place to get advice from

Lots of people flooding that sub wanting to get into dispatching way too late and get stuck in the regionals and saying it's a bad career choice because getting onto a major or even LCC is super competitive

Covid is a very unique situation which saw unprecedented hiring, yes I was one of those fortunate dispatchers who got on one of those waves

Getting onto a regional isn't too difficult but moving up is, and some people don't have the patience and think it'd an easy 6 figure job that doesn't require a college degree and a few months spent at a dispatching school

I was an ATC graduate that couldn't pass the BioQ and it was a blessing in disguise and so grateful I got into dispatch. Its a great career
 
DispatcherSam said:
Know the basics out of dispatch school and really practice interviewing skills. Often times interviewing well will set you apart from others, at any job/career choice.
Click to expand...
Ah but the catch is getting an interview, like Gracias has said below. Hundreds will apply, few are required.
 
Envoid said:
Ah but the catch is getting an interview, like Gracias has said below. Hundreds will apply, few are required.
Click to expand...
At one point the Majors were getting close to a thousand applicants any time they posted. If they were hiring a class of 20, they would probably interview 80ish. So 8% of applications got an interview and 2% were offered the job.
 
I just graduated 2 weeks ago. I’m still looking for work, but I’m not too stressed because there hasn’t been that many open applications since I graduated so I know my time will come. If you genuinely like the work that dispatchers do and aren’t money hungry you’ll be ok.

I have made a lot of connections with instructors from my school and classmates and when the time comes that certain airlines open up I know I’ll have a few interviews so that’s another thing. Make as many connections as possible because it’s important in the dispatch community.

Also screw Reddit. The 3 people that have been “looking for work” for 6 months aren’t representative of what it’ll be like for you. Be a go getter and do what you want.
 
bbmikej said:
At one point the Majors were getting close to a thousand applicants any time they posted. If they were hiring a class of 20, they would probably interview 80ish. So 8% of applications got an interview and 2% were offered the job.
Click to expand...
Holy crap that’s a lot of applicants.
I know getting to a major will be hard, I’ll cross that bridge when I get there lol. Right now I want a job doing dispatching somewhere. I have a tier list of regionals I want to work at but honestly any of them will do (except Horizon because my partner and I would not be able to afford to live there.)

These replies have really given me a confidence boost, I was pretty close to jumping ship but honestly these responses are getting me re hyped about this as a career opportunity!
 
rogerthatbravo said:
That’s crazy , didn’t know
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They had a downturn in their business and too much debt to pay off for the business to survive it. Tried restructuring, couldn't get enough debt restructured. Tried getting bought out, Eastern was the only bidder and it seems they only wanted the planes anyway, so they negotiated separately with the biggest creditor for those, leaving iAero without any options.
 
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