I shall start by saying that I do not have an offer for the dream job, but it's a position which is recruiting for the next 4 or 5 years (IIRC). But I am wondering how I should confront the issue at hand and how I could ask the company if they'd be able to defer applicants until they've completed their degree. I think it's about 80 successful jobs per year.
So, to the story: Quite a few airlines are recruiting new pilots and I want to be one of them. Some airlines are going to be taking in new pilots to train for the next 9-10 years. Problem is, I want to go to university. Given the length of my course (which could be as long as 5 years if I do a masters with industrial placement year) I don't want to miss this opportunity, but I need the fall-back position. Every instructor I've met has told me to invest in university instead of learning to fly, and that's what I intend to do... A failed medical means I'm out of the pilot's seat and I need to go to another job. Sure, I don't plan on failing the medical, and I have no reason why I should, but I can't predict what might happen in 5-20 years time.
So how could I word the enquiry to the airlines? They're recruiting for quite a while, so I should hope that they could consider me for a later entry onto their training courses. Shall I just go straight in and say "Hi, I want to go to university and fly for you. Can I apply every year for the next decade? Will you defer my entry onto the course if I succeed whilst I'm still studying?" (or, to that effect).
The financing shouldn't be an issue, in fact it works out quite nicely. It's about £100k to become a pilot, and the airline will put their name on the dotted line for that loan. The university fees will be, what? £45-£75k in total between a 3-5 year course... Given all the costs of studying, loans, etc. The initial rate of pay for a pilot will be more like £12k as you pay off their loan, but that lasts for about 7 years or so (I think pay bonuses are applied annually, as well as extra flying pay, etc). The repayment for the student loan won't start until I'm earning about £20k anyway. So when one loan is paid, the other one will start, and I'll be on a much higher rate of pay by then anyway. So I'm hoping that the financing will be okay to deal with that.
So I've given my route some consideration, but what would you do if you had to choose between the dream job or the dream degree? I want both, and I could quite possibly have both. I don't want to kill either baby, but if it came to it, what would you do? And shall I just send out some brief emails showing my concerns but also my interest?
Cheers