Career Day

tonycondon

tonycondon

Gastons CRO (Chief Dinner Reservation Officer)
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Tony
I am presenting next Thursday at an area high school for their career day. Im not sure the size of the class, but I will be giving them info on being a pilot. Anyone know of good resources out there I can build a presentation from?

Jason, Rudy, any other highschool aged people - I need ideas on the best way to discuss the subject so's not to bore the hell out of them. I seem to remember from high school that most of these types of things made me sleepy.

Im sure AOPA has some good stuff. I plan to have some handouts, thinking about taking some of my cards to sign people up for 6 month subscriptions to Flight Training. Id like to get some sort of PowerPoint put together. Sadly i cant spend a ton of time on it as finals are next week for me, but I bet I can find 5-10 hrs in the next week to try to put something good together.

Shoot me some ideas, I wanna hear em!
 
Pictures, they will want pictures. Just have a slide show of that and then a few talking points of what you do and maybe a slide of the pay scale. That should scare them away.
 
ill compare it to the McDonalds pay scale:

Required Skills: "Would you like fries with that?"
cost to attain skills: Free
Pay: 6ish bucks an hour

OR

Required Skills: Commercial, Instrument Rating
Cost: 20,000 +
Pay: Average 6bucks an hour or so

yep that will be an excellent way to get everyone to want to be a pilot! :)
 
Let me talk to them Tony.
 
Missa said:
Yea... just steal stuff from the girls! :princess:

Missa
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Uh Uh, We are leveraging and exciting presentation developed by the leading authorities on women in aviation to a broad based group of young adults. Thus energizing them with a new found respect for aviation.
 
It's wonderful that you're doing this Tony. Wish I could refer you to something. Anyway you could get the glider or something like that over there. A friend did that after a little presentation inside and the kids loved seeing it up close and asking questions. I've also had folks take them to the airport and show them around and show them planes.

Best,

Dave
 
The thought has crossed my mind. Im not sure how big of a group I am talking to, that is one issue. Of course I plan to figure that out. The other problem is time. I have a final on Thursday from 12-2 and then presentation is at 2:50. Pretty much enough time to gather thoughts and drive over there. So Im thinking rigging the glider in the gym or something is probably out of the questions, as much as I would love to show it off.
 
smigaldi said:
Uh Uh, We are leveraging and exciting presentation developed by the leading authorities on women in aviation to a broad based group of young adults. Thus energizing them with a new found respect for aviation.
Click to expand...

It's quite alright to steal from the girls as long as you give them credit and make sure to make an effort to energize the girls as well as the boys!

Missa
 
Tony, if you want to make it interesting, make it exciting. Talk, with passion, about the greatest things in flying. Talk about the great places you've gotten to see. Talk about the great people you've met. Talk about the great contacts you've met. Talk about what made you decide to be a pilot.

Talk about the thrill of ownership, and the desire to always want to make yourself better. Stay away from cost or pay if you can, but if you are asked point blank, be truthful. Let them know that at first, pay will suck, but if you stick with it, you CAN make a decent living.

For the slide show, show jets as well as GA. Kids love Jets, and drawing a comparison will make them follow along better.

edit: You're a CFI - make up a bunch of business cards and hand them out for some sort of offer for a discovery flight or something, if you feel comfortable doing that.
 
Quiz them at the end. Prize being a free flight. If you can't afford it let me know and I can do it as long as they are a good looking female and at least 18 years old.
 
Tony,

I've done a bunch of these, and all you have to do is be yourself. If you show some enthusiasm and passion about the subject, you'll have their attention. Granted there will probably be the stray kid or two who has the enthusiasm of a brick wall. But they mostly think flying is cool.

Be sure to have visuals, especially some cool aerial shots. Bonus points if they are your own pictures. "This is my office view..."

Focus on the positive aspects of the career, since every career has its disadvantages and the kids will learn those soon enough. Be prepared for major skepticism from any of the adults. Many have biased perceptions of the industry because of what they read in the papers. Explain to them and the kids that there is more to aviation than the (ailing) major airlines. Give some examples of places that are hiring right now. That'll open up their minds. If you don't do this, you'll leave them with a feeling of "Yeah, great, but...."

Mention the age requirements. The kids usually get excited to learn they can get a jump start on things while still in high school. I suggest a handout that lists names and web sites for all the aviation organizations that can help get the kids started.

Good luck!
 
sounds good! I definitely need to make it exciting, and perhaps somewhat interactive. My time slot is from 2:50 - 3:20, which is the end of the day. They will be itching to get out of school.
 
tonycondon said:
I definitely need to make it exciting, and perhaps somewhat interactive.
Click to expand...
You're actually going to try to encourage kids into aviation as a career <cough>. :eek:

Speaking of exciting and interactive, be ready for that question similar to, "When was the time you were most scared in an airplane?" and "Have you ever crashed?" Kids like to ask that. Come to think of it, adults do too...
 
Everskyward said:
You're actually going to try to encourage kids into aviation as a career <cough>. :eek:

Speaking of exciting and interactive, be ready for that question similar to, "When was the time you were most scared in an airplane?" and "Have you ever crashed?" Kids like to ask that. Come to think of it, adults do too...
Click to expand...

high schoolers aren't exactly kids. but that may just be my young perspective.
 
I would assume the kids would probably bring up 9-11. You may try to convey the difference between commercial and GA aircraft. Maybe educate them on how a GA aircraft has never been used in a terrorist attack.
 
CJones said:
I guess I'm officially not a 'kid' anymore.. Talk about depressing.. :(
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I guess I'm not either. I've just been deceiving myself for a long long time. :(

Jesse said:
high schoolers aren't exactly kids. but that may just be my young perspective.
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Jesse, I could easily have a high school age (and much older) kid...
 
Tony, Bobby Day was involved in an Aviation Camp held at his airport last summer. There is some info on it at

http://www.arkansaspilots.org/aircamp/aircamppoto.html

I'm sure he could help you with sources.

A local flight school here does a similar "camp". Once we get a few hangars built at M11, which will free up the main hangar somewhat, I hope to do something similar there, and probably use the local flight school resources if they are willing.

http://www.spiritaviationinc.com/summerCamp.php

You could distill some of the contents of a "camp" down to a one day/one hour introduction.
 
Everskyward said:
I guess I'm not either. I've just been deceiving myself for a long long time. :(


Jesse, I could easily have a high school age (and much older) kid...
Click to expand...

I'm obviously not a kid anymore (25 now!) as I referred to high schoolers as kids in this very post. Yikes!
 
If they're into real challenges,
then making money in aviation could be their cup of tea.
 
tonycondon said:
Jason, Rudy, any other highschool aged people - I need ideas on the best way to discuss the subject so's not to bore the hell out of them. I seem to remember from high school that most of these types of things made me sleepy.
Click to expand...

Use video. I seem to remember some video of gliders being made down your way a few weeks ago... :D

But, use as much "multimedia" crap as you can find. People talking bores students.

Bring props too... Whatever you can get your hands on. Busted-open instruments, handheld radio/GPS, bent prop :D

Mention not only the differences between airline jets and GA, but also the numerous types of GA. Airplanes, helicopters, gliders, balloons, airships, etc. They probably don't think of GA as anything but single-engine airplanes; and they probably don't think of the guy who flies a balloon as a pilot. Mention the many types of flying jobs besides being an airline captain: Flight instructors (everything from local airport to check airman to FlightSafety), banner towers, "diver drivers," air ambulance, law enforcement, fire suppression, news/traffic, military, corporate... And try to find cool pics representative of each. I bet you could do a really bang-up slideshow + video with PowerPoint or something.
 
rog and wilco Kent.

This was organized through my FBO. They view it as an excellent way to pick up some more students. I view it as an excellent way to promote aviation. The fundamental difference was summed up in this email:

Remember, this is a talk about US keep the Glider references to a minimum.
Click to expand...

whatever :)
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Mention the many types of flying jobs besides being an airline captain: Flight instructors (everything from local airport to check airman to FlightSafety), banner towers, "diver drivers," air ambulance, law enforcement, fire suppression, news/traffic, military, corporate... And try to find cool pics representative of each.
Click to expand...
I second this. Even after I learned how to fly it took me a while to realize there were other jobs out there besides airlines and military, neither of which were a good fit for me on many levels. I was always more attracted to what I thought were the fringe jobs in aviation. I think the trick is to find your own niche.
 
definitely mari. i plan to just mention airlines in passing. the other stuff is where the fun is, IMO.
 
got a little guidance today from the school. looks like ill be talking to between 10 and 50 students. they chose the careers they want to hear about so theoretically they will actually want to hear what ive got to say. im supposed to:

Introduce and give background on myself.
Answer the following questions:
What is your career and where do you work?
What are some of your job responsibilities?
What are your day to day activities?
What is your work environment?
What education level is needed? Or is it an apprenticeship?
What are typical hours, vacation time, sick leave, etc?
What is the average starting salary?
Do you have benefits? How important is it to have benefits?
What high school classes would you suggest studnets take who are interested in this career (academic and vocational)?
What is the future outlook for this career field?

That should get me started. feel free to throw your opinions out there...
 
Is this limited to pilot careers or the aviation industry in general?

There's a pretty broad spectrum to cover if it's more than just pilot-related.
 
it hink its pilots specifically. you're right, it would be impossible to include all of aviation in a half hour talk
 
High schoolers are kids. When I taught them, I noticed few things that differentiated their behavior from my (then) 2 year old, other than physical appearance. They look like adults, think like kids.

DON'T STAND UP THERE AND JUST TALK. You'll lose 'em in 5 minutes. Trust me on this. Flash sells. Show some video clips. Chuck paper airplanes at 'em. Show a few pictures. Ask them to figure out things like, salary, years til they're in charge, how many hours things take, I don't know, just try to get them thinking (they're very resistant to that!). Talk a little more. Show more video. What is it you like about flying? Make sure they understand that.

Have fun.
 
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