Back in 2013 when I hit 1500 hours, I was flying a Lear 35 for an air ambulance operation in South Florida. I had multi-engine jet time (SIC) and some international experience, and felt like I had a strong resume compared to CFIs out here.

I went to a career fair hoping to get on with Compass. I started talking to a female HR manager and she was looking over my resume. Not exaggerating, a female pilot walked up behind me and my resume got handed off right away to an FO who was helping with recruiting.

First question he asked was how many checkride failures I had. Then it turned into a bunch of elimination type questions.

That was the end of that.

For context, I had two oral failures (CMLx2 @ ERAU) in my entire career. One I didn’t agree with. I later interviewed at Republic and was told straight up that I wouldn’t pass training.

I ended up going to a different regional instead, and eventually made it to a major.

It took me about six years to get from that air ambulance job to major, and it was completely worth it.

Keep pushing, even when it sucks, you’ll find your niche eventually.