The competition for jobs in the airlines tends to be fierce. You often come across individuals who are willing to do almost anything, just to get an opportunity to work in the aviation industry. Naturally, this leads to one question: as to why people are so eager to work in the aviation industry. That, in other words, is a question as to what the joys of working in the aviation industry are. For if people are ready to go to such great lengths in pursuit of jobs in the aviation industry, there surely must be certain ‘joys’ there. So the question we have to tackle is as to what exactly those joys of working in the aviation industry are. What exactly is it that warrant the efforts that people put in, in search of jobs within that particular industry?
As it turns out, there are five major joys in working within the aviation industry. So in this article, we will be looking at those five key joys (or, in simpler terms, ‘benefits’) of working in the aviation industry.
Without any further ado, the joys of working within the aviation industry include:
1. Opportunity to travel the World
Ask anyone who works in the aviation industry why they chose that line of work, and most of them tell you that they were looking for ‘an opportunity to travel the world’. You see, in ordinary circumstances, one has to pay considerable sums of money (in terms of air tickets, hotel fees and so on) to travel the world. But once one gets an opportunity to work in the aviation industry, the paradigm changes: one now gets paid to travel the world. So to the extent that the aviation industry gives one an opportunity to travel the world — and get paid while at it — it becomes a very attractive proposition. It is worth noting that some of the leading airlines give their staff ‘travel benefits’ (on top of the opportunity to travel that the staff get while on duty). So that is where you find that some airlines give their employees free/subsidized tickets, and in some cases, hotel rooms at subsidized rates, as part of the employee benefits packages. Of course, we also have some airline employees who soon get tired with the travel aspect. It eventually gets to a point where they come to view travel as a ‘chore’, rather than a ‘joy’. But for those who know how to savor the journeys, this point (of viewing traveling as a chore rather than as a joy) never comes. In that case, over a 30-year career working in the aviation industry, one can get the opportunity to cover hundreds of thousands — or even millions — of kilometers. And one can also get an opportunity to visit all the continents and most of the nations in the world. This is definitely one of the joys of working within the aviation industry.
2. Opportunity to meet new people every day
There are jobs that force you to encounter the same people, day after day. The jobs in the aviation industry are, for the most part, not in that category. On the contrary, most of the jobs in the aviation industry give you an opportunity to meet new interesting people on a day to day basis. Some of the people you get to meet are pleasant. Others are, admittedly, noxious. But encountering them, and dealing with the various personalities, is definitely one of the joys of working in the aviation industry.
3. The opportunity to earn good money
The aviation industry is known to be one of the best paying. We therefore have people who seek to work in this particular industry purely in pursuit of the typically handsome paychecks. The most attractive thing about the aviation industry is in the fact that it tends to pay ‘world class’ paychecks. That is as opposed to other industries that tend to pay salaries at ‘local rates’. This can be particularly attractive to people from the developing world, where ‘local rates’ (for salaries) are usually low. So you find that what a pilot in a developing nation earns is more or less equal to what a pilot in a developed nation earns. But the purchasing power of the money earned by the pilot in the developing nation is much higher than the purchasing power of the (same amount of) money earned by the pilot in the developed nation. The amount may be the same, but the purchasing power turns out to be considerably different. So you find that although a pilot is deemed as a ‘middle class’ worker in the developed nation, the pilot in the developing nation is considered to be in the ‘upper/rich’ class. And that is yet another joy of working within the aviation industry.
4. The flexibility of the work schedules
the aviation industry is one that operates on a 24-hour basis. This means that the employees usually work on shift basis. In practical terms, this means that most of the jobs are not done on a 9 to 5 basis. So you find that employees have an opportunity to choose shifts that are most convenient to them. This is a great joy to folks who hate the typical 9 to 5 routine — and who prefer to have an opportunity to choose the shifts that are most convenient to them. Of course, this flexibility can turn into a disadvantage, if one is forced to work shifts that are rather unpleasant. But for most people, and in most cases, the opportunity to choose shifts is a huge attraction. And it is another joy of working within the aviation industry.
5. The prestige associated with the industry
working in the aviation industry is a prestigious affair. So we have many people who aspire to work in the aviation industry purely in pursuit of the prestige. So this is where one encounters folks she went to school with, and they want to know where she works. In that case, there can definitely be some joy in telling those other individuals that you work in the aviation industry, for such and such an airline. Don’t underestimate the power of prestige (as a motivator). We often come across individuals who are willing to take lower paying jobs, as long as those lower paying jobs are in prestigious companies. But in the airlines, you find employers who offer jobs that are both prestigious and well paying. And this is surely yet another joy of working within the aviation industry.
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