AceofallPilots

Question to all the CFI and CFII's out there. How should I go about negotiating pay for my first job. [LIST]What type of hourly pay should I ask for? Also, How does the whole retainer pay work?And what should I ask for in terms of benefits/vacation days?

any and all help would be appreciated!

Flightcap

If you know any independent CFIs in your area, you might ask them what they charge. Most flight schools will pay their CFI a bit less than what an independent CFI makes.

The going rate I've seen is usually $20-30/hour, depending on region and pay scheme.

Retainer pay - I'm assuming you mean some sort of guaranteed minimum weekly pay agreement? These agreements are rare in the CFI trade, unless you work for a large, highly profitable school. Mostly you get paid when the prop is turning.

I am technically a part-time employee of my employer, so I don't get any benefits but can take vacations as much as I want so long as I find CFIs to cover my students while I'm gone. Don't worry - you won't have the money to take many vacations anyway.

OnCenterline

Make sure that you can charge for and get paid for ground instruction. You should get paid the same rate for that as for your flight time.

JamesNoBrakes

Well, most instruction given is around 53/hr, average, plus or minus a little here and there. Also, most of the time it costs a company approximately 50-100% of your salary to provide for training and all the benefits, like health care, dental, eye, retirement, and all the other stuff (so effectively if you make $20/hr they have the spend around $40/hr on everything concerning you). Then there are the facility costs like the building, electricity, etc. This all leads to the fact that around $20-25/hr is pretty fair if they provide you with benefits. If there are no benefits, then it gets a little tougher to figure out, because they are basically using you as a contract worker and reaping the rewards of charging as much for dual instruction as an independent instructor. All I can say with that is good luck, unfortunately life isn't fair, but if there's a real "pilot shortage", maybe they are prepared to wheel and deal.

What you need to do is provide good worthwhile instruction and not give the students "freebies" and "gifts". It seems like a nice thing to do and it's real tempting at time, but selling yourself short sells the entire profession short and only perpetuates the attitude. You must carry yourself as a professional and act like one. This means charging for all of the pre/debrief time. Charging when you are out there at the airplane responsible for the student's safety. Make these times worthwhile for the student, but don't be the instructor there for 5 hours with 2 students that only gets 2.2 hours of pay, in the end it's doing a huge disservice, not to mention the effect it has on your paycheck, which is really the secondary point to simply carrying yourself as a professional. Remember, they are paying you to put someone's life in your hands, to teach this other person how to fly. This is no small deal. You are being trusted with airplanes and lives, so make sure you act like it day to day.