Summing up what others have pointed out:
-Management: There is none. The comments about "ex-military make it bad etc." are not well founded as I saw incompetence from all management levels at the center regardless of prior background. I saw equally poor in both those with a straight civilian background in aviation, as well as those with a military. What is a common thread is "management". The managers are trained by Flight Safety. So anything that is going on in the center is a push down from their bosses, and further from those above them. It's systemic, and will rot the company from the inside. What is afflicting Flight Safety is a nexus of management greed, "I got mine", coupled with the attitude of "you should be happy to work here and are home every night".
You will not be properly trained on the processes and "paperwork" (most everything is done in Logbook - electronically) required to document client training, but be expected to be an expert on day one. Don't ask your program manager for assistance. You will be ridiculed. I found it better to identify someone in the program, another instructor, that had figured it out, and asked them for assistance. If you make a honest mistake, expect to be hammered. The expectations juxtaposed to the level of training a new instructor gets on the internal processes, is severely disconnected and problematic. A source of friction for sure.
As several have pointed out, and I can attest, there is no schedule. It is an oxymoron to call it that. The days where you are not "scheduled" you are expected to be available. I tried to find this in company policy, but couldn't. Therefore, all I can ascribe it to is a philosophy of management (see above). When I interviewed I asked specific, direct questions on the scheduling process. I was told by both program and center management that one could expect to work, on average, about 4 days on and have 3 days off. Obviously this would change somewhat, but to the person this is the party line they spew. Well, not the case. Don't schedule anything on your "non-scheduled" day(s) ( I use "non-scheduled" as there is no such thing as "days off" for a flight safety instructor) because if you do, and they happen to call you and you tell them you can't make it, expect to be hammered. So plan on your schedule being 24/7/365 unless you take vacation days. But don't plan on that, the schedule will be jammed and the program manager will deny until a later time. The guy who posted about not getting vacation for a year is about average from what I saw.
We had a one manager who was not licensed, or even instructed, in an airplane. How does that happen?!?
-Schedule: There isn't one. See all previous write ups about this. They have no issues working you on an insane "schedule". With leaving the building at 3 AM from a sim and showing back at 8AM that same morning to teach ground school. Wash-rinse-repeat for weeks. Or better yet, working the 9 PM to xxAM sim period for 7 days straight then turn around and start 6 AM to xxAM periods with not even a 24 hour break in between. Nice circadian rhythm dump that is. You are better off on reserve.
-Pay: Very low compared to industry standard. You'll start out at 65K a year gross. Good news is it will stay like that for perpetuity except for the miserly 2% raise. For a company that proclaims itself as "the" industry leader, it is woefully inadequate for the instructor cadre. As an instructor you are SALARY. See comments on schedule and management above. Like others have indicated, it really kicks you between the legs when the center management boasts of making XX million in profit for the year, yet you see a measly 2% increase. I wonder what center management's cut was? Whether you are the best, or the worst, instructor in your program, you will be paid about the same. Get used to that if you want to work there. Merit raise is a joke. At least you have a chance to laugh at something, because everything else is miserable.
-Timeoff: Enjoy your sleep between sim periods.
-Cliques: Yes there are and it's the worst I've seen in any organization - ever. Remember Gordon gecko's comment from the movie Wall Street, "If you're not inside, you're outside". Cliques run through the entire organization, from the CSRs upfront to the sim techs behind the glass. If a non-member, you step on the wrong toe and you'll get hammered.
-Career Advancement: See clique comment above.
-End result: I left for another job in aviation. I'm home every night, I get paid very well (significantly more than when at Flight Safety), and have a relaxed, professional team of highly motivated pilots I work with. Oh yeah, when not scheduled, I'm not scheduled.
