Anchor the master's thesis to a real aerospace problem with a named industry supervisor at the current employer — converts three years of placement hours into one defensible signature project rather than a vague tenure line.

Pick one aerospace-relevant specialism that the market actively pays for (systems engineering for new-space, model-based systems engineering, propulsion test, simulation/CFD) and demonstrate it with two public artefacts before graduation — moves you out of the thousands-deep generic IE pool.

Build a real network from zero this year: one named industry mentor, one student-section role in a recognised body (DGLR, AIAA, VDI), and 2–3 aerospace conferences attended — invisible network plus colleague-only refs is the single biggest drag on present scarcity.