View Full Version : What is an efficient way to get a job??
Am at this stage looking for a new job. But what is an efficient way to get noticed = not forgotten??
Guess most helicopter companies get several CV sent to them every week, lot of calls and so on. Is the right way to send the CV and wait, to call first then send CV or is it to visit companys (gets expensive with traveling) and if so which doors to knock, the boss, HR or whom??
Confused but slightly optimistic... :rolleyes:
Helo-Helo
15th Jul 2013, 12:16
Very very interested in the replies.. Searching for more then a year now, mailed and called a lot worldwide without any invitation. Good results on the training but think nobody is interested in a low timer ..
So I'm asking myself the same question jinx!
Anthony Supplebottom
15th Jul 2013, 12:43
get noticed = not forgotten??
Date the boss's daughter!
Adroight
15th Jul 2013, 12:55
It is (as in many other aspects of life) who you know rather than what you know. In which case I would advise you to get out and meet people in the helicopter industry. Also calling in to prospective companies to introduce yourself and ask a few questions is a good idea. Dress smartly, be respectful and polite and ask intelligent questions. I would be surprised if they did not have time for you.
Just remember though that if the company minimums are 1500 hours plus an IR and you have nowhere near these minimums that it is unlikely you will be offered a job so be realistic. Good luck.
heloguy412
15th Jul 2013, 13:00
Dress smartly, be respectful and polite and ask intelligent questions. I would be surprised if they did not have time for you.
I was thinking just walk in naked and plunk yourself down in the waiting room. :E
Definitely will be noticed and won't be forgotten.
Devil 49
15th Jul 2013, 13:24
I'm not going to beat the "who you know" drum too loudly because it has an element of falseness as well as truth- you ask those you think might help before you refer to lists. If you're interested in the job, you need to be the qualified personality that's called before the list of unknowns is consulted.
Correspondence and phone calls are easy but can be a false economic decision. There's a reason spam filters were invented. Blasting an email costs almost nothing, so any return that exceeds the cost makes it a profitable proposition. Your blind resumes and phone calls are not exactly "spam" but unless you can send thousands, you're probably not going to see benefit, especially if you want a competitive, in demand position.
It comes down to your decision as to what you want and how badly you want it. If you want something enough to do a little homework, study the operation and requirements, direct yourself to acquiring the experience and skills, learn names, pursue potential references, and introduce and sell yourself, then you've improved your chances of not being just another element of the list. But you have to qualified and better known than anybody else- sell yourself.
Sales is an art, one wants to be persistent and directed without being a pest, and you have to have what the customer wants...
Thomas coupling
15th Jul 2013, 13:34
Well said Devil 49.
It can be boiled down into basic components:
If you believe yourself to be technically qualified for certain positions then the most productive way forward is to get in your car and go see them:eek: Time consuming and expensive but you really will have to stand out amongst the other couple of dozen applicants.
If you want ANY job just to amass hours then basic instructing / cattle mustering / ferrying a/c / cleaning the hangar - gets the hours accumulating or in the case of hangar cleaning - gets you noticed in the company!
There is another way - not for the faint hearted but does work occasionally. Mortgage your house, get an Instrument ticket, show the industry you are deadly serious about this piloting malarky and then advertise your wares to the Corporate / offshore / hems fraternity.
Big effort - big rewards. Little effort - little or nothing in return.
I knew a paramedic who went from zero to N Sea Captain in just under ten years. Mind you it cost him his house to do it!
He's very glad he took the gamble.
Good luck:ok:
tu154
15th Jul 2013, 14:12
Efficient? Not sure there is an efficient way to a flying job! It’s more like picking the euromilions lottery numbers! It’s a combination of persistence, determination, with a large dash of stubbornness and bloodymindedness, and don’t forget having the right hours and experience, and a reputation/work ethic and a face that fits. Oh and the right place/time combination too. :ugh:
Sometimes there is no rhyme or reason to it. I went from being a no one who couldn’t get a call back, to 3 interviews in a week!
In the early days once I had my foot in the door, I would show up even if I had no work booked. Was better than sitting at home, and I made myself useful, and if something cropped up I got the work.
A bare bones CPL is probably not enough to get taken on as a freelance pilot at the minute in the UK onshore job market. You need to at least be an instructor as 90% of the entry level work is training. If you demonstrate that you have what it takes in that world, then a company will usually base and line you, and use you for charter work. Instructors who also do charter, generally like the charter side as it’s a change from the student attempting to kill them in new and interesting ways on a daily basis.
The only way around that is to have enough turbine time that a charter operator might use you (unlikely), or have an IR and get taken on by either Bond or CHC. Big push on for that at the minute, how long will it last?
So the answer as always in the helicopter world is, it depends. :ok:
pilot and apprentice
15th Jul 2013, 15:14
Heloguy412:
Quote:
Dress smartly, be respectful and polite and ask intelligent questions. I would be surprised if they did not have time for you. I was thinking just walk in naked and plunk yourself down in the waiting room. http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/src:www.pprune.org/get/images/smilies/evil.gif
Definitely will be noticed and won't be forgotten.
Too bloody funny!!
Seriously, it depends. Who are you? 150 hrs on the R22 or 15000 hrs and waiting for the 225 to get serviceable? The answer to your question would depend on your answer to mine.
Advice:
1. Target jobs you are realistically qualified for.
2. Every job you get, do well 100% of the time.
3. Be friendly. Everyone you meet in the business may well be the reference you need all too soon.
And don't completely discount the quote above! When culling through the stacks (seriously!) of resumes sent in for the handful of low-timer jobs we would be filling that season, anything eye-catching / funny / interesting / unique at least got us to look at it twice or show it to the other guys.
Then make sure the impression you made is good, not bad! Dangling the twig and berries in front of the receptionist may not be the best impression...but treating her nicely is. One very well qualified pilot that I interviewed was not considered because of how shabbily he treated the receptionist while waiting to see me.
vaibronco
15th Jul 2013, 15:30
I mixed both options Thomas Coupling was mentioning.
I started working as helper (mixing the sprayable stinking chemical in AG) in a company and then i got my IR there. So I was a very well known applicant. They called me when they needed a pilot for pipeline patrol. That's how I started.
The quick answer? Don't send a cv, deliver it personally.
Dress smartly (no earrings), even have the car you arrive in cleaned.
Everybody in the company is on the interview panel (see comments about receptionist above). One company in Calgary I knew used to have everyone in the company vote on new hires.
If offered a check ride, help to push the machine back in the hangar afterwards, or at least offer. You would be surprised how many people leave that out.
Donuts go down well.
Phil
Thx for the replies, got some helpful ideas :)
I'm not a lowtimer, have some experience, IR ME, turbinehours and so on. "Just" curious how to apply for a job, since it seems like there are always are so many applicants for the interesting jobs, and it's very easy to be "just one on them" and then forgotten.
BTW would rather date the boss's son ;)
Anthony Supplebottom
15th Jul 2013, 19:56
BTW would rather date the boss's son.
Ah well, then you may have a distinct advantage as more and more Chief Pilots are keen to be seen / or in fact to be pro-active in terms of employing female pilots.
Good luck!
Bravo73
15th Jul 2013, 20:19
BTW would rather date the boss's son http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/src:www.pprune.org/get/images/smilies/wink2.gif
Ah well, then you may have a distinct advantage as more and more Chief Pilots are keen to be seen / or in fact to be pro-active in terms of employing female pilots.
Aren't you presuming that Jynx is a woman?
:E
;)
DirtDiver
16th Jul 2013, 06:45
Hahaha i think we got our self a akward situation!
Haha I think I made it rather clear that I indeed am a woman :)
But there isn't supposed to be any difference when applying for jobs or what?!! Hopefully not...
In that case, keep the earrings on....:)
phil
Pappa Delta
16th Jul 2013, 11:23
Or Gay Man could have been the other option.