Originally Posted by
rudestuff
Or start thinking outside of the box. Why aren’t you getting interviews? It’s usually one of four reasons:
1: You are ginger.
2: You have the wrong number of hours.
3: You qualified too long ago.
4: You are too old.
So let’s address those.
1: Hair dye
2: It is possible to have too many or (more often) too few hours. Some airlines are looking for a particular demographic, and lately that seems to be: 22 years old, 200 hours, <6 months out of training. Some places don’t like SEP time much. Some value Instructor time ( or they’re trying to smooth out their experience gradient). Now if you have 300 hours, you can’t say that you have 1000. But you CAN say that you have 200. I know of someone who ‘forgot’ about 1000 hours in order to get an interview.
3: Employers like trainability. They want to interview people who will likely pass the Sim. Hence the 22/200/6 thing. Younger is seen as better. Fewer Single-pilot hours = Easier to train Multi-pilot. Fresh out of school = it’s all fresh and you’re more likely to pass the sim. So if your CV says you got your MEIR 5 years ago and haven’t had a flying job since, it doesn’t fill them with hope. There’s nothing stopping you from getting an MEIR revalidation then keeping it vague on your CV saying “MEIR at XXX School on date” (Putting the date of revalidation)
4: There’s not much you can do to hide your age, so there are 3 options. (A) tell the truth. (B) Just don’t put any dates on your CV or (C) When all else has failed, tell them an age you think they want to hear. If they interview you, after changing ONLY your age then you’ll either have (i) a shot at a job or (ii) a good claim for discrimination.
Or you can get REALLY creative. I know someone who seduced a girl from HR to get his CV to the top of the pile. Events can be engineered. Accidental meetings can be arranged, pets lost and returned, gratitude earned. If you really want something you will make it happen.
Or you could just give up.
Not really useful advice in what you write. Sometimes if you have nothing smart to say, it's better to not say anything at all.
I did number 4, by mistake, got dropped like a burning hot dog when they discovered I was 10 years older than I thought. There are 2 problems with that, are you really that sloppy that you can't fill in the form properly, maybe you are not up to the job if you are that sloppy.
The lawsuit claim for discrimination, hmmm. nobody new understands how small this industry really is, you might win one battle, but you will loose the war.
So the claim route for discrimination would be the final nail in your pilot career coffin.
It might not sound fair, and you might not like it, but thats the way it is.
I do know for some of the central European companies it does help if you know someone inside the company, who recommends you. It might give you the chance of an interview, nothing more. But that is generally the biggest issue, getting an interview, than after that you need to meet up prepared.
Fact is that when I completed my MEIR / CPL, I thought I understood what it was to be prepared, it took me another 12 - 18 months with good advice from airline pilots I knew, who would help me / coach me, how to be best possible prepared.
When you go to an interview there are certain replies / words, they are looking for. And if you have not prepared and aware of this, you might think you are ok, but it will not tick the boxes on their forms during the interview.
It's all smoke and mirrors.