Thanks
Pilot Pete.
Virginskid airlines like BA who cloud their aircrew recruiting with issues about being part of the management of the airline are the exception rather than the rule! However, even BA require only the very basics on your CV and covering letter; their own in-house application form extracts the information about your character and personality that they need to determine who to invite for interview. Many applicants to BA never needed to send a CV at all, as all they had to do to get the application form was to ring the airline!
Most airlines that you (or any Wannabe) will write to are probably
not looking for new pilots. Often, an airline's decision to employ new pilots is very short notice, and the need may be for very few people. Airlines will keep CVs of those pilots they think may fit their needs, even in times when they don't anticipate recruiting, and you can find that you are contacted out of the blue by an airline you last contacted months ago! All most airlines need to know is that you are qualified at the appropriate level for the job or training that they may offer; the interview and selection process will provide the filters to get the required numbers into employment.
Most Wannabes will look to sponsorships as their preferred method of getting into aviation. They are few and far between, but they do exist. For these, CVs are usually irrelevent - after all, by definition a sponsorship seeker will have little or no experience to write about! Normally applicants for these will be chosen by application forms and subsequent interviews and tests.
For the majority of Wannabes who do not get a sponsorship, the CV is the primary method of contact with prospective employer airlines. These CVs are speculative;
ie they are not in response to a specific job advert. To have any chance of success, you need to target your CVs at employers who are known to have taken on pilots of your experience. For instance, it would be a waste of time for a 250-hour fATPL to send a CV to Virgin Atlantic, who need pilots with a minimum of 2500 hours jet or TP time!
As it is speculative, your covering letter needs to detail exactly what you are applying for, so that it can be directed to the correct department (or, more likely, the correct in-tray on the secretary's desk!). Once in front of the Director Flight Ops (DFO) or whoever is responsible for pilot recruiting in your target airline, all he or she needs to see is that you are appropriately qualified, hold a current licence, and have the experience required by that particular airline. If your covering letter gives hm or her that information succinctly, and your details fit that airline's requirements, you can reasonably expect your CV to be held on file until such time as the airline next recruits new pilots. If your covering letter (or CV) goes into unnecessary detail about what a fine chap you are, and how you've done great things for McDonalds Big Mac sales in Lower Thumping-on-the-Naze by synergising their marketing strategy with the implementation of customer-focussed sales techniques, you can expect your CV to be posted either in the bin or to the airline's
PR department!
Keep it simple and to the point. You are not selling yourself as an individual, you are selling your skills as a pilot. The airlines don't care how great you were in non-aviation jobs, they just care that you can drive their punters from A to B safely and legally. That's it.
Scroggs