flystudent this is not about you personally. I'm sure you're a decent chap but, as I said to Chris, this is not about logic or what some chap from BA (who are not recruiting, and have not for 3 years) says, it is about what actually happens.
When I said in an earlier thread that it is 'rarely, if ever, that employers look at exam results', that's exactly what I mean. It is very rare. Sure, there may be some recruiting campaigns run by a young bloke who himself doesn't have the experience to select pilots by real ability and personality, and decides that exam results will have a bearing, but please believe me when I say this is very rare. Now, are you going to base your efforts to get a job on the tiny minority of employers that might work that way, or on the methods of the vast majority?
As for your BA contact, it really doesn't matter what his seniority is. BA
are not recruiting, and will not be recruiting for some time to come - and they won't be interested in fATPLs anyway. So why take any notice of the man? He could have said that they would only take people with purple skin and three legs for all the relevance it has. In any case, BA have traditionally recruited only ab-initio cadets (ie people with
no flying history) or those with considerable experience behind them (direct entry pilots from other airlines and the military) - one group has never done the exams; the other has forgotten about them. Can you not see that the BA man is only doing a
PR job, and is not seriously involved in garnering new pilots? He only wants to remind you that they exist, and to indicate that their standards are high. The only way
you are going to get to BA is via another airline - so forget what the man from BA said.
The reason I am 'taking you to bits', as you put it, is not that your 'view is worth jack', it is because what we are talking about is
not a matter of opinion, it is a matter of fact. I know the facts; you don't. Simple, really,
Do you always swear that black is white when arguing? It's a fruitless path to take! And, in this case, it seriously risks misleading other wannabes - that's why I take such issue with you.
Also, please do not assume that you know or understand what a CV must contain in order to get an interview. Consider this (apocryphal) story: DFO waltzes into his office one day to be confronted with the usual pile of 100+ CVs. He takes the top 50 and puts them on his desk for later perusal. He dumps the bottom 50 in the bin, saying, "We don't need unlucky pilots".
If you think that's unlikely, you really haven't understood a word I'm saying to you!
Don't get me wrong; I'm not saying that you shouldn't work hard for your exams. One of the required qualities of a pilot is that he or she should work as hard as is reasonably possible to achieve the highest standards, but another, more important quality is that they should be able to prioritise and put the most effort where it will do the most good. You should concentrate on your weak areas, and be happy with a full set of passes, if you achieve that, but you should not worry overmuch if you drop a few; it won't matter in the long run. As for the relevance of the exams, I did mine after 22 years as a professional long-haul pilot in the RAF. I needed exactly the same groundschool course as you guys, because I needed to learn how to pass these exams. I had more than enough knowlege, but the exams don't test real-world knowlege, they test an artificial world which exists only in the minds of the JAA. That is one of the main reasons why employers don't give a stuff about them. Like me, you will forget everything you learned for the exams the minute they're finished, and then you'll get on with the job of learning what you really have to know.
Now, the modular vs integrated debate (which I did not raise): there is no difference in the qualification you achieve, and no significant difference in the training required to achieve it these days. Most employers are aware of that, and ignore your course, school etc. There are a very few dinosaurs still around that equate integrated with '509' and modular with 'self improver', and thus state a preference for integrated graduates (if you don't recognise '509' or 'self-improver', you'll understand how out of date they are!). These genetic hangovers are disappearing fast, and you should not let the few that still exist influence your decision as to where to train - they will be gone soon, or at least will have learned a bit more about the current system.
Scroggs