Originally Posted by paco
You can take a lot of the above with several pinches of salt. Nothing wrong with the Microsoft templates - I use one myself, and contrary to other advice, mine is also 5 pages long. Don't get stressed up putting it all on one page - BUT - put all the relevant stuff on page 1 - if I want more information, I want it NOW, and I will not pick up the phone if I have 500 resumes to sift through. Imagine what you would want to know yourself as a Chief Pilot - that will tell you what to put on the first page.
Bear in mind that a resume gets you an interview, not a job, and the screener looks at it for 8 seconds before putting it in a pile. Don't give them an excuse to put it on the wrong one!
It certainly should be neat and well-spaced, with black printing on white paper (for scanning) and if you've taken the trouble to use a microsoft one, or even better a Framemaker one, it at least tells me you are computer literate to a certain degree.
Otherwise, no photos, no aol email addresses, referees will be taken up later, so you don't need them right now. However.......
YOUR COVERING LETTER IS OFTEN MORE IMPORTANT!
Read that again
And again
That's because it is a focussing device.
Good luck!
Phil
Phil, I can see from your profile that you are a helicopter man. I don't know what your history is, and it may be that helicopter companies want to read an applicant's life history, but it simply will not wash with airlines. In mine and several others, if the CV is too long and full of irrelevant padding it
will get binned. There's no maybe about it. Remember that this advice is aimed at wannabes trying to get into UK airlines; cultural differences in other parts of the world may mean that the hyperbolic short novel is an acceptable airline resume. Not here.
As for computer literacy, I don't really give a monkey's! If you've just passed your MCC and done a JOC or similar, I can be reasonably satisfied that you can push the right buttons on an FMS. Your facility with Windoze may impress if you want to be an office worker, but are not particularly relevant in a 737.
I don't understand the objection to AOL e-mail addresses. I can understand why those who aren't fully up to date with net mail issues might not like Hotmail, but not AOL.
As for the covering letter, I think Phil's advice may be salient if you're speculatively applying for a position in a very small organisation. If you're after an airline job, there is less need for star quality and more need to fit the desired profile.
However, these days most UK airlines require you to apply using their own online forms, so the opportunity for attempting to shine via a CV is diminishing! Where a CV is required in UK, stick with our advice above. If you're still unsure, go and do a day with Pete (above) or Penny Austin, both of whom will fill in the details but give you broadly the same advice as I have. If you're looking in other parts of the world, you'll need to find out about the local jobseeker's culture. It may be that Phil's advice is more relevant in those places, but don't try it here!
Scroggs