I went to the conference last year, and used it as a good opportunity to ask lots of questions to various chief pilots and recruiters regarding Type Ratings and routes into airlines. I had the Flybe man look at my CV and give me some advise on its content which was useful. I also had a chat with the boss of BAs recruitment man, as well as chatting with a few other wannabes. Last years conference was full of military guys wanting to go to civvy street, and a whole bunch of low houred chaps.
I'm not going this year, since I'm not looking to move on from my current employer, but this is my advise to get the most out of it:
1) Wear a suit. I didn't last year, and went in a shirt and chinos and felt a bit of a plonker.
2) Identify which company you want to speak to early on, and while everyone is getting their lunch, head for the stand you most want a job from, and importantly, make sure it's the people who are hiring your type of experience. If you leave it too late, the queues get huge and you end up waiting for 1-2 hrs to talk. Have your lunch a bit later. Balpa do a good job of identifying who is after low-houred guys. Last year it was Jet2 (my current employer) and BMI-baby. Leave Virgin, Cathay, China Airlines etc to the guys with experience, and when they are empty go and have your chat about the industry and get their thoughts.
3) Mingle. If your not the mingling type, remember you paid good money to be there....
4) When you do get to the front of the queue, have your greeting, banter and first question ready.
