johnriketes
Let me pose a question to you. Did you reply or acknowledge to all CV submitting hopefuls, whether it be the standard letter of rejection or at the very least an automated response on receipt of CV? An honest reply will tell me a lot about the company you worked for and possibly a bit about yourself.
If the person was clearly not qualified, they got the standard "thanks but no thanks" letter - but if they were otherwise excellent candidates and possibilities for the future, they got an email and a letter along the lines of "not right now but keep in touch". If I didn't have too much work on, they got a phone call.
If they were qualified and of interest to us, they got a letter and email explaining our current hiring position and advising them of a likely date for further contact. I then contacted them about once a month via email with updates, until they were either offered an interview or it was decided that their application would go no further, which I normally advised via email with the offer of a chat on the phone if they wanted to know why.
If they were qualified but not of interest to us, I once again emailed them and offered a phone conversation to explain why, and suggested ways to remedy the situation.
If we liked them and wanted to interview them, they got a phone call and a letter with a date for interview, selection day and sim check.
Every letter got a response, which took hours but was considered a good investment in our future recruitment landscape. I took the view that a company which claimed to value it's employees highly (as ours did), should also value prospective employees highly, and be consistent in it's treatment of everyone that had contact with us regarding employment. In other words, there shouldn't be a difference between the way a prospective employee and an actual employee is treated.
This worked well for us, and meant that when the pool of pilots started to dry up from time to time, we normally suffered less than most because our pool of applicants was larger and more loyal, as they appreciated our efforts to keep them in the loop.
Ozzie Mozzie
Would a current first aid certificate be relevant?
Maybe for smaller operators, but not for airlines, they'll just put you through it again anyway.
Is there a preferred computer programme format for resumes
PDF is by far the safest. As you say, don't even consider .docx. If I can't open it, I won't read it! Although you should always try and send a paper one as backup.
Colour doesn't matter, I'm only interested in the information on the page. It doesn't help your application, but it won't hurt it either. It's just noise (and not very professional).
Tail wheel
I am not interested in what you look like so don't include a photo.
That's real old school. You can tell an awful lot about someone from how they present themselves in a photo, particularly if you know how to "read" the photo. We insisted on them (as most airlines do these days), as they are a very useful screening tool.