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Old 25th Feb 2010, 20:35
  #10 (permalink)  
concordski
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: SVD
Age: 44
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Agreed with some of the above. Additional pointers from own experience - narrowly missed PPL shortlist I'm told by a tiny margin a few years ago.

Whatever the outcome, ring them up afterwards and ask nicely for some feedback. The lady I spoke to was very amenable and the information I was given was quite revealing - even if it said as much about their assessment methods as it did about my suitability. I felt their scoring methodology was quite a primitive instrument.

Two things really grated. The first was that I was penalised for having not applied before, despite having always been otherwise ensconced. The right candidate can - just sometimes - fall into your laps without having ever sullied your door before guys.

Secondly, having applied in the middle of a graduate career I was also criticised for not turning my back on paying my mortgage and my hobbies more to go and (paraphrasing here) 'volunteering to wash planes down your local airfield'. I found this a little hard to swallow and it smacked of favouring an unemployed planespotter with dubious social skills without the temerity to have his own career.

I am confident I would have impressed them at interview - justifiably and not arrogantly - but these factors alone meant I narrowly missed the shortlist (1 or 2 points).

Anyway, matters not as another iron in the fire came along...

PPL-wise they also frown upon some airfields (more expensive or political?) over others and would prefer you to not go to your nearest one if it doesn't suit them.

Not suggesting this is a bad scheme - far from it, what an opportunity, but beware of these things and pre-empt them if you can.

C
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