Fact is that in a very competitive employment market sector, employers have to decide how to reject what might otherwise be technically capable applicants. If an employer has 1 position and 5 technically capable applicants, mathematics requires 4 to be rejected. In those circumstances, any flaw in the application ‘helps’ the employer to justify rejection. Remember: the average time dedicated by an employer to reviewing each application is around 2 minutes.
And I think junior pilots tend to make the mistake of believing there’s a complete separation between his (it’s usually a ‘him’) airmanship on the one hand, and his attention to detail in areas like written communication and his judgment calls when including a picture, in a résumé, of him with an arm around his mate at the pub giving the ‘thumbs up’. Fact is that most employers don’t consider there’s a complete separation. Further, even if there is a complete separation, the employer wants employees who are going to reflect well on the business. Bad judgments and slack attitudes of employees on the ground can still reflect badly on the employer, even if completely unrelated to aircraft operations.
Finally, it’s a cruel world out there. Fact is that sometimes bad applicants get good jobs, and good applicants don’t. Fact is that there are bad employers who would prefer ‘morally malleable’ employees over people prepared to stand by their principles. If you’re a good applicant and can’t find a good employer, do yourself a favour and go mining for a while. A couple of hundred grand in your bank account will make the world look a little different.
