Hi friends.
I’m gonna shake things up here a bit with a bit of solid advice for everyone that is out there hunting for a job.
While I am in no position to be hiring people, I see the resumes of potential hopefuls. Most of these resumes are crap. It is my opinion that I am really good at writing resumes. Strap yourselves in:
1. Your contact details should be right up the top. Right aligned and include your address, phone number and email. They are not screaming at your target for attention. They are just there. Just hanging out.
2. Next comes your name. In not too big font, don’t capitalise your last name. Just have it there. Neat and tidy. You are not a going for a job as a designer.
3. Do not include your picture. This screams ultimate idiot at your employer. Unless you are writing a resume to be in porn or a magazine, your picture is irrelevant.
4. The first lot of information needs to be, NOT your education, NOT your hobbies, NOT why you are a team player. But your aeronautical experience, and then endorsements, in that order. You are writing a resume for aviation here people. You need this up the top. It’s paramount. If you have it anywhere else you are subtly hinting that your primary education or whatever other **** is up the top is your main selling point. If you think you can get a pilot job with a degree as your main selling point then think again.
In web marketing we call everything that is seen before the website has to be scrolled as ‘above the fold.’ Guess what. Your PDF resumes are the same. They have an ‘above the fold’ area where you have your chance to impress. Don’t wast space, and lay your cards down on the table with your aeronautical experience.
5. If you are Australian. DO NOT write that you are ‘endorsed’ on any specific single engine piston aircraft. This highlights one thing: that you are an idiot. Prefexes like ‘experience on’ work a lot better.
6. Whatever you feel is your second best selling point comes next. I would say in most of your cases it is your previous flying experience in a commercial environment, and if you are going for your first job, the best job you have had up until then. Whatever it is, appear completely dedicated to your cause. Saying that you have a job in bar work keeps your employer fairly happy that you will be a good dedicated pilot. Telling them that you are the CEO of your own online advertising business, and need to spend a lot of time to keep it running, is not such a good idea. If you are genuinely looking for a lifestyle change and have previously been the best at something else, call it out in your cover letter.
7. From then on your are well and truly below the fold and your life story starts up. If you have any life experience where you were tested under pressure to make decisions, write it down with examples to suit. Don’t go too nuts. Keep your resume to 2 pages max. Pick your best attributes and back them up with real life examples, in 2 to 3 sentences, where they have come in handy.
8. Hobbies are ok to include, but don’t go too nuts
9. Then your references at the end.
Furthermore:
- Prime you references! Ring them, tell them that they are going on your resume and they should expect a call. Do NOT put in any refrences of any bosses that fired you or did not like you. No matter how big of kingpins they were in aviation. Yeah, I’ve seen it.
- Do not use conjunctions! These were invented because of the way we speak. They should only be used when typing speech to give character to your subject! Full and proper words make you sound like you have half a clue.
- Colours can be ok, but only subtly. Minimalism is a good thing. Do not overdesign your resume. Make it clear where one section starts and ends, I find horizontal lines in white space are the best. Also keep everything nice and gappy. keep it readable and it will invite the subconscious into it a lot more than if it were cluttered.
- For the good of your future, do not use stupid font. Any fancy handwriting font or comic sans will destroy you. Helvetica has already been tried tested by organisations worldwide for marketing purposes, so I think it’s a good bet.
- If you have any aviation related tertiary qualifications, list specific subjects which you think are helpful. One of mine was aircraft structures and design. In which the scientific principles behind corrosion were examined. Now I’m a salty sea dog and can see and understand it first hand.
- Read, re read and read again all of your resume. Move words around. Make it sound great. If you are illiterate, which is nothing to be ashamed of, get someone to do it for you.
- Find some local or international aviation charity or following, learn about them and sign up to their mailing list. Then declare yourself a member of that organisation.
- Find a facet of aviation that really interests you. Perhaps if you are going for a job on a light aircraft, read up about something that interests you in Cessnas. If you can find information on a recurring fault present on a 210, for example, that’s even better. Go ahead spend your afternoon writing a well researched, proper essay on your chosen point of interest, and then send it to a bunch of magazines. You have now ‘consulted’ these publishers on this area. You have contributed to the industry at large. You are actually an aviation visionary! Go you!
i don't know why this last paragraph went weird on me. sorry for the eyesore
- You can become an expert in anything you want, thanks to the Internet. Research the environment that allows your target job to flourish. If they fly scenics, learn about the area and how to answer questions. If they have a lot of French customers, go and learn to say “put your life jacket over your head, tie it up and pull the tabs when outside of the aircraft’ in French. You know. Be creative. You can then declare yourself as ‘having enough knowledge of French to deliver a safety briefing.’ Sure, it might be your ONLY knowledge, but you are not lying, you are bending the truth, and that is why the whole concept of a resume exists in the first place.