Originally Posted by
dr dre
Well you submitted an application that got rejected, right? There might be something in your application that stood out as being a negative. Have a few experienced airline pilots run their eyes over it, or maybe a few HR specialists. They might find something that may be an instant "red flag" for recruitment.
Or you could just be unlucky and got rejected on a technicality because they have 1000's of applicants for less than 10 positions and not enough HR staff to look through them all indepth. But don't worry, the world needs over 600'000 new pilots over the next 20 years and not getting into the VA cadet program this year won't hurt your career. Just be prepared to accept any honest critique of your attitude or behaviour along the way.
Originally Posted by
Jimnhorace
Coop, I understand your frustration. It is very difficult to know how you stack up against the other candidates or prospective company standards without that feedback so, you have to work with what you know.
Critique yourself honestly and concentrate on all the areas you think you could have improved on. No-one has ever flown a perfect sim or sat a perfect interview. There is always room for improvement. Seek guidance from those you know that have been successful and leave no stone unturned in your preparation. Conduct mock interviews with your friends. Have them ask supplementary questions that you may not have anticipated. If you haven't done a lot of hand flying lately or you know you will be assessed on a particular sim, consider buying an hour for familiarity and to get your scan going.
Look like a professional. if your only suit is ill fitting or shabby then hire, borrow or buy one. Polish your shoes. Bind your resume, have copies for the people conducting the interview and know what is in it. Same with your log book.
If you are asked to bring copies of check and training records for the past 2 years then bring all of them from that time frame. Even if they are not particularly complimentary. I can tell you that candidates who have been just average in every other aspect have been given jobs because of how they responded to questions about those assessments. They owned them. Didn't try to blame any one else and were able to tell us what they learnt from that experience and how they are now better pilots.
From experience, a lot of people think they failed the interview when in fact they have failed the sim.
And don't believe just because you failed in your application for one airline, you will be undesirable to the next or unsuccessful in your next attempt. Back in the day, a lot of people who failed the Ansett selection criteria ended up successful with Australian or Qantas and vice versa.
Good Luck in your quest and don't give up. Nothing succeeds like perseverance.
Thanks Dre, JimnHorace,
I have already sought out a couple of professional resume reviewers following this rejection and will be making amendments as necessary. I will also be attempting to improve the 'readability' of my resume by ATS (applicant tracking software). It is possible that my application simply wasn't read correctly and never even made it to human eyes. Whether this was the case or not, it is still an area I can improve on.
I have also taken additional flying lessons and will continue to do so (despite the potential peril of "too much flying experience" for ab-initio programs) because I want to know I have the skills (and, at the risk of sounding like a nerd, I love flying). At the end of the day, If I exceed the maximums before I am offered a cadetship then it will just be off to GA world for a few years. Same goal, different journey.
I am proud of my logbook and keep it neat, tidy and legible but I did not think to make sure I bring it should I ever get to an interview and I will absolutely remember to do so. Would've been a rookie error I guess, but not now. Thanks.
I am confident in my interviewing ability and own a pretty nice suit
but I do not have contacts in aviation world (other than my instructor) to whom I could interrogate about the hiring process. This is something I will also work on.
Very disappointed about this rejection from Virgin but there is no way I will just give up or wallow in self-pity despite being accused of such in some posts on this thread.
I'm just going to push on and I have no doubt I will be able to make a career in aviation in one way or another. Thanks for your positive feedback and genuine advice.