General Aviation Comprehensive Guide

[IntergratedKid150hrs]

Good evening, everyone.

Firstly, I wanted to make this thread for all the junior pilot, like myself that is aiming to have a GA job around Australia a comprehensive guide on how to land your first job as a junior pilot. I hope other experienced pilot or even Chief pilots can help us out, in figuring out the things we need to have, do and expect on landing that first job of ours.

I would like to introduce myself (anonymously), I am freshly graduated CPL pilot with about 250 total aeronautical hours under my belt. Upon graduating High school, I applied to one of the course provider in WA to do the Diploma of Aviation (Commercial Pilot License - Fixed Wing). After 8 months of ruthless studying for CASA CPL exams I was able to do the flight test using my CPL credits and get my PPL; then right after my CPL. Upon attaining my CPL, I wasted no time and did the 7 ATPLs subject which took me 6 months to complete with the help of ATPL man Nathan Higgins. After completing my ATPLs, I was given the opportunity to start doing MECIR and I was lucky enough, to have it all done within a short period of time.

My questions are -
When is the best time?
How does applying for a company usually progress?
What are the things we need to have in terms of endorsement, aircraft class rating or ratings?
How does the interview usually go? Do we expect it to be like an airline type interview, level of professional. Or maybe a more laid back kind of GA
What do we need to read upon or study before a GA interview
Do we need some type of interview coaching or a so called ‘GA job ready course‘ to be done before applying?
What else?

I hope that everyone can use this thread and share upon ideas in the times like these (covid huh?) to help out new generations of pilot wanting to land that job in GA, especially for someone like me who graduated in an Intergrated course, finishing with 150 hours. Thank you for lending your time into reading this thread and thank you for sharing your life pro tips and tricks in advance.

[Hawaiian.party]

Hey mate. Firstly, congrats on the CPL. Big achievement. My first lot of advice is don't take what is said on here as gospel, and don't take it to heart. Pprune is, at its core, a toxic place. There are definitely helpful threads and people out there who are genuinely willing to help, but more often than not, it's people just looking to put someone down.

At any rate, here are some answers to your questions:

1. There is no answer to this one unfortunately. I think you know why, I don't really need to go in to it.

2. It depends on the company. Some require you to be "in location", I.e. if you're applying for Broome Aviation, you won't be able to be sitting in Sydney and hope to get a reply. You need to be there, working at a Coles and waiting for your shot. I do know of people who have done it online, without being there, but it was a very different time, and they're definitely the exception to the rule.

The application process depends on the company. Obviously CV/cover letter, some do phone interviews prior to an in person meeting. Nearly all will require a check in the aircraft or a synthetic trainer. Some even make you do a psychometric assessment as well, however I know that a few GA places that make you do this, basically ignore the results.

3. This is totally job specific and there isn't any hard and fast rule. Look at the job requirements.

4. Treat all interviews as a professional event. There's no such thing as a "GA interview". They're not as structured or as long as an airline, but you're still being assessed from the minute you walk in the door. The format will depend on the company. A mixture of: introductions, behavioural questions, tech/IFR questions, scenario based stuff. Again, there's no hard and fast rule and every company is different. If you've got a bit of experience in a particular aeroplane, they may ask you tech questions about that aeroplane. Yes, once again, some people get in by randomly meeting the CP at a bar, but they're the expections.

5. The company, your aircraft, their aircraft, their people, IFR (if applicable), general aviation knowledge, how to structure an answer to behavioural questions, have stories for behavioural questions.

6. Never done one for anything other than an airline, and to be honest, I don't think it would have helped me. I do know people who have done it for some of the "higher tier" GA jobs, like Hardy's.

My biggest piece of advice is to know your worth and absolutely do not sell your soul to fly that shiny new Caravan or Barron. You are worth the air pilot's award, or better. If you accept less than that, it is undercutting everyone else who will have to do the same because you're telling the employers that it's fine to do that.

It's a hard time to be in your position. There is absolutely no movement, especially with the number of stood down pilots with years' of experience currently working in supermarkets. Just keep at it, make yourself known to operators, and know that you will have to move.

Disclaimer: there will be people who disagree with me, that's fine. This is knowledge based on my experiences and I have tried to be as objective as possible. Let's all just try and keep it civil down below.