CV`s
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: North West, UK
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I'd suggest typed - easier for a busy recruiter to read quickly (in any case, since when did pilots have to do joined-up writing? 
)
Also try to have no more than one page for the covering letter and one for the CV. Having said that, my lawyer nephew's CV was a multi-page report but he was eventually taken on.
Good idea to get someone in business to have a look at how you've presented yourself.
Good luck!
)Also try to have no more than one page for the covering letter and one for the CV. Having said that, my lawyer nephew's CV was a multi-page report but he was eventually taken on.
Good idea to get someone in business to have a look at how you've presented yourself.
Good luck!
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: UK
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Best advice I seen on CVs is as follows:
No more then 1 side A4. HR depts have not got time to read your entire life history. They dont care about your scouts badges and first aid courses.
Bullet points - Licences held, date of last IR, total hrs , hrs PIC.
Three to four lines on present situation - ie - working in ground handling, recently completed ATPL training, seeking first position. Strengths are etc etc
Give present employer and position, may 3-4 lines. Work history in further depth can be given on application form in due course.
Details of hobies/trip to the jungle etc can be talked about at interview.
Send CVs of every 3 months.
Just because an advert says minimum requirement are 1500 hrs tt, 737 type rating with 500hrs on type, send CV anyway. These are the airlines "ideal requirements". They might not find sufficient suitable applicants to fill the positions. Got this advice recently from my training provided. If you dont ask, you dont get.
No more then 1 side A4. HR depts have not got time to read your entire life history. They dont care about your scouts badges and first aid courses.
Bullet points - Licences held, date of last IR, total hrs , hrs PIC.
Three to four lines on present situation - ie - working in ground handling, recently completed ATPL training, seeking first position. Strengths are etc etc
Give present employer and position, may 3-4 lines. Work history in further depth can be given on application form in due course.
Details of hobies/trip to the jungle etc can be talked about at interview.
Send CVs of every 3 months.
Just because an advert says minimum requirement are 1500 hrs tt, 737 type rating with 500hrs on type, send CV anyway. These are the airlines "ideal requirements". They might not find sufficient suitable applicants to fill the positions. Got this advice recently from my training provided. If you dont ask, you dont get.
Join Date: Sep 2002
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If you were to send me your CV I do not want to see that you are computer literate nor what scout badges you hold nor what charity work you do.
I will want to see that you are type-rated for our geriatric jets, how many hours you have, the country of issue of your licence and please do not tell me it is an ICAO licence! and I will want to know the country of issue of your passport.
But, if and when my airline may advertise for pilots with a minimum of, let us say, 500 hours on the type, and your CV arrives and you have basically nil time on type, well guess where your CV is heading?
I will want to see that you are type-rated for our geriatric jets, how many hours you have, the country of issue of your licence and please do not tell me it is an ICAO licence! and I will want to know the country of issue of your passport.
But, if and when my airline may advertise for pilots with a minimum of, let us say, 500 hours on the type, and your CV arrives and you have basically nil time on type, well guess where your CV is heading?
Join Date: May 2003
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opsmaneurope
If you advertise a job with your minimum desired qualifications on type and you get no suitable applicants, surely you would rummage through your wastepaper basket and see if there is a cv for someone you could train. You could miss a lot of good guys if you don't . Experience qualifications vary with the demand on the crew market, only the basic legal licence requirements are set in stone, unless you are into sponsorship.
Join Date: Sep 2002
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If we were to advertise for 500 hours on type then certainly we would look at those with 250+ hours.
But we tend to get every tom, dick & harry applying, totally unqualified, no type rating, no right of abode, wrong licence, zero hours and I haven't needed to revisit my waste basket yet!
But we tend to get every tom, dick & harry applying, totally unqualified, no type rating, no right of abode, wrong licence, zero hours and I haven't needed to revisit my waste basket yet!
Join Date: Mar 1999
Location: Domaine de la Romanee-Conti
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If it was my airline, and I had advertised specifically for experienced type rated pilots only, and a bunch of noobs wasted my admin staff's time and money by cluttering up my in tray with non-type-rated CVs, I'd bloody well make sure my P.A. put all their names in my little black book to make sure that they wouldn't ever get called for an interview in years to come.
... sheesh if they can't even manage to respect a black and white instruction as simple as that, I sure don't trust them to fly my aeroplanes in accordance with the letter of my ops manual.
... sheesh if they can't even manage to respect a black and white instruction as simple as that, I sure don't trust them to fly my aeroplanes in accordance with the letter of my ops manual.
Join Date: Jun 2000
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Luke,
This is from experience: Certain charter company states minimums as 1500TT TR on website etc etc. I apply, in fact they were not even recruiting. Guess what ! Interview totally out of the blue. OK did not get the job but requirements change on a daily basis. Market forces and bean co
Luke,
This is from experience: Certain charter company states minimums as 1500TT TR on website etc etc. I apply, in fact they were not even recruiting. Guess what ! Interview totally out of the blue. OK did not get the job but requirements change on a daily basis. Market forces and bean counters are ultimately in control. The motto being apply to all. Throw enough sh@t at the wall-some will stick!
This is from experience: Certain charter company states minimums as 1500TT TR on website etc etc. I apply, in fact they were not even recruiting. Guess what ! Interview totally out of the blue. OK did not get the job but requirements change on a daily basis. Market forces and bean co
Luke,
This is from experience: Certain charter company states minimums as 1500TT TR on website etc etc. I apply, in fact they were not even recruiting. Guess what ! Interview totally out of the blue. OK did not get the job but requirements change on a daily basis. Market forces and bean counters are ultimately in control. The motto being apply to all. Throw enough sh@t at the wall-some will stick!
Join Date: Dec 1997
Location: Suffolk UK
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Requirements do change, and information given on a generic website (which may not be operated by the company in question) may be incorrect or out of date, but don't waste everyone's time by replying to a specific job advert which lays down minimum requirements if you can't meet them! You will piss people off, and you may end up having your name added to the timewasters' black list!
If my company asks for people with 3000 hours, it's because we judge that that's the minimum experience we can live with AND that there are plenty of prospective employees out there with those hours. If we had misjudged the market, and didn't get the response we wanted (extremely unlikely, just now!), we would readvertise in different places. In the almost inconcievable situation that there were still insufficient takers, we may then revise our criteria. At that point, we may contact those held on our books who we believe to be close to our minimum criteria. These people may have sent us speculative CV's in the past knowing that they were approaching our requirements, but without reference to a specific advertisement. Those with little experience who had pebbledashed our offices with scattergunned CV's would not be invited!
The point is, be selective and sensible who you send your CV to. If you have 200 hours and an fATPL, don't waste your and the companies' time by contacting Virgin, or BA or whoever. As for the content of the CV, there has been much discussion and good advice here in the past. Do a search - you will discover lots!
Scroggs
If my company asks for people with 3000 hours, it's because we judge that that's the minimum experience we can live with AND that there are plenty of prospective employees out there with those hours. If we had misjudged the market, and didn't get the response we wanted (extremely unlikely, just now!), we would readvertise in different places. In the almost inconcievable situation that there were still insufficient takers, we may then revise our criteria. At that point, we may contact those held on our books who we believe to be close to our minimum criteria. These people may have sent us speculative CV's in the past knowing that they were approaching our requirements, but without reference to a specific advertisement. Those with little experience who had pebbledashed our offices with scattergunned CV's would not be invited!
The point is, be selective and sensible who you send your CV to. If you have 200 hours and an fATPL, don't waste your and the companies' time by contacting Virgin, or BA or whoever. As for the content of the CV, there has been much discussion and good advice here in the past. Do a search - you will discover lots!
Scroggs
Join Date: Sep 2002
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Most of my airline's applications come via email and one does learn to identify the email addresses of the 'wannabe time-wasters' and after their first email which they have wasted my time on, one may automatically delete their subsequent email's unread.
Now, there may come a day when they have gained the necessary experience however they may well find their emails continue to be deleted unread because by then they will have earnt themselves an uneccessary reputation as a time-waster who can't adhere to a simple requirement.
Now, there may come a day when they have gained the necessary experience however they may well find their emails continue to be deleted unread because by then they will have earnt themselves an uneccessary reputation as a time-waster who can't adhere to a simple requirement.
Join Date: Oct 2003
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Osmaneurope, i think that is a little harsh. I too, have been accused of not having the courtesy of replying to someone's application even if they are very clearly totally outside of the advertised criteria. You often hear, 'the courtesy of a reply would have been at least expected!'
The reason I give is that genuinely we do not have the resources necessary to reply to those 'wishful thinkers' or those that feel we set a paricular criteria for no good reason at all. I might disregard them now, but I certainly would not hold it against them for having done so when they ultimately do meet the criteria.
I do however admit that certain 'offenders' could and do cause some feeling of irritation to those having to sift through endless applications that do not fit the criteria.
In my own case, I specifically remember one lady that sent me lots of 'thank you, no thank you letters' until such time as I met their 'undisclosed' criteria, at which point it was 'how soon can you come and meet us?' I will hasten to add that, at no point had I applied for anything that I did not qualify for or meet the advertised criteria.
If you do, don't expect a reply, let alone complain about a lack of courtesy.
The reason I give is that genuinely we do not have the resources necessary to reply to those 'wishful thinkers' or those that feel we set a paricular criteria for no good reason at all. I might disregard them now, but I certainly would not hold it against them for having done so when they ultimately do meet the criteria.
I do however admit that certain 'offenders' could and do cause some feeling of irritation to those having to sift through endless applications that do not fit the criteria.
In my own case, I specifically remember one lady that sent me lots of 'thank you, no thank you letters' until such time as I met their 'undisclosed' criteria, at which point it was 'how soon can you come and meet us?' I will hasten to add that, at no point had I applied for anything that I did not qualify for or meet the advertised criteria.
If you do, don't expect a reply, let alone complain about a lack of courtesy.
