Your comprehensive guide to writing a resume.

[damo1089]

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.

For bonus points:

- 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.

[major_tom]

agreed damoz.

However I found it quite ok to mention things that may not necessarily be aviation related such as IT skills, customer service skills from previous work, etc. BUT, if you mention things like this you must mention in your cover letter how it relates to the aviation job advertised, or it means sweet FA.

[PURPLE PITOT]

Whilst point 4 is valid, ignore the rest if you live in europe.

[aviofreek]

Having a picture in my CV got me my last contract (aircraft maintenance job, not pilot job, but non the less), just because my employer recognized my face from the last place we both worked... They haven't even read my CV.

There is a norm for writing CVs in Europe (as there is one for everything else because we're so "special") and including a photo in a CV is not "being an idiot"...

[Gulfstreamaviator]

Generic CV

What is the teams view on generic CV's like the Climb to 350, and those produced by CV farms.

Does the team think that a person who has a CV produced by a service provider stand a better chance than that produced by a real person.

Lastly, I do think a picture is essential.

[aozc]

One thing I have seen too many times is people who include a photo of themselves in a pilot costume with epaulettes, just to disclose further down that they have only flown P28s and a few hours on the Seneca in dual.

There's nothing wrong being proud of the accomplishment but the recipent will have a bloody good laugh on your expense. Pilot glasses and fly suits are included aswell. Just use a normal photograph where you smile.

[RedBullGaveMeWings]

This is a very interesting thread and I am glad I found it. I have some questions regarding email format.

Alright, I heard that email format is quite important, it ought to be professional and also the domain of the email can make the difference between an invite to an interview or the application being sent to the recycle bin.

My current email address is [email protected] where 92 stands for 1992 which is the year I was born in.

A professional email should be firstname.lastname@domain or initialfirstname.lastname@domain but unfortunately these formats are already taken so I had to put 92 in my email address.

I did some research but I haven't understood yet whether or not two numbers are a characteristic that would make a recruiter not to consider my application.

I know, this topic seems stupid but email is actually one of the first things that recruiters look at when they have loads of CVs to get through.

[Capetonian]

When I was in recruitment we used to see some very original attempts by people to get their cv's to stand out. Times have changed and a lot of cvs are now machine scanned for key words and phrases, and sorted accordingly.

I don't know whether these ideas are good or bad these days, but we used to get cvs on coloured paper, or landscape format, or in unusual typefaces. One pretentious clown had his delivered by DHL, not because there was any urgency but just to act Mr. Big. We also used to get hand written ones, sometimes in beautiful Italic script, and if the handwriting was attractive and clear that was looked on favourably, but I suspect that now you would be labelled a Luddite or dinosaur for doing this.

Freemail domains such as Hotmail and Yahoo are a bit of a no-no with most recruiters, but for some reason Gmail seems respectable. There is a freemail (mail.com I think) provider which provides free addresses with a huge range of domain names but tends to be used by scammers. GMX is free and seems like a good one as a lot of people don't know it's free. Silly addresses are obviously a no-no. A friend of mine wondered why his applications for a proper job from '[email protected]' were ignored.

Not sure about photos, in some countries it is illegal to put a photo, which is probably a bit daft. I think the same applies to date of birth/age unless it is strictly relevant to the job.

The biggest cause for rejection/ignoring is slopy speling and grammer and the old hackneyed phrases.

[Stocious]

Freemail domains such as Hotmail and Yahoo are a bit of a no-no with most recruiters, but for some reason Gmail seems respectable.

Really? If any recruiter actually give a hoot about who provides an applicants email service then they need a good slap. Personally I think a hotmail or yahoo address with at least some semblance of a name is more restrained than one from [email protected].

Thankfully, I haven't been rejected from any job in the past because of my old but faithful cheapskate hotmail address, which I've used without a problem for at least 10 years!

[LastMinuteChanges]

Including your photo in a CV does not make you an idiot, it makes the document personable, which given the sheer volume of CVs recruiters see on a regular basis, this can either have a positive or negative effect - it is open to discussion.

Nor do I think getting a CV delivered by DHL is pretentious, that comment screams something about the recruiter perhaps, but not by the candidate. In the UK, unless you get something delivered by Special Delivery, which in some circumstances may be DHL, there is a strong likelihood it will not be delivered - our postal service is not as reliable as it once was.

Aside from those comments, great post by the OP, but, like others have said, it is wholly dependent on where you are from, and where you are applying to.

[Dan Winterland]

Here's what I've written in my advice regarding CV writing.

It shouldn’t be more than a page of A4 – for everyone. Even for CEOs of big corporations. Any more than this and the reader will get bored. If the job is a good one there will be lots of applicants and the reader will looks for any excuse to reduce their workload. This means your CV may end up in the bin without being read if it looks hard work to get through.

The appearance is critical. Don’t produce a page of Times New Roman or Arial with all the same point size and with no emphasis. Work on font size (keep it all the same font though) spacing, bold and italics. I used Garamond as it’s smart and easy to read. Text boxes are excellent for highlighting the points you want noticed – like your contact details and professional qualifications. If they decide they like what they see, the contact number has to be immediately apparent.

Name: Large and bold. You want them to remember you – make an impact. Don’t write ‘CV’ or ‘Curriculum Vitae.’ They know what it is.
Availability – important. The first thing they need to know is if you can work for them when they want you.

Profile/word picture: Short, with impact. Bold and large and written in the third person. It’s better if it appears that it’s an appraisal written by someone else. This goes for the whole CV.

Contact details: In a text box to make sure the prospective employer Make sure you’re contactable at all times. If they can’t contact you at the first attempt – the job may go to the next CV on the pile. Also, make it international with the country dialling code included in your phone numbers. You may not be applying for jobs outside the UK, but make it look as if you are not limited by boundaries.

Education – if you don’t have any professional qualifications, list all your exam results. They want to know exactly what they are getting.
Work experience – most recent at the top, list your duties. Older or less relevant jobs can be relegated to one line – it’s the stuff you’ve done recently which counts more.

Other experience – your chance to sell yourself highlighting your various other skills.

Other stuff – you can list interests etc – but be careful of embellishing this just in case you interviewer shares the same hobby. Some people think including a photo is appropriate. This is only relevant if you’re applying for a modelling job. In most cases, your photo is more likely to attract a negative response. But if you do, attach it separately – don’t embed it in the CV.
When done, print it on good quality white paper at your best printer setting send it to the prospective employer with a covering letter stating how much you want to work in your prospective employer’s field and particularly with them, but don’t repeat anything you have put in the CV. Also, personally addressed to the recruitment officer is best – some research is necessary here. Make sure you get their name correct!

Good luck – and don’t show your CV to other people – you are in competition!

[pudoc]

Strange how everyone I spoke to says they "like to see pictures of who I might be employing".