Pilot Expo - is it worth it?

[TogaToFLs]

Hi everyone,

I'm thinking of planning a trip to pilot Expo, is it worth it?

I will be finishing my training August next year so I guess if there's a year to go this would be the one!

[rudestuff]

Do you know anything about psychology? Yes is the answer. People are far more likely to invest in someone they've met in person (and liked) than a name on a CV.

[TogaToFLs]

Originally Posted by rudestuff

Do you know anything about psychology? Yes is the answer. People are far more likely to invest in someone they've met in person (and liked) than a name on a CV.

I have never been so I don't know what the caliber of the attendees are, hence the question. If it's the head of pilot recruitment, of course, if it's the HR junior that won't be there in 3 months, less so!

As someone that goes to a lot of these things in other industries, I can't say they are productive very often...

[nenovah]

I was there this February, I think it was worth it!

[dibba]

well I was there this year as someone who graduated from flight school recently and honestly it did not make much of a difference. I talked with EW, DHL, Smartlynx, Avion Express, Ryanair, Wizz air, Xfly and only Xfly took down my details, but nothing came out of it. DHL gave me their card but never answered and later on down the line said that they closed their application. The airlines that did invite me, invited other people who did not make an effort to go meet them anyways.
If you are straight out of flight school you do have a very limited amount of opportunities and most of them have to be paid for. The ones where you don't pay for training, there is a lot of competition and 5-30% pass rate depending on the type of assessment.
I recommend you use that flight and hotel money for interview prep instead, learn how to write a relevant CV and a good cover letter, learn to navigate group tasks, learn airline HR style questions, practice different aptitude tests and train for the simulator assessments.

[cadmium101]

Highly recommended if you are looking for a flight school (which is the majority of exhibitors) or MCC provider, for actual jobs I have to agree with the poster above. Maybe you can somehow (if you're lucky) have a talk with one of the conference speakers, which are usually the higher ranked HR representatives.

[A300_600]

Nope 👎

Personally, I can't recommend any of these fairs. Where relationships used to help, the equal opportunities policy usually takes precedence today. I've been to two of these fairs, and most recruiters couldn't answer any real questions beyond the standard stuff.

In short, save your money; you can find all the information online.