Sod the grades :cool: jut lie on your Cv! I did and it worked wonders for me at interview!

I would recomment doing Science, English, Maths, Geography and anything else you are particulary good at.

Also - out of school activities, Air Training Corps (learn lots about aircraft and get to fly for free) and Duke Edinburghs Award - all these will definately help.

All the best and good luck

Jinkster

mmeteesside,

I was in a simular position to you a few month's ago, Ive just started Y10. I did a bit of research before I chose my options and came up with pretty much what everyone else has said. For GCSE, they are more interested in how many A-C's youve got rather than what they are in, and the couple that they are interested in are compulsery anyway. They take a little more notice of subjects and grades on the A levels however, like Obs Cop said I think Maths & Physics are the way to go.

Have a read of this: http://www.gapan.org/career/survey.htm it gives you a very good idea of what airlines are looking for, you will see that 'Education' is 7th most important on the list with Team Working skills been 1st. Which means that if your determined enough you shouldnt let the odd dodgy grade put you off.

One last thing, if you can try to start flying lessons working towards your PPL, if you can put on your CV that you got a PPL at a relatively young age it will show both flying skills and that youve always wanted to be a pilot from a young age.


We will get there someday, all the best. :ok:

Jinkster has a very valid point.

I did ATC, Duke of Edinburgh, martial arts and had a part time job. Whilst it kept me very busy, it certainly gave me plenty to talk about when I had my Admiralty Interview Board for the Royal Navy (which I managed to pass first time at 18 years old).

Don't underestimate the value of extra-curricular activities, but just make sure they do not detract from your mainstream studies!

Obs cop

Obs Cop, your facts re military pilots' qualifications are wrong, at least for the Navy and RAF. For these you will need at least two A-levels, as well as the five GCSE's, which must include Maths and English, at grade C or higher. A degree is not yet required, but may well be before long.

I'm not so familiar with Army requirements, but I'm sure their website will provide the latest info. As Army pilots need not be commissioned (and may spend a very short part of their career in aviation), I would expect the minimum qualifications to be lower.

Scroggs

RAF Careers website - pilot

Scroggs,

Thanks, you didn't need A Levels when I joined the Navy as an aircrew officer although most had them anyway. My apologies, I stand corrected.:ok:

Obs cop

Academic qualifications for airline jobs
 

Could anyone please tell me whether there are any hard and fast requirements (qualifications other than flight experience/ratings/licences etc) for pilots seeking jobs with airlines?
I have noticed that with a number of airlines which offer sponsorship schemes, you require certain academic qualifications. I am not able to apply to these schemes as I don't quite meet the requirements, (by 1/2 an A level) although I am now funding my training myself inorder to reach fATPL.
Would I then have trouble getting a job due to the academic qualifications, although I would meet the licence etc. requirements?

Any help and advice would be greatly received!:confused:

It is on a sliding scale really, certainly here in the UK. If you apply for sponsorship you will need at least A levels and probably a degree because the competition is so stiff. If you pay for your own training and are a little older, you can make up for a lack in academic qualifications by way of experience. Perhaps you have worked in a career and built up a track record for several years and now have good teamwork, management, leadership and other 'life' skills which a young academic may not have gained yet. This counts for a lot in the eyes of the airline recruiters, as does flying experience, so the more hours you have and the larger the aircraft you have flown, coupled with your 'life' experience, the less you need to focus on any academic failings earlier in life.

Don't get me wrong though, you still need to be able to handle basic Maths and English as some airlines will test you on these, but I wouldn't worry too much as many degree students are failing these airline tests....................do make sure your basics are good no matter what level of qualification you hold.

Hope this helps

PP

ps. I didn't get any A levels or degree and I've done alright.

I agree with Pilot Pete. It's important that you have a good understanding, perhaps to GCSE standard of Maths, English and the Sciences. This will always be helpful.

Just to add another point to Pilot Pete's, if you are a young pilot qualified at 20 to 23 for example, airlines will look at this objectively. ie. you must have been doing something right!

Paul Savage

Qualifications
 

Can anyone give me the actual school qualifications needed to become a commercial pilot in ireland??
Cheers,
Danny:ok:

Qualifications
 

Hi,
I have been seriously considering training to become a pilot in recent years, do airlines require any minimum educational qualifications (i.e. 5 GCSE minimum and A-Levels)? or do they only look for the relevant flying licenses and experience?
Thanks a lot

They only look at the qualifications if you were going through there sponsorship scheme, as this is very unlikely these days & you will probably be self funded it will not be a problem.

People who pay for themselves have allot of motivation therefore past educational experiences do not count, pass all the exams & tests required for employment & you’re as attractive as the next candidate.
YYZ

Yes, I thought as much.
Thanks a lot for the feedback, much appreciated.

YEAR 11 Or YEAR 12(A-Levels)
 

hello..

i planning to do flight training in Australia...


now i see some schools only require a Year 11( 'O' Levels)

i'm taking my O levels at the end of this year...

i'm thinking whether i should take A-levels first,

or go straight to training with 'O' levels?

acedemic qualifications?
 

How important are acedemic qualifications? When going for a job what would the airline company be looking for mostly; acemdemic qualifications or flying experience?

Regards...

I believe they would first look at your flying experience then qualifications... You never know, some airlines are not concern too much about qualifications, some are.

im hoping that they do acount for something, i`d like to get some kinda use out of my degree.....

Well the thing is.... i have 5 gcses A-C, an NVQ L3 in Aeronautical engineering and a btec in Aeronautical engineering, just kinda worried that i dont have full alevels just equivalents!

Think id have a problem?

I only have GCSE's.

Plenty of pilots out there with similar but there are many more who are over qualified with degree's.

VFE.

I also have GCSE's plus an NVQ and now doing a diploma. I had to make a decision so i decided to go half way and get a Diploma instead of a degree, the lenght of study is lower than a degree and not has hard, so i'm able to combine the study and flying together.

Like VFE has stated, plenty of pilots out there with basic qualifications and plenty with degrees, some airlines will look at you and say that you are over qualified, some will look at you and say that you are not qualified enough, and others will say great you a meet our requirements.

But the most ridiculous story i heard up to date was not regarding the academic experience, but a recruiter of a certain airline telling someone: "Oh your over qualified for this flying postion" ( in terms of flying hours ) :mad: :*

No pleasing no one in this industry, so you just have to keep trying.

Yeah thanks guys, thats kinda stopped me worrying so much about it.

Regards...

I've left school with the normal Standard Grades, so hopefully they just look at my flying record!

I'm going to check with a few pilots at the club to see what type of qualifications they had.

So far, in a thread about academic qualifications, there are approximately seven spelling errors and nineteen serious errors of punctuation and grammar in just eight posts.

I know it isn't done to quibble about spelling on the Internet, but if you want to be taken seriously you will have to do better than the above.

Unwell_Raptor, you need to get out more chap !!
;)

Oh I do, dear boy, I do.

My point stands - aspiring professionals need to present themselves professionally, and spelling and grammar that would disgrace a 12 year old will not impress potential employers.

I am sure that I am not the only one to spot the irony of a thread about 'acedemic' (sic) qualifications being illiterate.

I think should read:

In the real world I am a spelling and grammar Nazi. In cyberspace (how 90's is that sounding) I'm quite sloppy. Its one of the freedoms of the medium. Nobody is ever going to treat a CV and covering letter in the same way they approach a posting on an anon bulletin board.

Nevertheless, Raptor makes a valid point. I used to work as a recruitment officer hiring workers, apprentices and undergraduate sponsorship applicants. You really would be staggered by the dogs breakfast of written communication that I would receive. It may have been a little harsh but I would simply bin the worst examples.

MS Word Grammar and Spellcheck are Not Enough! Get someone older and wiser to checkl important letters and CV's for you before you send them to potential employers. Prior to the 70's schools actually taught grammar. Then I believe it became unfashionable. I know that I was able to get an A-level English Grade 'A' in 1992 with an atrociously basic grasp of grammatical structure and rules.

"Eats, Shoots and Leaves" should be compulsory reading for anyone under the age of 35 who underwent a State education....

Cheers

WWW

I understand that certain airlines now make applicants write a short essay with pen and paper when attending for interview. Without the 'benefit' of a spell-checker....

'Yoofspeak' or 'txtmsg' acronymish are totally unacceptable. Give up listening to trash broadcasting and concentrate on correct use of English would be my recommendations.

"Nah, mate. 'Sdoin' me 'ed in, this" will not cut the mustard these days! Neither is the ubiquitous yoof word "Cool" an acceptable interjection!

Morning all,

Two points generally following the thread, if I may.

1. Qualifications. I have come across several situations over the past few years where a Degree is 'required' for a number of positions in various companies. What is often not written is that relevant experience or other qualifications will be usually be considered. Typically this is benefits 'mature' candidates (such as myself) much more than our young friends joining the workforce.

As one who sits on various recruitment processes I always try and balance four things :-

formal qualifications, relevant qualifications, life experience and relevant experience.

2. I completely agree that standards of spelling and grammar from younger applicants can be shocking. My own motley collection of teenagers (15 & 16) manage to give me stress attacks when I look over anything they have written by hand for school or college.

Now they are close to considering applications for further education or even employment I am sad to reflect that I would reject instantly any application form which arrived for my attention looking like it had been completed by a 4 year old with a Crayola complex.

The solution here is to work at handwriting - painful I know. Even handwriting letters or a structured diary entry can help.

Ok, rant over - I hope this helps someone out there.

regards,

Bear 555

The three overridingly most important factors for securing a job are presentation, presentation and presentation.

Presentation: A good well prepared clearly written application free of grammatical and spelling errors. (Followed up by the ability to actually write and spell properly at the interview) An application form which looks like a demented spider has crawled through ink then across the form just won't do! Flying is a precise science and a prospective employer is easily going to be persuaded to look at another's application if yours isn't precisely set out. I have personally discarded application forms submitted to me purely on the basis that they are too difficult to read!

Presentation: Clear verbal communication. The people doing the selections will probably be life experienced people like B Eagle who cringe at “Yeh Right" and "Cool" interjections (fraud I'm in that category too). The selectors will undoubtedly looking for somebody who fills the image that the company wants to promote to its customers.

Presentation: Smart clothing, it’s not a fashion parade, forget the hair gel and tinted glasses.

Now back to qualifications, in my view "suitable" qualifications are very important but after that I'm really not sure that extra qualifications are either a particular advantage or disadvantage. Certainly I've heard some candidates claim that they were "over qualified" for the job as a face saving exercise having failed to secure the job against less qualified competition

I don't think handwriting is a fair skill to be assessed.

Whereas many people over 30 may have neat clear handwriting and will have been taught it; many under 30 will not. Simply they have completed the bulk of their studies using keyboards for the written word.

Their typing skills are likely to be far superior to the older codgers and as nearly all prose is now typed in the workplace; this is the more important skill.

Additonally - girls have neat handwriting and they can't reverse park...

Cheers

WWW

WWW - if you have to write up a tech snag, it's helpful to the maintenance androids if they can actually read the entry!

...and girls can't reverse park because ever since they were teenagers, men have been giving them inconsistent dimensional assessment guidance; e.g. "That is 7 inches" whereas in reality it's probably closer to 4.

I mean, of course, the gap between the tyres and the kerb... :E

How would qualifications gained later in life(night school)be looked on by recruitment boards.I am working my way through gcse`s in college,would this increase my chances?

Not sure many B737's need reverse parking by the FO these days but I know what ya mean....... ;)

As for the advice given by Sensible:

Pretty good to my eyes, if a little textbook. The information in my possession suggests that some part of your background that sticks out from the crowd would be a good thing at interview. Whether or not application form sifters have the nowse to distinguish this in the written application form is a matter of some conjecture. Times are however changing and BEagles day is drawing to a close and WWW's is breaking cloud.....

If you can demonstrate a propensity for being somehow inventive (lets not go silly and get our band demo's out from school!) and show you are financially astute with evidence of having commercial financial responsibility in your past you're begining to tick the more important boxes than correct grammar although correct grammar and speeling is definately important in the early stages.

VFE.

[Edited to insert intentional grammatical errors to divert attention away from the more important content]

This is a multimedia notice board for people to post questions and answers! It is not a spelling or grammar test! Did everyone get a dictionary for christmas this year or something?
How many times does everyone check their spelling when typing a question, not very many. Although i do understand that spelling and grammar would mean something when applying to a company but this is supposed to be quite a relaxed afair.
Posting a question or replying on a web site forum however does not necessarily determine how they write in real life.
Some people need to get a life and get out more i think!

airline selection and qualifications
 

hello every one,

at the moment im studying my atpl subjects at TAFE like collage in Perth Western Australia, and i want to go to university, just asking if any body could give me some advice on what sort of degrees i could do that would be good for professional airline entry and careers. thanks guys

airline qualifications
 

hello, just wondering about the qualifications needed in the way of degrees for airline careers thanks if anyone has any helpful information that would be great

Hi there Croce,

In my experience, whether you have a University degree, or not, it does not seem currently to be a pre-requisite for an airline career with Australian or Asian carriers. I can't speak for European or American ones.

I spent three years gaining a Bachelor of Science in Aviation, and then a further 1.5 years gaining a Masters degree in Finance. I have found that although these are taken into consideration when looking for work as a pilot they are in no way guarantees of a job over someone who has chosen not to pursue a University degree.

From a purely non-aviation focus, a great time can be had at University and it is a good place to meet like-minded people, as well as the positive social aspects.

I don't know your age, but if you have time in your favour, a University degree can look good on your resume, and may provide a useful back-up when times are rough in the aviation industry.

Cheers

Curvature

getting a degree is always wise. I have a degree (quite a good one, from a leading Uni), but I do not expect this to do much for me in the way of landing an airline job.

Maybe, if I do ever get to work for an airline, hopefully, as far as promotions go, if you take two equally experienced pilots, one with, and one without a degree, maybe the pilot with a degree will have a better chance.

I personally did a degree, as I would like to think that if the worse should happen, an I lose my medical/job, then I have more career options other than flipping burgers, or selling duvet covers in ikea!!

But everyone is different. The descision of whether or not to go to university is one which takes a lot of thinking and planning. If you have to pay for fees, and are living away from home, think about that too. This money could be spent on your flying licences.

I for one ,got free tuition and stayed athome, so I actually saved my student loan, which is paying for my basic trtaining this summer.

ikea be careful answering queries from parts of the world you're not intimately familiar with. I'm sure your advice is quite correct for a UK-based wannabe, but our friend croce is in Australia. Even after several years handing out advice here, I do not feel qualified to offer advice on something as specific as education to someone so far from my own experience. While your observations may be of interest to croce, do you know what Australian or Asian airlines require? Let those who know the Australian system answer the question.

Scroggs