Interesting point Jimmy Mack. Has anyone had a reply that says "You haven't got enough cross country time" or "You haven't done enough night flying" etc. The military guys come out of service with a lot of hours but I suspect the fighter pilots do a lot more takeoffs and landings than say the Tristar guys. On the other hand most fighters are single engine. All of these things make one individual and more or less suited to a specific job (if experience was the only factor). These are the points that employers should be using to sift their pile of CVs rather than a straight greater than/less than figure.

This need not take any longer to do if employers stated how they want CVs to be presented. Several threads have suggested CV templates which are all excellent but they are general. If a company wants a CV written in a particular way then I am sure that ever wannabe here would be happy to oblige.

I am sure too often this simplistic approach has led to throwing the baby out with the bath water. I am lucky in that I don't have a huge loan to pay off and I can afford to build an extra few hundred hours if that’s what an employer is looking for. I am sure though that there are guys with 200 or 300 hours that have worked their backside off to get there, with large loans, that are better pilots than me. It is these guys that are being over looked and if companies want true quality they have to take a qualitative approach to selection.