Dreadlocks, long hair/ scholarship and jobs
 

Hi everyone

I would like some advice

I have a Interview for a helicopter pilot scholarship this week and I'm really looking forward to interview process

I already no what I'm wearing and fully planned ahead until today somebody spoke to me and said I had no chance due to my deadlocks now before anyone goes off on one my deadlocks are clean I wash them once or twice a week, I don't no who doesn't wash there hair regardless of style, and my dreadlocks are very well looked after. My dreadlocks are only about 6 inch long and get mistaken for plaits sometimes but will this be a issue?

Can male pilot's have long hair as long as it's maintained and looking sharp?

Looking forward to some advice

how important is it to you?
 

I ask you this question with the best intentions in mind.

How important is the scholarship to you? It sounds like you are having some misgivings about going in to the interview with dreadlocks. Have you observed professional pilots at work? What about at the airport when traveling, do you see professional pilots with dreadlocks or long hair? Is it possible that you cut your hair to match the style of professional pilots you have observed and then after you get started in the profession you decide what might be acceptable, but from the inside?

I am not making any judgments about what should be acceptable or what you or anyone else feels might be or should be acceptable. I am simply asking you to consider the risk if your dreadlocks are the one thing that separate you from an equally qualified candidate. Then ask yourself, was it worth it? Don't take this personally as this is a very common issue. I had the same discussion once with a guy about his mustache. He said, well, maybe the guy doing the interview likes mustaches. I simply replied, maybe he does like mustaches but if you don't have one and he does like them, how can he hold it against you? He can only hold it against you if you do have one and he doesn't like them. Why risk it?

I have interviewed and hired many people in my life and when asked, I have offered advice to high school and college students about applying and interviewing for jobs. This is the type of question that was often asked. I would ask them to consider looking like any other professional person they have seen. If they continue to push the issue then the question becomes, how important is this to you? Is your current look and image more important that the job you seek? If the answer is yes then you have to accept the possible consequences of you decision. Hair grows back, opportunities do not.

cheers

I got rid of my beloved Goatie for my interview and I got the job on the first attempt. I'm not able to say whether I would have got the job with the beard but none of my pears have anything similar. 11 years later with the same company I have only seen variations on a full beard, smart hair long or short and no dreads.

The most important question is not how you feel about your dreads NOW, but more how will you create a professional persona with them. Will it be easier to make people think you are professional with the dreads or without.

A the end of the day GT has made a VERY valid point, look around to see what other professionals are dressed etc and use them as your guide. They have made it to where they are working so there is some valid guidance there.

Whatever happens and however it turns out good luck.

Si

After getting your short-back-and-sides, have a look at your English grammar and spelling.

if you plan to use a written resume, make sure you use a spell-checker. The stuff you wrote in your post is so poor that I would reject your application before I even saw your dreadies.

As others have written above, what the interviewer sees on first impression is REALLY important, no matter what the huggy-fluffies say about giving everybody a chance. Goatees, dreadlocks, grungy clothing and scruffy appearance are not the things an operator wants his clients to see sitting in the control seat of his million-dollar helicopter.

Mmmm ...

The advice given above are very valid ...

The point is the appearance of an applicant goes to how he/she rates themselves ... if you appear dishevelled or imprecise in anyway at an aviation interview it worries the interviewer that you 'may' be imprecise in other things as well (such as mental process & decision making) ... and as helicopter aviation is not very tolerant of mistakes, the interviewer likewise will err on the side of safety in his selection criteria.

It may seem unfair ... but that is usually the way it goes in real life.

Good luck ...

Agree with all the above......and more....

I have long hair, I have knots in the back, have a scruffy goatee, I have a scruffy appearance, having said that---I already have a job, and 90% of the time I am doing fire with people who look like me.

I recently started working in the "corporate field" also. I had to buy nice shoes and pants etc. So far my hair stays, but not for long I suspect.

On a more important note, you may wish to learn the difference between the following:

Know & No

Deadlocks & Dreadlocks

There & Their...This may help:

http://s3.amazonaws.com/theoatmeal-i...ling/their.png

Kyyle

I think if you're asking the question, you already know the answer.

ET

Hi Kyyle,
All the points made on this subject are spot on...... I wish you success with the interview and where ever it takes you......

For every decision you make in life remember this simple rule.....
If there is doubt, there is no doubt....

From my experience in the Alberta oil patch - absolutely not! :) No rings in the ears, clean car - be conventional. And good luck!

phil

Oh yeah, everybody in the company is on the interview panel as soon as you walk in the door.

Thanks everyone for your help and advice

Yes I do have to fix my grammar and spelling I shouldn't let dyslexia get the best of me thank you everyone

With my interview I did have In the back of my head that my hair would be a issue however I thought maybe if I go there and do my interview and express I'm willing to cut my hair if it's a issue hopefully may help my chances instead of cutting my hair for the interview and still keeping the possibility of not getting the scholarship as there is a lot of people applying

Second chances?
 

You can grow dreadlocks again. Are you certain that you would get a second shot at a scholarship?

@simonta well if I don't get the scholarship I was planning on doing my ppl myself but the process will just take longer due too funds

So, why bother...

If you want the scholarship, lose the dreadlocks. And get someone who is literate to rewrite the CV.

As you have presented yourself on this thread, NO-ONE is going to take a chance on you, with a number of bright, keen, equally motivated, "normal" people to choose from.

Work out later whether to regrow the dreadlocks.

I write as a long-time hirer of people, who, once upon a time, took chances on people and almost invariably regretted it.

PS To explain; when we hire pilots, we want conformists. We do not want people who want to stand out from the crowd. We want people who understand the "norms" and stay within them. Individualists are dangerous, because sooner or later they will flout the procedures. If that aspect of being a professional pilot does not appeal, then you are looking for the wrong job.
Dreadlocks are an alternative to having the words "I am not conventional" stamped on your forehead.

ready2fly - il be putting in personal money and will take me 3times as long


Capot - yes my CV has been written professionally and this is just a forum room if u met me in real life and had a conversation you wouldnt no i have any issues with with my writing


Also i think i am "normal" just because my writing isnt up to everyones "normal" standerd doesnt mean im anything else, as my normal day job i am a manager and manage 16 members of staff that are much older then me and at my age is fantastic its about getting the job done being hard working and dedicated some things can be worked around

at the end of the day yes my hair might be a issue and im willing to sort that if needed

It was more tongue-in-cheek and rather a rhetorical question. The better your "starting position" is, the better your chances to get where you want.

You have received some valuable information from people sitting on the other side of your table in an interview. The rest is simple now, isn't it?

And there was me thinking that all those 'we don't want' characteristics as being the very essence of a helicopter pilot :p Capot's wants/don't wants sounds more like a brief for an airline driver, the very thing I never wanted to be.

Nonetheless, Kyyle said (my bold):

I haven't seen any reference to him going for a CPL(H) and becoming a professional pilot in this thread?

Aww, come on ppruners - the Pope's welcoming gays, women and divorcees (ok, some limitations!) why can't you stereotypical Alpha male guys change the attitide the other side of the desk? :D :ugh: :mad:

Kyyle,

Which training organization is providing the scholarship?

Reason I ask is, Helicentre Aviation at Leicester is the only company I know of providing scholarships at the minute in the UK. I believe they have completed all Interviews for 2013!

Hi all, something is bothering me here... when a recruiting person has to gage a candidate, should not his first criteria be whether he/she has the qualities or even is "gifted" for the task asked from him/her? What you mean is that you must not have dreadlocks, a beard, a mustache, long hairs, dirty nails or drive an old banger???? Well, you then deprive yourself of any Muslim, Hindu, Rastaquerian, New wave rocker who might be very gifted candidates for flying a machine... What is this called?? Oh yes! Narrow mindedness, racism, biased, stupid ??? I think it even might be against the law. My own son, who is 25, well bred white caucasian franco-english atheist wears half-metre long dreadlocks and I can assure you, in his fields and many others he is a LOT smarter than me or a lot of people with higher responsibilities I know.... In my opinion, it is up to the interviewer to be good at judging characters and not the interviewed to try to be what the guy in front wants... Anti conformism doesn't make you better or worst than others. (but in my book it's a ++) Excuse my English, not my mother tongue... just in case.

PS :Good luck to you "brother" I know that if I was in the interviewer seat, your hair could be long, short, pink, knotted you would have the same chances as any other candidates. Joke,if in doubt about your flyer's skills, I'd invite you for a couple of hours in a glider next week-end, we'd soon find out. You can do it. Do it.