Applying for jobs you nearly qualify for

bretthullrampage

bretthullrampage

Well-Known Member
Whats the general consensus on this? Is it a major faux pas to apply for a job that you are almost qualified for? I can understand if one is 10 hours short of the posted mins but what about 50 or 100 hours short?
 
My opinion is that in the current job market, unless trying to get on at Delta or somewhere really big, mins mean nothing in comparison to who you know. Nearly all corporate jobs and 135 gigs are getting filled right now before the want add gets posted. If you don't have the mins but your wife plays bridge with the CP of a Part 91 flight department you'd probably have a better chance below the mins then someone off the street with better than mins or even a type in the appropriate aircraft. Even with the regionals that are hiring right now your chances of getting the job will likely heavily depend in internal recommendations.

When the job market swings back to be an applicants market vs. employers then mins will go down anyway and it will be easier to get jobs where you won't have to worry about going for the ones you don't qualify for.
 
BLAARRRRGGGHHH! The topic that won't die! Where's that icon with the guy beating the dead horse when you need it?

P.S. Yes, do it, but only if you're short by over 250 hours and your medical is expired by several months. That way they'll know you have GOALS.
 
Rosstafari said:
BLAARRRRGGGHHH! The topic that won't die! Where's that icon with the guy beating the dead horse when you need it?

P.S. Yes, do it, but only if you're short by over 250 hours and your medical is expired by several months. That way they'll know you have GOALS.
Click to expand...

:deadhorse:
 
Rosstafari said:
BLAARRRRGGGHHH! The topic that won't die! Where's that icon with the guy beating the dead horse when you need it?

P.S. Yes, do it, but only if you're short by over 250 hours and your medical is expired by several months. That way they'll know you have GOALS.
Click to expand...
haha

I actually was talking to an HR manager at a local major maintenance facility here in Houston and she told me I would be dumb not to put in my app even though I'm one year shy of required experience.
 
My last resume experience I applied for a company that was looking for time in one of three different types. I had time in none of them and still got the job because of my general experience level in the area and other non-aviation things on my resume that the person hiring me liked.

YMMV.
 
bretthullrampage said:
Whats the general consensus on this? Is it a major faux pas to apply for a job that you are almost qualified for? I can understand if one is 10 hours short of the posted mins but what about 50 or 100 hours short?
Click to expand...

Depends on whether you're a job seeker or an employer.
 
Hmmmmm....this topic sounds so very familiar. Here is the $0.10 version. I get hundreds of resumes. Even if my wife plays bridge with someone I still can't hire them unless my insurance company gives me the green light. Now 198 resumes are of people who kinda, sorta, almost, maybe, really want to, and are all around really good people. But I just wasted valuable chief pilot time (drinking time with friends) looking thru the 198 resumes. By the time I see the 2 guys who are worth looking at I am two deep into Glennfidich and I almost don't care anymore. Now I am making light of the situation but in reality don't apply unless you meet the mins (at least to my company). I have many friends who I would like to hire but simply can't. Insurance companies run the biz...I gotta play in their set of rules. :)
 
I think it depends on the company as well. When I see an add that says, 1500TT minimum, 3000TT w/ type preferred, I get the feeling that they can't go lower than 1500. And as others have mentioned, sometimes it is an insurance thing, and some ads will say this. But on the other hand there are companies that will take lower time requirements. My current job asked for 1500TT and 500 multi. I was about 100 short on the multi, but I had more total time, lots of IFR etc... so they looked past the multi.

When I started ground school I found out that some of the guys had 800TT, but one had previous 121 etc... so it never hurts to try. Just depends on the company, so it always helps to get some insider information about how "hard" the minimums are.
 
Do I really want to work with someone who reads instructions, understands them, but decides the rules don't apply because they're Special or Hungry or whatever it is?
 
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