Social Media and the job hunt.

Inverted said:
Problem is, this whole thing is a twisted game. Job fairs, volunteering, master degrees , how many LORs you can come up with. Dance dance dance, smile, don't show too much teeth, say only certain things, iron your tie, how many meet and greets have you been to this year?

I take my job seriously as a profession and I take the job hunt very seriously, but sometimes when I step outside of myself and look back into what we all have to do to get a career job I scratch my head at what we have to do to get noticed even in 2017. I think a lot of this lashing out especially on social media, are from people that are sick of playing the game and losing.
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Cockpit chatter.

I think only one airline counts the total number of recommendations and I'm not even sure they even do that any more. New hires skeet those things out like a dandelion on a windy day from their newfound popularity and there are people that will ride your jumpseat, ask for a business card and the next interaction is a LOR request.

Just chill, you'll be alright.
 
L-16B said:
Social media while at Colgan was fun. I got a free week off from work for a picture someone tagged me in that I didn't post.
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I remember that one! Nice going, not sure why you thought it was appropriate to be tagged in someone else's photo. Haha, :sarcasm:
 
Cruise said:
I remember that one! Nice going, not sure why you thought it was appropriate to be tagged in someone else's photo. Haha, :sarcasm:
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I sill remember going to manassas the first time and getting yelled at. I thought my 121 career was over haha
 
Derg said:
Cockpit chatter.

I think only one airline counts the total number of recommendations and I'm not even sure they even do that any more. New hires skeet those things out like a dandelion on a windy day from their newfound popularity and there are people that will ride your jumpseat, ask for a business card and the next interaction is a LOR request.

Just chill, you'll be alright.
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That's ballsy, and tacky not to mention it takes the merit out of LOR's. That's not exactly how you want to start off with a stranger.
 
Inverted said:
It also shouldn't be a benchmark requirement to get a job, but here we are.
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That’s not what it is.

There are THOUSANDS of resumes that look exactly like yours. Plus it’s nice to fly with people that have a passion for things other than wearing hats and flying airplanes. Even if it’s not something I’m into, I truly enjoy hearing people talk about something that they are so invested in that they volunteer their free time to help that cause. It’s a nice break from “back on the classic” or “and then I told those bastards at crew scheduling...” stories.

If you think you’re just checking a box, you’re doing it wrong.
 
Screaming_Emu said:
That’s not what it is.

There are THOUSANDS of resumes that look exactly like yours. Plus it’s nice to fly with people that have a passion for things other than wearing hats and flying airplanes. Even if it’s not something I’m into, I truly enjoy hearing people talk about something that they are so invested in that they volunteer their free time to help that cause. It’s a nice break from “back on the classic” or “and then I told those bastards at crew scheduling...” stories.

If you think you’re just checking a box, you’re doing it wrong.
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Drop that mic, son.
 
Screaming_Emu said:
That’s not what it is.

There are THOUSANDS of resumes that look exactly like yours. Plus it’s nice to fly with people that have a passion for things other than wearing hats and flying airplanes. Even if it’s not something I’m into, I truly enjoy hearing people talk about something that they are so invested in that they volunteer their free time to help that cause. It’s a nice break from “back on the classic” or “and then I told those bastards at crew scheduling...” stories.

If you think you’re just checking a box, you’re doing it wrong.
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Very true. I just did a trip with a guy getting ready to retire. He was having an RV custom built. We spent almost the entire trip talking about that and all the sites he wanted to hit. He wanted to know all about where I grew up and suggetions for that area. That trip flew by.
 
Screaming_Emu said:
That’s not what it is.

There are THOUSANDS of resumes that look exactly like yours. Plus it’s nice to fly with people that have a passion for things other than wearing hats and flying airplanes. Even if it’s not something I’m into, I truly enjoy hearing people talk about something that they are so invested in that they volunteer their free time to help that cause. It’s a nice break from “back on the classic” or “and then I told those bastards at crew scheduling...” stories.

If you think you’re just checking a box, you’re doing it wrong.
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I always enjoy hearing about:

1) Hearing about how my non-hybrid is destroying the planet.

2) How it's practically criminal that I don't remortgage my home and invest the proceeds in Iraqi Dinars or the junk bond market.

3) The proper way to gut and clean a deer, a pig or any other mammal.

4) How the New York Times is biased and of lies.

5) How the Wall Street Journal is biased and full of lies.

6) How management is evil.

7) How unions are evil.

8) How the local collegiate sports collective moved the oblong spheroid through the upright goal marker to win a most ripping victory.

8) How if I don't believe in the one true deity and if I don't follow scripture to the letter, including the proper way to dot lower case 'j's, then I will burn in damnation for all eternity.

Actually, talking about flying might be a nice change of pace....
 
Screaming_Emu said:
That’s not what it is.

There are THOUSANDS of resumes that look exactly like yours. Plus it’s nice to fly with people that have a passion for things other than wearing hats and flying airplanes. Even if it’s not something I’m into, I truly enjoy hearing people talk about something that they are so invested in that they volunteer their free time to help that cause. It’s a nice break from “back on the classic” or “and then I told those bastards at crew scheduling...” stories.

If you think you’re just checking a box, you’re doing it wrong.
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Everyone has got something else they like to do, even if that something else is flying their GA airplane. I don't think ive ever flown with someone who talks about their volunteer work.
 
Derg said:
Cockpit chatter.

I think only one airline counts the total number of recommendations and I'm not even sure they even do that any more. New hires skeet those things out like a dandelion on a windy day from their newfound popularity and there are people that will ride your jumpseat, ask for a business card and the next interaction is a LOR request.

Just chill, you'll be alright.
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*private message* "Hello sir, I see you liked my post on Jetcareers August the 13th at 2100 central time. Did you like it enough to provide me with a letter of recommendation?"
 
Screaming_Emu said:
That’s not what it is.

There are THOUSANDS of resumes that look exactly like yours. Plus it’s nice to fly with people that have a passion for things other than wearing hats and flying airplanes. Even if it’s not something I’m into, I truly enjoy hearing people talk about something that they are so invested in that they volunteer their free time to help that cause. It’s a nice break from “back on the classic” or “and then I told those bastards at crew scheduling...” stories.

If you think you’re just checking a box, you’re doing it wrong.
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So I agree with you that that is how it "should" be. But when HR says, "we're looking for someone with some volunteering time..." well, you end up in a situation where people do it because they feel they need to if they want to get a job. It's a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy, and ironically, the type of people who "look the best" may actually be sociopathic assfaces. I think volunteering is fantastic, but the world we live in so dependent on "the profit motive" that individuals will do what's in their best interest. Beyond that, certain charities are "better" than others. If you work at an anarchist soup kitchen that also punches Nazis you're probably going to have to explain yourself at your interview as opposed to habitat for humanity.

Ultimately, this is a symptom of a much larger societal problem (i.e. the dystopia we slide further into every day). Volunteering is awesome - but if you do it like Mike C does, well, that's good. If you plaster it all over your resume...well, you may be part of the problem.

I am not really competing for 121 jobs right now, what with health stuff, but let's be honest, the "Plus it's nice to fly with people that have a passion for things other than wearing hats and flying airplanes" is unrelated to volunteer activities. All of the truly interesting people I flew with hadn't done much volunteering, or at least they never talked about it. What the airlines want are people who are smart enough to operate the machines and won't cause problems at work. If they can make their brand look better, that's an added bonus - that's where stuff like volunteering comes in. If you start selecting for people who volunteer you end up networking into all these non-profits and your name can't help but to come up in a positive light. I can see the press release already, "this week Bill is helping with hurricane relief in Florida - next week he's on the 2:30 to Shanghai!" If you select for this type of person there are benefits that transcend the cockpit. Again, it's not a "bad" thing to look for volunteer experience - I'm just saying there's a lot more to this than simply, "I wanna fly with better people." We know this is true, because the standards for what is an acceptable resume varies wildly depending on market forces.
 
Kingairer said:
Everyone has got something else they like to do, even if that something else is flying their GA airplane. I don't think ive ever flown with someone who talks about their volunteer work.
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Yup.

One of the most interesting guys I've ever flown with went to school for photo-journalism, flew in AK, then bounced down to Hawaii to fly medevac after a 121 stint. He'd been all over the place on earth, was insanely freaking smart, and had some unbelievably cool stories about trekking in Nepal. He was my favorite guy to give checkrides to because he flew the airplane insanely well too - even when I surprised him with a ride late at night.
 
Telling someone they need to go out and volunteer is bad recruiting. Asking someone what they do besides fly is a great way to try and find out if the person has any substance. I'm guessing that most people translate the whole idea as "you need to volunteer," which is absurd. For starters, it would create an inflated economy for noting volunteerism (perhaps it actually has) and it also doesn't shed any light on who will actually volunteer and who won't.
 
falconvalley said:
Telling someone they need to go out and volunteer is bad recruiting. Asking someone what they do besides fly is a great way to try and find out if the person has any substance. I'm guessing that most people translate the whole idea as "you need to volunteer," which is absurd. For starters, it would create an inflated economy for noting volunteerism (perhaps it actually has) and it also doesn't shed any light on who will actually volunteer and who won't.
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People confuse this all the time.
 
For you guys and gals getting hung up on the LOR- they aren't required to get hired! I got hired at FedEx with no LOR on file and had an interview scheduled at Southernjets with only one internal LOR. There are more important things to worry about when filling out your app based on personal experience.
 
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