Some post career fair observations from a friend

derg

Apparently a "terse" writer
Staff member
Easy on the consultant prep or be HYPER careful with who you go with. Hot dang, when my friend kept getting the same question of "So, what made YOU want to work for SouthernJets" time and time again, then commiserating with other frustrated recruiters getting the same question and certain disingenuous answers, the recruiter is going to lose confidence that you're not being frank.

If you're asked a question, answer the question.

"Have you failed any checkrides?" Yes, my private and my initial CFI then STOP.

My friend went through a ten minute speech, PER failure about aircraft specific idiosyncrasies between white line, green line, blue line, whatever, which mode he was supposed to select, yadda yadda yadda. Allow the evaluator to ask for clarification or for you to expand on it or move on to more important, pressing things. The only question he may have after you say "yes" is "Ok, it's not how you fall, it's how you get up, what did you learn about yourself?" and move forward. There's not time for a 15 minute "lesson" on what happened when you got an unsat. When asked to elucidate, I failed, I evaluated my role in the failure, retrained, I learned, I persevered.

Speaking of that, do not be offended if you're asked to stop a long flurry of spoken "text block" because the evaluator needs to move forward or you've begun to speak in circles.

DO NOT walk someone through your resume in a verbal equivalent of a single-spaced, no paragraph textblock from soup to nuts. Give the evaluator a chance to set the tone for the session, go a quick scan of your resume and allow him to ask you questions to help tell your story or to ask about interesting things on your resume. HUUUUUUUUUUUUGE time-waster in a time-constrained situation.

If there are other divisions there to introduce themselves and answer questions about particular departments, telling someone like Crew Scheduling "Oh, you're the bad guys I don't want to talk to you" and walking away is idiotic. Funny people are naturally funny. If you're trying to be funny when you're not naturally funny is often misinterpreted as mean. Yes, everyone communicates and they should.

A one page resume is optimum, a one page resume with two pages of information is less that optimum. A one page resume with two pages of copied and pasted long textual descriptions of what a copilot does in 6pt typeface is absolutely doofus. If you're space-constrained, assume the evaluator knows what a captain or a copilot does. Save that space for a more realistic font size or other information to help the evaluator help you tell your story.

Easy on the "time grids". Total time, PIC, PIC turbine, fixed wing (if you're a helo guy), turbine time is more than fine. Cross country, instrument, cross country, actual, simulated, number of approaches and "Have operaated high performance aircraft in challenging airspace throughout the CONUS and carribean with a stellar track record and thirst to succeed" is wholly unnecessary.

Again, for goodness sake, Facebook is the "Foot-Shooting Emporium". If you're an applicant, remember your "LOLZ, light chop, double-breasted guard fascists" is only as private as your least private facebook connections.

Remember your elevator pitch during chance encounters.
 
Easy on the consultant prep or be HYPER careful with who you go with. Hot dang, when my friend kept getting the same question of "So, what made YOU want to work for SouthernJets" time and time again, then commiserating with other frustrated recruiters getting the same question and certain disingenuous answers, the recruiter is going to lose confidence that you're not being frank.

If you're asked a question, answer the question.

As a kid, my mom would drop me off at the airport for hours on weekends and school holidays. What first attracted me to Delta was the classic livery, the one with the black nose. I liked it better than some of the other liveries at the time, and they only brought 727's to KTUS. It was my favorite plane as a child. That livery really looked good on the 727. Furthermore liking that livery, was what really got me interested in the airline as a whole. As I got older I would do research on the company, and what I found I liked. That's how Delta became my favorite airline.

True story. Honestly, how's that for an answer?
 
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As a kid, my mom would drop me off at the airport for hours on weekends and school holidays. What first attracted me to Delta was the old livery, the one with the black nose. I liked it better than some of the other liveries at the time, and they only brought 727's to KTUS. It was my favorite plane as a child. Furthermore liking that livery, really got me interested in the airline as a whole and as I got older I would do research on the company, and what I found I liked. That's how Delta became my favorite airline.

True story. Honestly, how's that for an answer?

That's cool. But what I meant is that it was a larger than normal number of applicants asking the evaluator the question.
 
Hahahaha! Wow, job fair attendees actually had the gale to ask that? Which consulting agency recommended that they ask that question?
 
Hahahaha! Wow, job fair attendees actually had the gale to ask that? Which consulting agency recommended that they ask that question?
Someone, a successful hire, came up with that in their meet n greet and in the context of that conversation it was an excellent springboard for some great chat. The consultants get ahold of it and it turns into "SUREFIRE WAY IN! NO BAMBOOZLES! DELTA RECRUITERS *LOVE* THIS ONE WEIRD TRICK!"

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk
 
I’m glad I came up before job fairs. These things are super awkward. Here’s your 2 minutes to shine and oh yea try not to sound exactly like everyone else who has the same background and same goals.

Good on delta for giving the opportunity but just seems like a weird experience.
I have yet to fly with two captains with the same background. Same qualifications maybe.


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Hahahaha! Wow, job fair attendees actually had the gale to ask that? Which consulting agency recommended that they ask that question?

I believe Arnie from ECIC gives that as an example question in one of his videos. It's not a bad question if you develop a good rapport with the company rep. Doesn't look good for the applicant if they can't come up with a single unique question about what it's like to work at that company, though.
 
I’m glad I came up before job fairs. These things are super awkward. Here’s your 2 minutes to shine and oh yea try not to sound exactly like everyone else who has the same background and same goals.

Good on delta for giving the opportunity but just seems like a weird experience.
The difference was, no one was hiring, which was less awkward but not as productive. :biggrin:
 
I flew the crj200 with blue on the side.
I flew the crj900 with red on the side.

So different.
I became a mechanic out of college and did that for a while and that let me pay the bills and learn to fly, then I did survey and was in charge of safety programs for 6 years before ever setting foot in a CRJ.

The guy I'm flying with today was a ski racing instructor and ran a veterinary clinic in Maine.

Yesterday's guy had a degree in civil engineering and is going to school to learn about biology and genetics.

I flew with a guy a couple months ago who had a degree and background in mechanical engineering and has a side hustle making equipment for wineries.

background.

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk
 
I’m glad I came up before job fairs. These things are super awkward. Here’s your 2 minutes to shine and oh yea try not to sound exactly like everyone else who has the same background and same goals.

Good on delta for giving the opportunity but just seems like a weird experience.

Well, here's the problem with the statement.

It's far more than two minutes. Unless you brought up that you're out on parole for a drug felony and only have a private pilots license so the recruiter did an RTO.

No two candidates are the same, by far. If you're looking at a times grid and a "ATP, commercial, multi engine, blah blah blah", potentially, but considering your applying to a career carrier and not Ameriflight so you're looking at the qualitative aspects of the applicant and not the quantitative.

If you didn't attend this one, it's disingenuous to assume that it is a clone of the WAI, OBAP and NGPA experience because it's not. Let's not "Keyboard Commando" this.
 
Easy on the consultant prep or be HYPER careful with who you go with. Hot dang, when my friend kept getting the same question of "So, what made YOU want to work for SouthernJets" time and time again, then commiserating with other frustrated recruiters getting the same question and certain disingenuous answers, the recruiter is going to lose confidence that you're not being frank.

If you're asked a question, answer the question.

"Have you failed any checkrides?" Yes, my private and my initial CFI then STOP.

My friend went through a ten minute speech, PER failure about aircraft specific idiosyncrasies between white line, green line, blue line, whatever, which mode he was supposed to select, yadda yadda yadda. Allow the evaluator to ask for clarification or for you to expand on it or move on to more important, pressing things. The only question he may have after you say "yes" is "Ok, it's not how you fall, it's how you get up, what did you learn about yourself?" and move forward. There's not time for a 15 minute "lesson" on what happened when you got an unsat. When asked to elucidate, I failed, I evaluated my role in the failure, retrained, I learned, I persevered.

Speaking of that, do not be offended if you're asked to stop a long flurry of spoken "text block" because the evaluator needs to move forward or you've begun to speak in circles.

DO NOT walk someone through your resume in a verbal equivalent of a single-spaced, no paragraph textblock from soup to nuts. Give the evaluator a chance to set the tone for the session, go a quick scan of your resume and allow him to ask you questions to help tell your story or to ask about interesting things on your resume. HUUUUUUUUUUUUGE time-waster in a time-constrained situation.

If there are other divisions there to introduce themselves and answer questions about particular departments, telling someone like Crew Scheduling "Oh, you're the bad guys I don't want to talk to you" and walking away is idiotic. Funny people are naturally funny. If you're trying to be funny when you're not naturally funny is often misinterpreted as mean. Yes, everyone communicates and they should.

A one page resume is optimum, a one page resume with two pages of information is less that optimum. A one page resume with two pages of copied and pasted long textual descriptions of what a copilot does in 6pt typeface is absolutely doofus. If you're space-constrained, assume the evaluator knows what a captain or a copilot does. Save that space for a more realistic font size or other information to help the evaluator help you tell your story.

Easy on the "time grids". Total time, PIC, PIC turbine, fixed wing (if you're a helo guy), turbine time is more than fine. Cross country, instrument, cross country, actual, simulated, number of approaches and "Have operaated high performance aircraft in challenging airspace throughout the CONUS and carribean with a stellar track record and thirst to succeed" is wholly unnecessary.

Again, for goodness sake, Facebook is the "Foot-Shooting Emporium". If you're an applicant, remember your "LOLZ, light chop, double-breasted guard fascists" is only as private as your least private facebook connections.

Remember your elevator pitch during chance encounters.
Thanks for passing on these tips from your friend.

On a side note, I'm taking bets on how long before this turns into a gnash cluster :(
 
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