a question for resume writer

[bobbysamd]

P-F-M

Two of our neighbors have grass too so I'm going to ask them if I can mow THEIR yard. But, my confidence is crushed, and the kid next door has a "gouge", but won't give it to me.

What should I do ????

Some would suggest P-F-M (pay-for-mowing). I refuse to make such suggestions.

Instead, I recommend that you apply to the people on the next block. All they care about is having their lawn mowed. That will build your confidence and experience. Get LORs from them. I would then bypass your neighbors and send apps to your local country clubs and golf courses. Get jobs there, and you will have surely shown what those stress interviewers can do with their "jobs."

Good luck with your plans.

 

[Resume Writer]

Resume Writer !!!

You won't believe the spooky coincidence after our previous discussion. I wanted to do something productive around the house and saw the yard needed mowing, and the following happened:

Me: Hey, Dream Date, the grass is pretty tall, how about I mow the yard.

Wife: Well, maybe. First, tell me about your worst yard-mowing mistake and how you resolved it.

Me: Well, uh, ah, OH!! Remember our dog, Tripod ? Well...

Wife: Thank you...that's fine. I'll be in touch.

Well, long story short, she hired the kid next door !! I was crushed because I really wanted to mow the yard and felt I was qualified as I'm typed on the Snapper AND Troy-Built and have mowed 23,000 yards.

But, she did that "good wife-bad wife" thing on me and I got flustered. I just didn't expect such grilling. I guess I don't think fast enough on my couch. The kid next door doesn't sit on his couch much and therefore thinks faster when he does even though he only has experience on an old 2-wheeled push mower.

Two of our neighbors have grass too so I'm going to ask them if I can mow THEIR yard. But, my confidence is crushed, and the kid next door has a "gouge", but won't give it to me.

What should I do ????

You are too funny!

 

[SDF2BUF2MCO]

So, tell me what's different now...

One thing I've seen change over the last several years is the "fear" of government and/or lawyers. My company is paranoid of any potential government and/or lawyer action that may arise due to perceived injustices/wrongs in the hiring process. As a result, we (try to) do everything the same. Feel like a robot at times. It is sad to see our HR department get so "giddy" over some new rule or regulation to be in compliance with. Such a defensive way of doing business.

 

[Timebuilder]

Re: P-F-M

Some would suggest P-F-M (pay-for-mowing). I refuse to make such suggestions.

Instead, I recommend that you apply to the people on the next block. All they care about is having their lawn mowed. That will build your confidence and experience. Get LORs from them. I would then bypass your neighbors and send apps to your local country clubs and golf courses. Get jobs there, and you will have surely shown what those stress interviewers can do with their "jobs."

Good luck with your plans.

OR...

You and two friends can go out and rent a John Deere with a 48" deck. Each friend can stand on the deck, and all three of you can gain MIC (mower in command) time. Maybe the groundskeeper over at the coutry club will let you do some free mowing, in order to gain some multi-reel mower time. He may even help you get your aerator endorsement.

 

[rvsm410]

iNTERVIEWS

I have been the interview king for about 2 years, its amazing how different the questions are, but all try to place you in the same senerio of getting along, stressful situations, how did you handel it, tell me when's etc....

there is no ryme or reason to the questions, Resume Writer is correct about the different cultures. You would need to find out from an insider what has happened at a company to know where they are coming from, or what people they are trying to avoid hiring. It hit an miss and very tough to figure out, so I have developed my own standards and keep it simple, and honest. It has not got me hired, but I'm not going to plan mind games with these people anymore either.

I would like them to check my work references with my former bosses, thats where the real deal is, even though everyone is afraid to get sued if they say something wrong, we al know the managers all talk to each other...Why make this a game with peoples careers on the line, there incomes? I beleive the questions a company askes me or the way they treat me is an inside look into what we should expect if we were an employee.
I was recently asked if I was interviewing them as well, I said you bet! It's a 2-way street and I want to be sure I want to work for you as well.

The industry has changed, I think for the worse, way worse. They hate to see work place problems which usually revolves around head games somewhere, but yet they start the whole relationship off with head games....It sucks! I love aviation and I am good at what I do, but I'll be darned if I'm going to play teenager head games to get an aviation job.

That's my opinion, and I could be wrong but thats the way I feel about the new world of aviation HR departments.

 

[rvsm410]

Standards

befanguy,

Because there are some many different reasons for the way a company interviews, I felt the only way I could prepare for an interview was to develope my own standard answers based on ME and the way I am built. If they dont want an honest answer dont ask me. I have read many books on interviews, and it just makes me sick to try to remember crap that just is not me. No one is perfect, not even HR. This way I dont have to be somthing I'm not, say something that I read and did not feel, or put up false fronts.

I would have thought they would appreciate this from people that those that can rehearse something they were told to say? But this is not the case.

I too am part of the "perpetual day off club", I am not a trying to return to a pilot job, but to a dispatch position. Because these are union positions in most cases, they are entry level pay and work. I am willing at a late age to start over, but they just got to give us a break if they want real people with real experience, not just the school taught, interview preped newbie students of the game.

But folks like us are probably the ones they want to see go away, you know the people that can think independantly, leaders, work out-side the box....who knows, I'm just waiting....

One last thing, how about the interviews you go on and never hear another word from? Not a thank you, kiss my a$$, no way, nothing....his still goes on today as well.

Ok I'm ready for the usual "working Dispatchers" to flamme me...go ahead, I'm bent over, just be gental....

 

[Timebuilder]

But folks like us are probably the ones they want to see go away, you know the people that can think independantly, leaders, work out-side the box....who knows, I'm just waiting....

I'm not waiting.

 

[bafanguy]

RVSM410,

You're right in what you say. And your qualifications are excellent; it's hard to believe that, unless you're an old f@rt like me, that you won't be major bait when this thing turns around...and it will if history tells anything.

I'm looking forward to hearing more from Resume Writer. She appears to be the one who can shed some light on this. After all, she PROMISED to take all this to her contacts at some upcoming meeting of The Evil HR Confederacy and get the real answer. Which, of course, we'll all immediately heap tons of quano on in this forum...and I want to be first 'cuz I'm the oldest !!!

This whole issue of who gets hired vs who doesn't has been, in my experience, one of those things pilots always wonder about...kinda like how did they build those pyramids anyway ? Well, now we have Resume Writer, our secret agent on the inside. She's going to become our mole and report back to us.

I'm not signing off of this thing until she files her report.

 

[Resume Writer]

RVSM410,

You're right in what you say. And your qualifications are excellent; it's hard to believe that, unless you're an old f@rt like me, that you won't be major bait when this thing turns around...and it will if history tells anything.

I'm looking forward to hearing more from Resume Writer. She appears to be the one who can shed some light on this. After all, she PROMISED to take all this to her contacts at some upcoming meeting of The Evil HR Confederacy and get the real answer. Which, of course, we'll all immediately heap tons of quano on in this forum...and I want to be first 'cuz I'm the oldest !!!

This whole issue of who gets hired vs who doesn't has been, in my experience, one of those things pilots always wonder about...kinda like how did they build those pyramids anyway ? Well, now we have Resume Writer, our secret agent on the inside. She's going to become our mole and report back to us.

I'm not signing off of this thing until she files her report.

Secret Agent R.W. Here...

I almost changed the title under my daughter's picture to "the mole," but instead, I think she is looking for the Easter Bunny!

I already have a plan in operation...I will report back at 1900 Tuesday with the info...

Kathy

 

[bafanguy]

RW,

I'd marry you, but Dream Date hates it when I marry other women.

 

[bobbysamd]

Square Pegs for Square Holes. Others need not apply.

[F]olks like us are probably the ones they want to see go away, you know the people that can think independantly, leaders, work out-side the box....

It's not that at all. They have a profile and have enough people applying who match the profile. It would be far harder for them to try to qualify someone who doesn't quite fit the profile but offers other qualities and who might turn out to be a higher-quality employee. Any chimpanzee can fit square pegs into square holes.

One last thing, how about the interviews you go on and never hear another word from? Not a thank you, kiss my a$$, no way, nothing....

Here's a link to a recent thread that addressed that issue.

 

[rvsm410]

R W the Mole!!

By the way, Kathy was instrumental in re-working my resume, I owe alot to her help. I have gained several interviews as a direct result of her work. I cant blame her for the outcome of the interviews at all.

Like I have said above, I have my own standards I interview with, its called just plain old honesty,answer the question if I have an answer, if I dont, I say I dont know but can find out, if I have not had that experience, then I say so....

If anyone has any suggestions or secret HR passwords, I'm all ears. I dont like waiting, and I want to work for a top rate SJA airline where I can live out my working years in peace.

Now go get um' Kathy! find the secret code so us old farts can get a job!

 

[Resume Writer]

RW,

I'd marry you, but Dream Date hates it when I marry other women.

Ah, that's ok, just tell me how cute my daughter is! She was quite the riot in church today. Thank goodness for the babyroom!

Kathy

 

[Resume Writer]

Re: R W the Mole!!

By the way, Kathy was instrumental in re-working my resume, I owe alot to her help. I have gained several interviews as a direct result of her work. I cant blame her for the outcome of the interviews at all.

Like I have said above, I have my own standards I interview with, its called just plain old honesty,answer the question if I have an answer, if I dont, I say I dont know but can find out, if I have not had that experience, then I say so....

If anyone has any suggestions or secret HR passwords, I'm all ears. I dont like waiting, and I want to work for a top rate SJA airline where I can live out my working years in peace.

Now go get um' Kathy! find the secret code so us old farts can get a job!

Thanks for the nice comments RV!

Kathy

 

[bafanguy]

bobbysamd,

The problem I have is with the word "profile". This is where I feel the HR types fall apart. They think they know what a "profile" needs to be, but these office types haven't spend much of their life ( they MAY be a pilot, but my statement still stands ) with an airplane strapped to their butts; they haven't seen what their implementation of a "profile" means when they send their "profiles" out to do what they hired them to do.

Make no mistake: these folks have the power to make their "profiles' happen. The question is: do they know what they are creating ?

Beware the profile.

RW...that kid is so cute there outta be a law.

 

[Resume Writer]

bobbysamd,

The problem I have is with the word "profile". This is where I feel the HR types fall apart. They think they know what a "profile" needs to be, but these office types haven't spend much of their life ( they MAY be a pilot, but my statement still stands ) with an airplane strapped to their butts; they haven't seen what their implementation of a "profile" means when they send their "profiles" out to do what they hired them to do.

Make no mistake: these folks have the power to make their "profiles' happen. The question is: do they know what they are creating ?

Beware the profile.

RW...that kid is so cute there outta be a law.

I could see the law now - No really cute babies within a mile of an airplane!

I agree that not all the time do the profiles work. Some of the FA's and Pilots I worked with were questionable. (I am not talking about technical abilities of the pilots - that was never a question, just personalities) But, overall, I think it does weed out some people that would not work out.

Hence, my example of the woman I prepped for the FA interview. There is no way I would have wanted to work with her on a flight. I cannot tell you how many times I worked with people that had no clue what to do in medical emergencies. When someone gets sick at 37,000 ft., it becomes a true team effort. But I digress.

Anyway, I will do what I can to find out information. Sometimes when it comes from someone that is not "applying" the information flows more freely.

Kathy

 

[bafanguy]

WR,

Well, the kid is so cute that we should stop the show right here.

I am hampered by my total inability to say what I mean. NOBODY knows what to do at FL370 when someone gets sick. There is no friggin' interview process that will tell you a person can deal with THAT. The airline HAS to teach it to their people. What person walking the streets right now knows how to handle THAT ?? Humans were not meant to fly... You know how I learned ?? By having a few too many of them.

If you'd grilled me on the qualities it takes to deal with a heart attack at 370 in 1972, I'd be sweeping out the hangar right now.

I've tried to get Dream Date, the 35+ year F/A to enter the fray, but she's way too smart for that.

 

[Resume Writer]

WR,

Well, the kid is so cute that we should stop the show right here.

I am hampered by my total inability to say what I mean. NOBODY knows what to do at FL370 when someone gets sick. There is no friggin' interview process that will tell you a person can deal with THAT. The airline HAS to teach it to their people. What person walking the streets right now knows how to handle THAT ?? Humans were not meant to fly... You know how I learned ?? By having a few too many of them.

If you'd grilled me on the qualities it takes to deal with a heart attack at 370 in 1972, I'd be sweeping out the hangar right now.

I've tried to get Dream Date, the 35+ year F/A to enter the fray, but she's way too smart for that.

I know that they teach all of us how to deal with emergencies. My point was hoping that I could have someone onboard (FA) that knows how to think on their feet. I flew with one lady (2nd FA) who came up to tell me that a woman was feeling "faint" in the main cabin. The first question I asked was "How faint?" Her response? "Oh, I am just going to get her a cool cloth." I said, "Fine, I will be back in a minute."

This woman was not "faint," she was slumped over in the aisle!! I quickly assessed her, told the 2nd FA to stay with her, called the 3rd FA and told her to get the O2, alerted the FD and asked for a Medlink patch and got the forms out for the medical info out of the EMK. After some O2, the woman came back from being unconscious and I found out she was on high blood pressure meds. Got all her vitals and talked to the ER doctor through Medlink. The flight deck had set me up with a headset to talk to the Dr. myself, instead of the relay between Me - FO - Dr - FO - Me. The pilots were so cute. When I got off the Medlink patch, they said, "Wow, that was great, you talked to them in their language." I said, "Thanks, I have just watched one too many episodes of ER!"

The point of this story is this: This woman would have been in deep trouble if she only had to deal with our 2nd FA. That is not meaning to be rude - but truly, she had no idea what to do. She went through the same training I did. But I think that common sense was lacking. I think some of the questions that are asked are designed to see if people can think on their feet. BTW, the 2nd FA was hired LONG before the situational interview questions were asked.

Anyway, I am going to enjoy the rest of my Easter Holiday with my little pumpkin girl. I will report back on Tuesday.

Kathy

 

[TonyC]

Ah, that's ok, just tell me how cute my daughter is!

She looks absolutely delicious!

Like her Mom, of course.

 

[Resume Writer]

She looks absolutely delicious!

Like her Mom, of course.

But Tony, you are biased! You're my bud!!

Kathy