MVSW
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 19, 2005
- Posts
- 220
Uncle Sparky said:A follow-up letter with contact info (most chief pilots have a couple dead trees on their desks and lose track of stuff all the time), one week after the initial application is a good place to start. The natural urge for any ultra-competitive, industrious pilot is to say "..F*ck them!....they don't want to talk to me??....fine, I'll try someplace else!" On the contrary, as much as it may hurt the ol' pride muscle, you need to kill em' with kindness if you think that it is the job you really want.
The most extreme case that I know of is a guy that I used to fly with that wanted to fly at Options. He sent two résumé’s with no response other than the initial canned E-mail. For some strange reason, his life's passion was to fly for Flight Options, so he continued sending E-mails and even visited the main office several times. Finally, the chief pilot came out in person and told him "...hey, if I grant you a few minutes of my time, will you leave my secretary alone!" With his foot in the door, he was able to talk his way into the job.
As far as résumé assistance, there used to be a member here that went by "resume' writer"... (Should be a dead giveaway, I think). I can't speak from personal experience but I think Brett Hull has used her services and she used to provide a lot of free pointers on this site. I don't know if she is still around. I've been laying low for awhile (I've been busy job-hunting) but if she isn't hanging around here anymore, I would just start a thread titled 'need help with résumé, or something to that affect.
I can use my own case as an example as well. I replied to a job posting on 350 with no response. A month later the job was posted again with a few slight changes. I replied to this one as well. I am a pilot/mechanic and the recruiter did contact me after my second response with "how would you feel about a chief mechanic's position with pilot's pay?" The paycheck was twice what I was making flying at my current job, so I agreed. I received a call from the chief pilot soon after, with the offer of pilot/mechanic (things were looking up). After the initial call, I wasn't contacted, by any means, for over a month. During that time I sent multiple E-mails of thanks and appreciation to both the recruiter and the chief pilot. Eventually, I was contacted by the recruiter and then the chief pilot and offered position as a Captain with the understanding that I might be needed to assist with maintenance "on occasion". So, not only did my persistence pay off in achieving the job, my demonstration of professionalism boosted my position as well.
So, I wouldn't necessarily send another résumé after a week but I would send a courtesy letter or two initially, followed by a second résumé after a month or so.
Thanks for all the info. Iam going to print this out and give it to my buddy. Thanks again for all your help. Oh yeah!! What A/C are you CA of?