Wow Kathy! You took my thoughts...
...a bit personally. However, in fairness, I wasn't clear about lumping or not lumping ANYONE in or out of any groups, so I suppose you had a right to some offense.
You seem to have latched on to this paragraph:
There are a lot of people out there charging for expert advice on getting hired at the airlines. Most of them are NOT pilots. Some of them are giving good advice but the best advice comes from those who've done it - those who already have the job you want.
Please understand that this was not directed at you per se, but rather at the general landscape out there and I will stand by it as a general statement. I have to figure that If you can afford continuing education fees to remain up-to-date in your craft you're doing something of a land office business. That's not happening by accident!
We're basically in the same business but I only counsel pilots because that's what I am. I have interviewed well and been offered every job I have ever applied for so I know a thing or two about getting hired as a pilot. Currently I also do some of the employment screening for my company so I too have some experience on both sides of the table.
Like you, my success rate in employment counseling is in the upper 90s as a percentage. I work VERY extensively with my clients to give them a sense of who they are and what they should portray as their strengths and selling points. I also help them to understand their weaknesses for what they are and to be comfortable with being open about discussing one or two of them in an interview, if asked. It's really pretty easy as long as you can see the positive through the potential liability of any weakness. After all knowing that you have any particular weakness is the first step in isolating it from things that will be adversely affected by it.
The sad reality is that most people who fly airplanes are not very good at the things that will get them a job. You're right when you say that most clients have no idea what should go on a resume. There are lots of people who, for one reason or another, can help a PILOT with a resume and personal presentation. None of them is necessarily any more effective than any other - all other factors being equal. However, I do find that the fact that I AM a pilot puts people at ease that I know what I'm talking about. That I susequently open so many mental shutters and light up the room of their mind with ideas finishes the job.
My focus starts with a premise that I outlined in my original post: To be hired you must be remembered. Whether they realize it or not, many aspiring professional pilots are uniquely qualified to make this happen. You see, if you're a flight instructor, your job is communicating with another individual in a one-on-one setting (and sometimes more) things that they MUST remember in order to meet their goal of becoming a pilot. Applying these skills to a job interview isn't really much of a stretch but it DOES require a little help to get started.
The whole reason I became involved in this stuff was because as I looked out across the employment vista a few years back (1991) all I could see were people who were either teaching their clients "the interview" or people who were "aviation experts" with no experience in aviation.
The most important aspect of my approach is that it is repeatable. You come to me once and you DON'T come back because you can do it yourself from then on. The skills I teach people are based in personal introspection, self-evaluation, and practice. I teach people how to answer tough situational and scenario-based questions that ONLY pilots have the expertise to address by showing them how to analyze what's missing in the form of the question. You see, no scenario is ever complete. There's always missing information that's CRITICAL to making a good decision. Demonstrating how you'd think as a Captain - which is what they're looking at - means, in part, demonstrating how you'd marshall your resources to meet the challenge.
I also try very hard to empower people with writing. Most people fail to grasp the enormous importance of writing well but as you know, writing makes the things you thought permanent for others who follow you. That's a critical piece of the puzzle in employment because the process takes time to occur and discussions become blurred with elapsed time.
As you also know, writing gives you the ability to say PRECISELY what YOU (remember, it's YOUR commercial) want to say, exactly the way you want it said. If the points you make in a cover letter are the same points you make in a face-to-face interview, and those happen to be tied together with the points you make in a follow-up letter the power of your presentation to be remembered is increased geometrically - even if only because of the uncommon effort your writing represents. All of this requires forethought and planning. Knowing that it is important is easy to pay lip service to. Actually DOING it can seem an mountain to climb. i help turn it into a molehill.
My techniques come from being a pilot and understanding the experience of working my way up the ladder. With over 25 years of airline, corporate, and GA flying experience, and with that being just about 3/4 of my life, I also have the ability to relate, on an age basis, with many of the people I try to help.
We're on the same side here. You needn't take offense to things I said that don't apply to you. I paint with a pretty broad brush most of the time. Part of the reason is to leave open PLENTY of room for exceptions.
TIS
