You’ve reached the end of your training and are getting ready to land your first job as a professional aviator. But what about your pilot resume?
In order to do this, you need to make sure your resume is top notch. A resume plays a big part in first impressions.
To help increase your hiring chances as much as possible, here are 5 tips to help you prepare a resume as a professional pilot.
Find a Good Pilot Resume Template
No one expects you to be a great resume designer. So, find a pilot resume template you like (I’ve included a link to Thrust Flight’s below).
Templates are a great way to show you the order in which information should be displayed and formatted.
There are plenty of excellent templates you can find online to help make the writing process easier for you.
Here is our free pilot resume template you are welcome to use. Click the link to the template and then click File -> Make a Copy so you can edit it. This is a simple format but it will display all of the information you need to include on your resume as a professional pilot.
Another great place to look for an aviation resume template is Etsy. Some of them are a little cliche with airplane icons but there are some good looking ones as well.
Appearance matters
There isn’t anything all that special about a pilot resume format other than you should list all of your certificates and flight hours at the top of your resume.
After that, the format should follow the more traditional format of jobs and descriptions and any higher education.
When handing in your resume at an interview, make sure your resume is clean and unwrinkled. The appearance of your resume plays a big part in showing how professional you are in the industry.
If you have a separate page for references, make sure the paper, font, and size are all consistent between the documents.
Also, keep your resume in something that will protect it such as a folder, binder, or anything else you can acquire that will refrain it from being ruined.
Keep it professional
When writing out your experiences, make sure to stick strictly to “adult” job experience.
You have one piece of paper to convince the recruiter you’re the best person for the job, so make sure you’re using the experiences that will make you stand out from the crowd.
Show your relevant training
Your aviation resume is the piece of paper you use to brag about yourself such as, any specific simulator training you’ve conducted, any degrees you’ve gotten (aviation related or not) and all your other flight training experience.
Show off something they wouldn’t know such as your mountain experience, spin training or declaring emergencies. These things make a great talking point during the interview.
However, be sure to tailor the experience you’ve received to the job you’re applying for.
Keep it short and simple
Lastly, find a way to keep your resume at 1 page!
Recruiters have to go through hundreds and hundreds of resumes, and they likely won’t even bother reading yours if it’s 5 pages long.
Some suggestions to keeping it short would be to only put relevant information and organize it in a clean way by using:
- 10-12 point font
- Arial or Times New Roman font
- Adjust your margins as needed
Your Flight Instructor Resume
At this point in my career I’ve reviewed hundreds of flight instructor resumes. While all of the above tips are true, here’s a few more specific ones for your CFI resume.
Put most relevant job experience at the top. I know this is your first job as a pilot. So I don’t expect you to have any aviation experience on your resume.
But if you have any work experience that you think makes you a better CFI be sure to include that at the top. Even if that isn’t your most recent job.
Don’t Embellish. Because they feel like their resume is a bit thin, some pilots are tempted to make it sound like they’ve done more than they have on their resume.
Don’t do this. It will become pretty obvious that you have during the interview and that’s a much worse look.
Just be honest about your work experience.
Bonus: Preparing an Airline Pilot Resume
If you’re preparing your resume for an airline pilot job I highly recommend paying for a professional review.
If you pay for an interview prep company they typically also have resume/application review services as well which you should absolutely use.
Airline applications go well beyond a typical resume. You’ll need to fill out many fields in your application for each airline. So an application review is helpful.
They’ll be able to point out shortcomings in your answers and help you to provide the kind of information each airline wants to see.
Conclusion
These are just some tips you can use to help you write your professional pilot resume.
You can play with different styles as long as it is one page, simple, and highlights your experience.
You want to ensure your resume is predictive, meaning the recruiters don’t have to hunt for information.
Make sure you are updating it at least once a month and update it right before an interview.
- About the Author
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Liz Brassaw is a first officer for a regional airline and the former Chief Pilot and Chief Flight Operations Officer for Thrust Flight. She is a Designated Pilot Examiner and holds an ATP, CFI, CFII, MEI, AMEL, ASES with over 2,500 hours of flight instruction given. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree from the Utah Valley University School of Aviation Sciences.