You’ve reached the end of your training and are getting ready to interview for your first position with an airline.
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 template
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. You can also check out the template we, here at Thrust Flight, provide our students.
Appearance matters
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 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
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 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. She’s passionate about flying and enjoys instilling that love in the instructors on her team and the new students she trains.