Frequently Asked Questions

We help pilot's to achieve their career goals. PILOT CAREER CENTRE's Professional Pilot Services accommodate all levels of experience from the newly licensed commercial pilot to a highly experienced wide-body Airline Captain. Our business is specialized – we help Pilots move forward in their careers. That's all we do. Our Pilot Resume Design Service, Effective Cover Letter Design, Company Specific Interview Prep, etc. will benefit any individual who is planning a career as a Professional Pilot.

A tough decision, but one that we cannot make for you – definitely a personal decision. Having said that, we encourage our clients to go with the sure thing – the actual job offer. If someone offers you a job that you interviewed for, take the opportunity. If for some reason you are unsuccessful at the other interview, you still have a good job. Take the job, and attend the subsequent interview if you so desire. If you are lucky enough to receive a second job offer, you now have options. By saying "no" to the company that offered you the initial job, and then failing with the second company, you end up without an airline job and very few options.

An Instructor Rating is an excellent career and an important part of aviation. Many current airline pilots have started out flight instructing. In fact, Airline Check Pilots (Instructors) are often part of the interview panel. The airlines view an instructional background as good experience. We recommend that if you are going to go with the instructor route to get to the airlines, it is beneficial to work at a flight school that provides Multi-Engine IFR Instrument Training. Basically - Get into the IFR/IR department, since this is the area of Flight Instruction that will score the most points for you with respect to landing an airline job. Airlines normally require additional experience as well such as Two-Crew Multi-Engine Turbine time. An ideal candidate for the airlines might have Multi-Engine IFR Instructing experience, along with Two-Crew Multi-Engine Turbine time – flying cargo, charters, medevacs etc.

The industry is currently experiencing a significant amount of growth with some companies like Westjet, Easyjet, Ryanair, Emirates, jetBlue, and all of the Regional Jet Operators in the US. Generally the major airlines, especially in North America, and those who depend upon North Atlantic US traffic, are in a major slump as revenues are way down. On a positive note though, these major airlines are coming up on an unprecedented level of attrition due to retirements over the next 8 - 10 years. Air Canada's retirements will peak over the next eight years - reaching an astounding 270 retirements in 2007 alone. In the next seven years there will be over 850 retirements. The Canadian Industry does not have the extreme shortage that you see in Europe and the USA. However, with a global pilot shortage, the growth of air travel, and the impending pilot retirements, there will be many opportunities for pilots for years to come all over the world.

In-depth aviation recruitment research, advanced Microsoft Word Training, and professional interview experience has enabled PILOT CAREER CENTRE to create The Ultimate CV/Resume for pilots. Our resumes are targeted specifically for aviation recruitment personnel and stand out due to a highly professional look and effective layout of industry-specific information. We guarantee you will be satisfied with our resume format. See our Resume Design page.

Many generic business resume and marketing publications promote their own resume styles. Aviation is a much more unique industry. We recommend that aviation resumes be 1 Page in length. Recruitment personnel will not take the time to sift through 3-pages of information. Anything that is not listed on the first page will most likely be overlooked. Pilots often complain that it is impossible to include all of their information on one page. However, our professional resume format can accommodate a great deal of information. Contact PILOT CAREER CENTRE today for a resume overhaul. Go to our Resume Design page.

It is important to use a high quality bond paper that is conservative in color and business like. Resume paper is available in the stationary section of a number of stores. Spend the extra couple of dollars to print your information out on this material. Do not use any bright/colorful paper or design paper, such as that with clouds on it. You want to create and maintain an image of professionalism when applying for a position. A bright color with designs does not create that image. Nor does a resume printed out on standard printer paper.

Use the same color, style, and quality of paper for both your cover letters and resumes. See the last question and our suggestions.

Absolutely. Attention to detail, and establishing a professional image come to mind. It is very important to include a professional cover letter with every resume that you send.

It is important to apply to these carriers when they are in need of a pilot. If you can get any inside information regarding pilots moving on, or a spring hiring season, maybe a planned expansion, use it to your advantage. Most importantly, follow your resume into their offices with a personal visit. If someone helps you out by taking you in to personally meet the Chief Pilot, fantastic. If not, make a note on your cover letter of the day and time you plan to arrive at their hangar, and that you hope they can spare 5 minutes to talk to you. Now when you arrive, they hopefully will be expecting you. When you introduce yourself, they'll know who you are and may have even liked your resume. For more info on professional resumes, see our Resume section.

Education is extremely valuable and a university degree is always an asset. However, considering the current job market and the impending retirements at the top of the industry, it may beneficial to secure a job (ramp position, instructing, right seat etc.) as soon as possible! Establish a professional reputation somewhere and start logging time if possible. Remember that the airlines in Canada/UK/Africa/Australia and most LowFare Airlines in the USA do not have a degree requirement; they will however have a minimum requirement with respect to flight hours. With this in mind, the four years you spend getting your degree could been used to log valuable flying time that would qualify you for an airline interview. On the other side of the coin, the American major airlines do have a University Degree requirement - but most are in a furlough situation at this time anyway.

Airline Hiring Requirements are constantly evolving and are often based on pilot supply and hiring demand. With that in mind, it is important to apply to the airlines early on in your career. Applying with a bare Commercial License / Multi-Engine Instrument Rating is highly recommended. Continue to apply on a regular basis. You will not be called for an interview for some time, but in the meantime you will be establishing a track record with the airline. Once you have the minimum requirements, you will get an interview slot due to your perseverance. More importantly, the airlines want to hire pilots who truly want to fly for them. Proving a high desire to fly for that particular company is a key part of the personal interview. What better way to get this across than discussing your lengthy and consistent application history? Apply today and score points tomorrow – for more information, see our PILOT JOBS and Aviation and Pilot Recruitment News sections.

We recommend that you always use a brief cover letter when corresponding with the airlines. We also believe that you should always re-send your updated resume alongside your completed application forms. It allows the recruitment personnel the opportunity to both place them together in your file, and also get a more personalized feel for your experience level and qualifications. If you have an excellent 1-Page resume, they will take note of it. See our Resume section for more info.

A common misconception is that the airlines only want to hire young pilots. The corporate belief used to be that the more years an airline could get out of a pilot the better. Things have changed; now airlines around the world want to avoid the massive retirement levels they are experiencing now and over the next ten years. How can they do that? By hiring pilots of various ages. Before September 11th,2001, United Airlines, American Airlines, British Airways etc. hired many pilots in their late 30's. In the late 1990's Air Canada consistently hired pilots with ages ranging from 23 to 53. Canadian airlines Westjet and Air Transat have a hiring minimum of over 4000 hours. Often the only pilots that meet those experience levels are over 35 years of age. Some airlines regard pilot applicants in the 40 – 50 age as stable; believing that these candidates won't be as likely to apply to other carriers after finishing their initial training. 10 years of service is better than six months.

We have heard this complaint a number of times. Start off with your resume. Is it effectively marketing you to the best of its ability? Is your resume highly formatted and as professional as it can be? How about your application history? Have you been applying on a consistent basis? Do you meet their minimum qualifications? Is the airline currently recruiting? If you answered ‘Yes' to all of these questions you are very likely close to obtaining an interview. It may be worth contacting PILOT CAREER CENTRE for some tips and unbiased feedback on your situation.

It is absolutely critical to know your audience, specifically the airline you are interviewing with. A great deal of research should go into the company prior to the interview. The company web site generally provides some valuable information about the airline. Unfortunately almost every candidate will have done the same thing. Therefore it is very important to know a great deal more about the company. PILOT CAREER CENTRE's Interview Prep service will provide you with the proper information that will give you the competitive edge in this challenging recruitment market.

No. Although the various airline-recruiting processes appear to be similar, each airline is unique. Each airline has it's own corporate culture and looks for different qualities in their pilot candidates. It is extremely important to know the airline and understand what they are looking for in their recruiting process. A response to a simple question at one airline may be markedly different than a response at another airline. PILOT CAREER CENTRE specializes in preparing you for the airline-specific interview process.

Books can provide valuable information into the interview process and standard interview questions. Unfortunately, we have found that the minute the book is printed, it is outdated. That is one of the reasons we designed our web site, and business for that matter, in the way we did. Our information is updated all of the time. Our Interview Prep service is constantly evolving and therefore always up to date with the various hiring processes. Interview questions are constantly changing. Books are therefore unable to meet this demand on a timely basis. At PILOT CAREER CENTRE we pride ourselves on our ability to stay current with the industry hiring practices.

In our opinion, female pilots should wear professional, conservative business-like attire. With respect to females with long hair, we believe you should wear you hair up in a bun. Go to a major airport and you will often see female airline pilots with their hair up in this manner. The airlines have strict policies with respect to hair and personal image. When attending an interview, it is important that you meet these requirements. Remember when you are attending the interview, the recruitment personnel are looking at you to see if you fit in with their airline. You certainly would not want to be over looked for your dream job because you did not meet their dress and deportment standard.

No, not normally. At the current time, no airlines (other than US Majors) require a degree as a minimum hiring requirement. Some US Majors do require a degree, and most European carriers have a good look through your A Levels. Remember this though......Education is a valuable asset and holding a degree does give you a small competitive edge on other candidates.

The sim-eval is an extremely important stage of some airlines' recruiting process. It is essential that candidates display a high level of professionalism. This means that a suit and tie must be worn to the sim-eval. In fact, whenever you are completing a part of the recruitment process, the company is evaluating you and watching everything that you do with scrutiny. It can't be emphasized enough that professional attire is a critical part of the process and any clothing that is below standard will undoubtedly diminish your chances of success with that airline.

In the sim-eval, the airlines are primarily concerned with your overall flying skills along with your ability to effectively use Crew Resource Management techniques. They are, under no circumstances, looking for the Chuck Yeager types with superior flying skills and inferior crew coordination. In fact, a pilot with moderate ‘hands and feet' skills and excellent ‘CRM' skills will score higher than an individual with excellent ‘hands and feet', but very weak ‘CRM' skills. General IFR knowledge is being tested on an operational level. Normally, you will not be asked IFR questions, however you will be required to display knowledge with respect to Airspeed Limitations, Holding and Approach requirements.

The medical is also an extremely important stage of the recruiting process. At all times when dealing with the airline, candidates must display a high level of professionalism. This means that a suit and tie should be worn to the medical. At all times during the recruitment process, the company is evaluating you and watching everything that you do with scrutiny.

Like we mentioned earlier, our mandate is to help Pilots move forward in their flying careers. This is our area of expertise and all that we do. In answer to your question, although big-time ice hockey fans, we believe that they draw the names from a hat.