Are you ready when you get your airline interview?

Having your logbook current is not the only thing that has to be up-to-date. You have to be better prepared than the pilot next to you if you want to be the one that gets hired.

If you don’t have a logbook, you can pick up a terrific electronic pilot logbook here or the best professional pilot hardcopy logbook here!

So, in today’s entry, I’ll discuss five of the lesser known ideas that will guarantee success in your next airline interview and never underestimate the importance of preparation. It could be the difference between you getting the job or the pilot next to you getting the job.

Post note: So you don’t have to go searching for it, here is the link to Part 2. Just click here.

Let’s begin —

1. Research, Research, Research

Have you thought about the airline that you want to fly for? What do you know about them? Who are their key leaders? Do you know specifics about how they fit into the industry?

If you don’t, start with the obvious places like their website. Get to know their organization, their management leaders, and the name of the hiring manager. Then drill-down deeper and research these people, their company and the industry, in general, using Google.

Check Google News and see what the world is saying about them and the industry.

Create Google Alerts to let you know when the companies or any of the executives show up in the news.

2. References

Are your references up-to-date? When was the last time you talked to them and checked their information?

If you haven’t talked to them in awhile, give them a courtesy call to catch up. Let them know that you are going to be interviewing again soon and that they may get a call from a recruiter at that airline.

There have been many instances where I’ve gotten a phone call from an airline recruiter about a former student or colleague without even knowing they were going to an interview. It took me a moment to compose my thoughts, but I always gave them a raving review. It would have been nice to know though.

3. Your Airline Resume

You need to make sure that your resume is 100% correct. This is so important, so I’ll say it again…make sure that your resume is 100% correct. If you haven’t had a minimum of five people read your resume, start passing it around. It is a matter of seeing the forest-from-the-trees, or is it the trees-from-the-forest? Either way, you are probably too close to your resume and can’t see the glaring error(s). If you can’t find five people, consider a resume service that will review your resume. It is that important!

Also, though this may sound obvious, it is very rarely done…READ YOUR RESUME OUT LOUD! Remember the details and review it daily for five days before you go to the interview. You need to be able to discuss your resume without looking at it during the interview. Having that “deer-in-the-headlights” stare when they ask you about something on your resume is the last thing you need.

And though flight hours are important, also try to convey the skills and benefits, other than being a pilot, that you will bring to the organization.

Want me to review your resume and cover letter? Send me an e-mail and I would be glad to review it for you and let you know what I think.

4. Create a Profile Letter of Yourself

What is a “profile letter” you ask?

A profile letter is a less formal letter than a resume that reflects your personality and your voice. It should be clear, concise, and compelling statement about you. It provides a complete picture of you. Keep it to one page and just freestyle write it, but check your spelling too. Hit the highlights of your career and examine your thoughts about your past. It shouldn’t take you any longer than an hour to write it. Just write about you!

Now it may sound a bit silly to do this step, but believe me, it is vitally important. You have to know you, before you can convince others that you are the one that they want to hire.

To get a good idea of what a profile should look like, visit the article by Guy Kawasaki posted on LinkedIn about the “Profile Extreme Makeover.”

5. Create Sound Bites

I use 3×5 inch index cards for this. Much like when I study airplane systems, I write down typical questions that interviewers ask and then practice the responses. I carry them around with me and practice, practice, practice. Work on a “long” response and a “short” response to these questions. A long response should be no longer than 2 minutes. The short response should be 30 seconds. You want to be clear and concise with your answers.

Did I mention “practice?” What practice does is help you refine your answers. If you rehearse using another person, they can evaluate and critique you and it lets you practice saying your answers to a person. You may want to consider recording your responses on a recorder and then critique yourself. The goal is to make your responses second nature so that you can focus on the interviewers subtle responses to your answers so that you can adjust as you go along. If your answers appear spontaneous and unrehearsed but confident they will know that they are interviewing the next first officer they are going to hire.

Consider this, when you first started doing stalls and steep turns, you had to practice them over and over till you got it right. Practicing for an interview is the same thing. You have to practice till you get it right!

In my next entry, I will cover five more important topics that will help you score well with the interviewers.

For now, re-read the five points above so that you understand them and don’t forget to leave a comment or question below.

To Your Flying Success…

Jeffrey

P.S. If you have any interview experiences, good or bad, please share them with us by leaving a comment below.

Here is some more recommended reading:

• Checklist for Success – Successful Airline Interview – A pilot’s guide to the successful airline interview and how to improve your competitiveness and chances of being hired!
• Checklist for Success CD – Virtual Interview Preparation – Remember the “Law of Intensity?” Well see and hear examples of both good and bad interview scenarios. It will really stick with you!
• Reporting Clear? – A pilot’s interview guide to background checks and presentation of personal history. I wish that I had this when I was getting hired. It would have taken me a lot less time!

If you have been through an airport in the last seven years, there are a group of people that exists via the acronym, TSA. Now TSA stands for “Transportation Security Administration.” There are different, not so nice names, for them as well. Over the years their screening process has gotten better but it still amazes me how long it can take to get through security at an airport.

Anyway, enough about them. This article is suppose to be about what you can do to get through security a little faster the next time you are there.

1. Visit the TSA Website – This is IMPORTANT! You have to know what you can and can’t carry through security checkpoint. Though the rules my seem stupid, don’t you be! Click here: http://www.tsa.gov and be informed!
2. Pack, then repack – If you think you may have trouble getting through security, then check your bag at the ticket counter. Don’t risk having your precious bottle of shampoo tossed in the dumpster. If you must have it, follow 3-1-1. For more information visit the TSA Website.
3. Remove the metal- Don’t wear watches, big earrings, big metal belt buckles, or shoes when going through the metal detector. If you don’t want to be embarrassed, take them off! I see this ALL the time. Give yourself a pat-down BEFORE you get in line so that when it is your turn, things go a little faster.
4. Yes Sir, Yes Ma’am- Don’t argue with the TSA screener…you will lose… and just make it miserable day for you. TSA Screeners can be like police persons, that is, completely irrational at times. They are drones. They buzz around their machines doing exactly what they have been told to do. Thinking outside the box is not in their job descriptions. So just follow the rules and everything will go fine.
5. Arrive early, then relax- Get to the airport early. At least an hour or more before departure. I’ve seen security lines that take longer to get through than a ride in Disneyland. Most airports have a Starbucks or something yummy to eat inside security, so get there early, get through security, and then make it an event. Get your coffee, find your gate, and relax…you will be glad you did…

Flying commercial is not a lot of fun but in most cases it is a necessity. Don’t add stress to your life by getting uptight about TSA security. These folks have a job to do and if you get upset and don’t let it go, you will be the only one that remembers it in five minutes. Just accept it and the people that run it for what it is.

And remember, TSA has a huge responsibility and are constantly under scrutiny so they have to be enforcers and it isn’t always a pleasant experience.

Here are some additional sites that you might want to visit before your go to the airport:

• TSA Prohibited Items
• The 411 on the 3-1-1 for Carry-ons
• Traveler Need-to-Know and Special Needs, i.e., disabilities, medical conditions, military, religious and cultural needs.

And if you need ideas on how to pack, consider picking up this ebook: Packing Secrets Revealed. You will never see packing in the same way again!

To Your Flying Success…

Jeffrey

Satellite Monitoring of the Emergency Frequency is Over

You might remember that I wrote an article about the emergency frequency awhile ago. You can find the article here, “YOU’RE ON GUARD!” THE EMERGENCY FREQUENCY CHANNEL,  if you would like to read it again.

But, you might have also heard, COSPAS-SARSAT, the international satellite-based search-and-rescue, distress alert detection and information distribution system, (ok, that’s a mouthful) will cease satellite monitoring of the 121.5 MHz frequency on February 1, 2009.

It turns out that over time, it has become more and more difficult to accuractly track and monitor the 121.5 frequency, which was wasting rescuer time and money. So they have gone to monitoring digital 406 MHz instead which is more accurate, which I won’t get into here.

But what it amounts to is if you fly a general aviation airplane, you need to upgrade your ELT to equipment that it uses this frequency…or you might as well fly without a seat belt.

You see, I continually monitor 121.5 MHz when I fly, as do many professional and general aviation pilots, so if we hear that familiar sound of an ELT going off, we notify ATC. But all ATC can do is triangulatein on where the beacon is coming from, hoping that they will narrow in on the location of the distress signal in time to help. Time is sooooo important in a emergency that the more quickly they can locate a down aircraft, the more quickly they can provide assistance. Most times it is a false alarm, possibly the result of a hard landing or an inadvertent flip of the test switch, but that doesn’t deter everyone from trying to help the best that they can.

Luckily, unlike most things, it is an E-A-S-Y fix.

Depending on which one you chose, they are all priced to sell!

If you need another reason to buy one of these PLB’s remember what happened to Steve Fossett (www.stevefossett.com)? He crashed in the Nevada desert and it took weeks to find him. Rescuers resulted to high-resolution imaging to try and find him, when if he had a PLB, it is possible they may have found him sooner. To me, Steve Fossett is one of the truly great unsung heroes of aviation. But if you need some inspiration, check these out:

• DVD: The Aviators – Pioneers of Aviation: Boeing & Lockheed – This is the story of the pioneers of aviation, the biography of three men William Boeing and Alan Longhead & Malcolm Longhead
• Hughes – The Private Diaries, Memos, & Letters – This definitive biography explodes the illusion of his life, and exposes the man behind the myth.

So the bottom line is that the emergency frequency, 121.5 MHz is no longer being monitored by COMPAS-SARSAT. If you fly an aircraft with an ELT, visit SARSAT website (http://www.sarsat.noaa.gov/) for further information and read the whole article, but I’ve reproduced the article here for you as well:

February 1, 2009:  The Phaseout of 121.5 MHz Beacons

for Satellite Distress Alerting

 In October 2000 the International Cospas-Sarsat Program, announced at its 25th Council Session held in London, UK that it plans to terminate satellite processing of distress signals from 121.5 and 243 MHz emergency beacons on February 1, 2009.  All mariners, aviators, and individuals using emergency beacons on those frequencies will need to switch to those operating on the newer, more reliable, digital 406 MHz frequency if they want to be detected by satellites. 

The decision to stop satellite processing of 121.5 / 243 MHz signals is due to problems in this frequency band which inundate search and rescue authorities with poor accuracy and numerous false alerts, adversely impacting the effectiveness of lifesaving services.  Although the 406 MHz beacons cost more at the moment, they provide search and rescue agencies with more reliable and complete information to do their job more efficiently and effectively.  The Cospas-Sarsat Program made the decision to terminate 121.5/243 MHz satellite alerting services, in part, in response to guidance from the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). These two agencies of the United Nations are responsible for regulating the safety on international transits of ships and aircraft, respectively, and handling international standards and plans for maritime and aviation search and rescue. More than 180 nations are members of IMO and ICAO. 

NOAA, along with the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Air Force, and NASA (the four Federal Agencies who manage, operate, and use the SARSAT system) are strongly advising users of 121.5/243 MHz beacons to make the switch to 406.  Meanwhile, anyone planning to buy a new distress beacon may wish to take the Cospas-Sarsat decision into account.

So keep monitoring the emergency frequency when you fly, check your frequency to make sure you aren’t going to transmit on it, and most of all…

To Your Flying Success…

P.S. Here are three other websites you might be interested in :

• Equipped to Survive
• What’s Up With 121.50 MHz ELTs? by AOPA
• Update on National 121.5/243 Emergency Beacon Alert Phase Out – by USAF Air Combat Command