Thank you for the recommendation Grumble. I know that Emerald Coast provides a great product as well and Albie is a stand up guy.

I cannot stress enough that you have to prepare for an airline interview and it doesn't matter if you have a civilian or a military background. You only have one shot at being successful. There are some airlines who will not give you another chance if you fail the HR interview. The biggest complaint from recruiters is that people are showing up not prepared. We as a pilot group think we can solve all the world's problems and we don't have to prepare for an interview. The problem is we as pilots are poor communicators. Think about it. We are not trying to sell a product like a salesman. We do not make corporate presentations trying to prove we are right. You may have all these ideas in your head but you don't know how to properly present them to the recruiters. You need to learn how to sell yourself to the recruiters.

If you are looking for a job create an "Interview Logbook." At the top of each page write down an HR question that they will ask you. Start thinking of a story/situation that would answer that question. Come back to your logbook a couple of days latter for review and see if you can come up with an additional story/situation. If you do get called for an interview you can review your "Interview Logbook." If you do an interview prep, you will already have some stories ready and not waste time trying to remember answers.

The recruiters are trying to get to know who you are as a person not just a pilot. 20 years ago they would look at your resume and if you had a military background and checked off the appropriate boxes, you would be called in for an interview. Those days are over. It is so competitive now the major airlines have a choice on who they want to bring in for an interview.

3 months ago I hosted a recruiter conference to discuss the issues facing our industry. The recruiters at the major level are looking for the "Well-Rounded Individual." They are not looking at just your piloting background but who you are as person. They don't care if you are a Captain, First Officer, military, civilian, corporate, etc. The recruiters are looking at you as an individual and what you believe in. The reason being is what you do in your personal life will reflect what you do in your professional life. One of the things they want to see is that you are giving back to the community. If you have been to a job fair, WIA or OBAP conference I bet you were asked that question. If you are not doing any volunteer work now, start doing something you will enjoy.

You spend countless hours preparing for a checkride. You need to do the same for an interview. Start thinking like a recruiter and not like an applicant. If you were on the other side of the table, what would you like to hear from an applicant. Good luck and I wish everybody the best.