Employment Gap?
 

Hi, I've been browsing this board for a while now, and it's really answered a lot of questions I've had. One question that I can't find an answer to is about employment gaps. What happens if you have a gap that is greater than 30 days, during which you weren't employed or in school? I took a few months off after high school, before joining the military, about 7 years ago. Now I'm filling out an application for a regional, and it says "Every month of the past 10 years MUST be accounted for." And "Do not have gaps greater than 30 days." It says to have tax records for periods of self employment, but I wasn't really self employed, I was just being a slacker.

Also it says to bring "complete training records" to the interview. Does this mean I need to get a copy of my training folders from my old flight school? I kinda wonder, because I did a phone interview, and they actually wanted to know about any stage checks I may have failed, even though I've never failed a checkride. Seems to give an advantage to guys who did their training under part 61, since they wouldn't have received any unsats on any lessons.

Thanks for any insight.

What actually did you do during that gap period? What does it mean that you were a "slacker?" If it was something that can see the light of day, then why not be honest with your answer. It's considered a positive thing to have backpacked across Europe or help dig water wells in Africa. It is not a good thing if you were trying to start your porn business or had to go to rehab.

I hope you were not in jail or juvenile detention or something. Were you?

The application I filled out was exactly the same. I had a period of a few years where I didn't work because I was only 14 and younger. I had to put it on there though, they want the past ten years.

They don't care if you weren't working, all they want to know is that you were unemployed. Anything else can be answered in the interview(not that they'll ask). My application said to simply put the name of somebody who can verify your whereabouts during that time period. I put my parents.

I wouldn't worry about it too much...I had a gap of about two months of no school or work. I've had two interviews since (one regional, one major) and they never even asked.

My story. I was flight instructing, got offered a chance to sit in on a 135 groundschool with no job offer. I did that, but when I returned to flight instructing, my students were AWOL and my boss said he wasn't going to give me any students since I was "probably leaving soon". So, I stayed home and worked on the house and did other boring stuff to idle the time until I could find good work. No big deal, and they never asked in the interviews. I never had a glorious answer for my two month sebatical and suspect they don't care that much. (unless you found yourself in front of a judge or something like that). Just be positive, don't lie and you'll be fine.

DD

For gaps in unemployment, you should have a person that can verify where you were during that time. It's not a biggie. Just give the reason why you were "undocumented".

(In your case it was because you wanted to few months to "relax" after graduation and figure out what was next, right?) Remember that a lot of students spend a few months off over the summer- it's no big deal.

As for training records, I wouldn't worry too much about them. Your logbook with all of the original signatures and endorsements from training should be enough. Be prepared to answer questions about any "unusual" remarks (such as "Stage Check 21, Unsat" or "Lesson 42, Incomplete").

Thanks for the replies. Nah, I wasn't in rehab or jail or anything. Like FlyerJosh said, I was taking a few months to relax. I didn't do anything productive, just spent a lot of time at the pool/beach, spent time with friends and family, etc. It's good to hear it's not a big deal, and neither are the training records, cause I have a feeling it would be a pain to get a hold of them.

Josh is correct.

The concern with employment gaps is related to the fact that several major airline pilot have been found to have been ex-drug smugglers prior to their airline careers. As long as you have someone to vouch for where you were and what you were doing, you'll be fine. If you travelled Europe for the summer, maybe be prepared show them some receipts (they probably won't ask). Try not to tell them you were slacking or just hanging out...call it adventure travel, personal development, or something like that.

For civilian pilots your original logbook with all training endorsements is what they want. You never have to bring 141 school records or records from a previos 135 or 121 employer (they will get those via PRIA anyway). Even if you have copies of these records, I would not mention them or bring them to an intervew...that's more detail than they need to know.

What is the time frame now for listing a period as "unemployed"?

I think it's 30 days with some airlines.....6 months with others.

Dude man for a month just say you went on vacation. There is NO PLACE that is going to have a military man walk in, sit down, then be expected to explain in grave detail why there is a 30 day gap. Simply say you took some time off and went on vacation. There. It's covered for. I had two separate times where I wasn't working for about 6 weeks. When I was asked why I said, because "I didn't have a job" lol.

That's the point of the question - to make sure you were not in jail.

You need to simply answer that you were unemployed, and provide contact information for someone who can verify that you were unemployed, not incarcerated, not in the funny farm, not strung out on drugs, etc...