Resume Thoughts
 

I am in the process of making a decision on wether to take a new job, it being my 6th aviation job in 10 years. I made the choice to resign from my last company when they were facing downsizing and furloughs and I was offerred a new job. After having accepted the new and resigned from the old my personal situation hit the perverbial fan. The new job now requires either a poor commute or moving (which we were planning on originally). The old job won't take me back. So I wonder if it's more important to keep recent and hope things work out or stay put with a non aviation job until I can find further employment. Is receny more important than having too many employers in your history?

Whether having to many jobs in a given timeframe in an industry as fluid and dynamic as professional aviation might be a subjective concern to some, recency of flight time for many jobs is very objective and can prevent you from being considered. In my opinion - recency is important and you if you are looking for continued employment in aviation - you need to stay current and have an amount of flight time in the last 6 to 12 months that will get you past that particular block on the application.

USMCFLYR

Thank you usmcflyr, recency does seem more important ultimately. Hoping for the best in my new position, but fearing the worst it may become an obstacle if I end up needing to find that final career job we are all wanting so badly.

You can still have recency and be holding down a non-aviation related job. If you are applying to positions which require 100-200 hrs in the last 12 months for example I'm sure it would be hard to maintain paying out of pocket for GA expenses, but if no hours are stipulated and you just need to show that you haven't lost the touch then a few hours every now and then in a small GA plane might be enough to be considered for a position. The guy I am flying with right now was telling me tonight that when he got his Air Ambulance job that he hadn't flown but a few hours in YEARS!

USMCFLYR

From what I can tell, recency is less critical for non-typed aircraft. When I look at the job boards for say Learjet pilots, recency is always mentioned down to hours per quarter but when I look at Caravan pilots, they often do not mention recency at all. In many cases the training for the non-typed aircraft is done in-house at cost. The types usually have to be maintained at more expensive sims at CAE or FSI, and there is a big disincentive to hire someone who comes in expired because insurance makes them send that pilot on a $10k-$20k trip to the sim. If you are current in a LearJet you might consider it more of a loss to drop out than if you drive a small, non-typed airplane.

recency seems to be as important as anything else.

I would stay current. Unfortunately I have that same history as you... I am on my 5th flying job in the last 10 years... two of them I was at less than a year.

It's just tough when shady 135 operators run you like your less than human, or pay less than a livable wage. =( Oh well... I'm hoping that now that I am not super green that my length of employment improves at places as I can be pickier about where I want to work.

It is important to have recency. If you concerned about multiple jobs in the past couple of years, do not worry. When asked why, the important thing is to be honest.

I have a similar but different situation. I have been out of the flying world for the past 10 years. I have plenty of hours (over 2000) and recently completed an ATP course and I am a current ATP MEL, SEL pilot. I am staying current and should be able to reach the 100 hour recency point in the next two months.

My question is: on my resume should I include the jobs I have had over the past 10 years that were non-flying or just go with my flying info?

Yes, you must include the non-flying jobs to show that you were not in federal prison. I would put them near the bottom, like this...

Flight Experience
2000 Hours, etc, etc


Aviation Employment
2001-2002: XXX
2000-2001: XXX
1999-2000: XXX

Education/Training:
1994-1998: SDSU, BS,.....

Non-Aviation Employment:
2006-Present: YYY
2002-2006: YYY
1996-1998: YYY


Military:
1988-1996: US Navy, Seal Team V