APC resource articles
08-21-2006, 10:02 PM
#1
Administrator
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Joined APC: May 2006
Position: C-172
Posts: 8,024
APC resource articles
HSLD, first I just want to thank you for the good, no great, job you are doing for this board. I have noticed a marked and continued improvement in the few months that I have been a member. Since I am not a pilot, I admit that I rarely read the articles on the homepage since I would not understand anything anyway and the topics are sort of irrelevant to me. For example, I still don't know what CASS is, I have no desire of getting a job at Alaska Airlines (go Home Team!), and I am not in the military, let alone trying to leave it.
However, the articles on cover letters and resume writing bring tears to my eyes. As a lawyer, I make my living off the English language. I have always been fascinated with the power of the English word, and even though English is not my first language nor my second language, I have come to master it and use it well both personally and professionally.
Being a pilot or applying to an airline for job is no different when it comes to always using proper spelling, grammar, punctuation and syntax. First impressions are so important these days. And these days, the first thing an employer sees from you is a cover letter and/or resume. It is imperative that neither of these contain anything that would give a poor impression of you. Employers get thousands and thousands of resumes for each job opening. They have the luxury of tossing aside anything that strikes them as unprofessional, and many of them do not have the time or energy to try and decipher your experience and qualifications from a poorly written letter.
To all the members who post on this forum, I see many posts full of every error known to mankind, enough to give my old English teacher, Sister Mary Angelina, a stroke. I am aware that many of you are in a hurry and may also feel that since this is an anonymous internet board, you can get away with a certain degree of laxity. However, I encourage everyone to put just a little time into proofreading your own posts before you hit the "submit" button. Use this as the first step towards improving your writing skills. It will only help you in the future.
And while I am at it, I would be more than happy to proofread your resume and cover letters for you if you PM me with them. An extra set of unbiased eyes is always helpful. I am not even going to charge you my customary lawyer fee! What a deal.
However, the articles on cover letters and resume writing bring tears to my eyes. As a lawyer, I make my living off the English language. I have always been fascinated with the power of the English word, and even though English is not my first language nor my second language, I have come to master it and use it well both personally and professionally.
Being a pilot or applying to an airline for job is no different when it comes to always using proper spelling, grammar, punctuation and syntax. First impressions are so important these days. And these days, the first thing an employer sees from you is a cover letter and/or resume. It is imperative that neither of these contain anything that would give a poor impression of you. Employers get thousands and thousands of resumes for each job opening. They have the luxury of tossing aside anything that strikes them as unprofessional, and many of them do not have the time or energy to try and decipher your experience and qualifications from a poorly written letter.
To all the members who post on this forum, I see many posts full of every error known to mankind, enough to give my old English teacher, Sister Mary Angelina, a stroke. I am aware that many of you are in a hurry and may also feel that since this is an anonymous internet board, you can get away with a certain degree of laxity. However, I encourage everyone to put just a little time into proofreading your own posts before you hit the "submit" button. Use this as the first step towards improving your writing skills. It will only help you in the future.
And while I am at it, I would be more than happy to proofread your resume and cover letters for you if you PM me with them. An extra set of unbiased eyes is always helpful. I am not even going to charge you my customary lawyer fee! What a deal.
08-21-2006, 11:49 PM
#3
APC co-founder
Joined APC: Feb 2005
Position: B777
Posts: 5,853
Originally Posted by vagabond
...And while I am at it, I would be more than happy to proofread your resume and cover letters for you ...
Seriously, thanks for the kind words and for your support for the forum. Over the weekend I published a primer on "the 10 most common misused words and phrases" - or at least my pet peeves. I was going to publish it under the Joke of the Day thread considering it was me, a knucklehead that's as far from an English major as one can be that was offering this advise.
My hope is that the forum users take some time to proof read their resumes and cover letters when the day comes as it's a competitive market out there. We're not grammar cops, although our APC mantra is "pilots helping pilot" and one day the resource articles might help someone get hired.
08-22-2006, 07:21 AM
#4
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jun 2006
Posts: 323
Bravo, HSLD!!!
Not to sound like an "old school-marm," but I can't tell you how disappointing it is to read ANYTHING written by adults (especially pilots, who are smart and technology-savvy) that is rife with spelling and grammatical errors. Hopefully, it is just laziness, but I know if I was a Human Resources person for an airline, I would have SERIOUS doubts about hiring a person who did not have good command of the English language. As you said in your pet-peeve list, it's important for a person who is in charge of hundreds of lives, driving a multi-million dollar piece of equipment to at least have a basic, working knowledge of their mother-tongue.
Vagabond is right-on when she says Sister Mary Angelina would have a stroke over the butchering of the English language. I, too, attended Catholic schools and got a chuckle out of that. Say what you want about nuns and Catholic schools, but you HAD to know your spelling and grammar in order to survive.
That was a very nice offer she made to proofread resumes. I can offer my services as well. Just PM me, and I'll be happy to review it and make any necessary changes.
BTW, I hope I didn't make any spelling/grammar errors in this post!! :~
Not to sound like an "old school-marm," but I can't tell you how disappointing it is to read ANYTHING written by adults (especially pilots, who are smart and technology-savvy) that is rife with spelling and grammatical errors. Hopefully, it is just laziness, but I know if I was a Human Resources person for an airline, I would have SERIOUS doubts about hiring a person who did not have good command of the English language. As you said in your pet-peeve list, it's important for a person who is in charge of hundreds of lives, driving a multi-million dollar piece of equipment to at least have a basic, working knowledge of their mother-tongue.
Vagabond is right-on when she says Sister Mary Angelina would have a stroke over the butchering of the English language. I, too, attended Catholic schools and got a chuckle out of that. Say what you want about nuns and Catholic schools, but you HAD to know your spelling and grammar in order to survive.
That was a very nice offer she made to proofread resumes. I can offer my services as well. Just PM me, and I'll be happy to review it and make any necessary changes.
BTW, I hope I didn't make any spelling/grammar errors in this post!! :~
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