Applying for Aviation Employment in North America

Wan to know how to ace your employment application for any flight school or charter company in Canada or States? We have an outline of important points of what to do and what to avoid when making your first employment application after flight training. Read on!

How to create a professional aviation resume for my first job? To be successfull when applying for internship positions, a pilot needs to have a correctly formatted resume with the pertinent to your employment target informaiton. Use the following guidelines to ensure that your resume is acceptable by the potential employer in North America. Your resume must be fully accmmodated on a single page. Do not spread your resume to two or more pages, not matter how much experience you have. If you need to creatively format your resume to fit into a single page - do it.   Do I need a Cover Letter? In addition to your actual resume, you will need to attach a resume cover letter. A cover letter expands in more detail on your skillset, personal abilities, motivations and experience. It also outlines why, specifically, you are applying for employment as an instructor or a chater pilot with a specific company. Again, the covver letter should not exceed one page. Do I need a Reference Letter? Finally, with every application for employment, you will need to include a professional reference letter or anemployment recommendation letter. Such letter is normally issued by the flight school or any other company which takes upon itself the responsibility of recommending you to another organization for employment. The FTP and Aerocadet will provide you with such letters upon graduation. What do I need to include in my aviation resume? You must include the following points in your resume when targeting a North American aviation company: Name, address, email phone number Objective (what position you are applying for) Profile (a brief summary of your skillset, experience and licensing and safety record, nationality, employment authorisation type and duration, etc) Flight experience (summary of your flight hours by flight category and type) List of your flight crew licenses and ratings, type-ratings, medical certificates, etc Relevant work experience (employment history, military service, etc) Education history, including high school, flight school, college, etc Professional Associations (such as AOPA, ALPA, etc) Volunteer work (if any) Additional skills (languages, computer literacy, sports, etc) What do I need to avoid in my aviation resume? You should NEVER include in your resume when targeting a North American company: Photograph. Most companies in North America would not even review a resume containing a photograph of the applicant because such screening may expose them to a number of legal liabilities, including racial bias and ageism. Your professional pilot resume is not a beauty pageant, so your appearance should not matter at all. You will be hired based on your skillset, licenses, safety record and experience.  Date of birth. Again, as stated above, stipulating your DOB will expose comanies to the legal liabilities of ageism (deciding whom to hire or not hire based on their age). In the US and Canada such screening is illegal. Therefore, do not stipulate your DOB in your resume. Place of birth. Same as above: place of birth should not matter when it comes to hiring you. You will be hired based on your skillset, licenses, safety record and experience - something you could control. Your place of birth was completely outside of your control - so it should not matter to the employer.  Hobbies. Your hobbies are your personal business - the employer should not care about your personal life. You will be hired based on your skillset, licenses, safety record and experience - not your favourite sports.  Political activism. Political views are your personal business, and the employer should not be interested in them. You will be hired based on your skillset, licenses, safety record and experience - not the virtue signalling. Does Aerocadet have samples of resume, cover letter and reference letters on its website? Yes, we do! Our consultants work hard for you, so that your first employment application looks and feels at the top of its professionalism! You can download a sample aviation resume here >>> You can download a sample Flight Instructor employment application Cover Letter here >>> You can download a sample Charter Pilot employment application Cover Letter here >>> You can download a sample Flight Instructor employment recommendation letter here >>> You can download a sample Charter Pilot employment recommendation letter here >>>   More downloads are available on our website, Canada Internships Page >>>