A small pointer.
A few years back when my son was interested in an aviation career we attended an exhibition type presentation on the subject.
In one of the seminars the question at the start was " Who here, wants to be a pilot?" which caused virtually all to raise their hand.
The response was close to " We are not looking for pilots but for people who can MANAGE a team of people, a complex machine, look after our customers and not waste company money. We will get them trained to get their CPL."
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Currently filling in an online application form which has two short essay questions to complete.
It ought to help if you concentrated on correct grammar and punctuation. Your first sentence is not a complete sentence. It would have been better with "I am" at the start. Of course it's entirely possible that the person reading your application might be just as bad and might not notice your shortcomings in this respect!
There is a second question about why I'd make a good pilot for the company, so I'm assuming the first one is to ensure that I've done my background research on the company and understand what their goals are.
This sentence is too long. Without re-writing the sentence completely, I would suggest you should have split it into two sentences, such as "There is a second question about why I'd make a good pilot for the company. I'm assuming the first question is to ensure that I've done my background research on the company, and understand what their goals are."
I've never applied for a job before (I worked on our farm when I was growing up and have been self employed throughout my time at university).
This combines an over-long sentence with poor punctuation. I would suggest "I've never applied for a job before."
I worked on our farm when I was growing up and have been self employed throughout my time at university.
This sounds like you are making an excuse for your inadequacies. It would be better if you concentrated on your strengths and didn't mention your inadequacies at all.
Please note that these comments are intended to be constructive.
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L\'escargot.
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Sounds about right am currently filling in similar forms, not for flying posts but for engineering positions. A lot of the companies i am applying to for graduate positions prefer these forms to CV's as they are able to tell far more from them.
prob not much help but good luck.
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Temporarily not a student, where did the time go???
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Sometime ago a someone I knew who was a salesman, he wanted to change jobs to become a drug company representative. When asked a question why he should be employed, he answered a simple and memorable answer "Because I am a winner". He got the job.
The questions you have been asked are to reduce the number of applicants to a reasonable number. Bear this in mind, so make your answers clear and to the point. Imagine you have to read 50 applications, what would make you place one answer above most of the rest.
The first question should cover your attributes and how these would meet the requirements of being a pilot. It may pay to have a chat with a pilot if you know one or use a flight web site to ask about what attributes they think are most important to be a pilot.
The second question will cover how you will fit in to the way the company works and how you are dependable and easy to work with as part of a team. It is not a question of what the company can do for you, but what you can do for it.
Use a word processor to check for grammar and spelling mistakes, plus use a the word count facility to check you do not exceed the limit. Go back and re-read your answer, see if you can alter your choice of words or phrases to strengthen your answer. Imagine you life depended on your reply, well it may be the rest of your life, so polish your answer and sell yourself.
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Roger
A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well.
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You might have already covered this, but you haven't mentioned it in your post so:
The question is "Using 1000 characters or less, please explain why you wish to become a ********** pilot."
You appear to be doing a good job of explaining the ********** bit, but I think you would be wrong to ignore the pilot bit.
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Thanks everyone, I've taken your advice on board. L'escargot - don't worry, the style of writing I use in a forum post is completely different to that I'd use in an essay. I've been writing on a semi-professional basis for the past 7 years, and I tend to ramble in forum posts anyway. Being able to judge whether something "reads" well is a skill that thankfully comes naturally. :)
Regardless, the parts sound negative wouldn't go on the application form in any case. I only brought them up because this is the first time I've seen one of these applications, and wanted to make sure I'm thinking along the right lines.
Artful Dodger - thanks very much, genuinely useful comments and I will make use of them! As you said, to an extent my life does depend on these essays so I will also be dragging them along to the university's careers department for yet another check, as well as passing them to a professional pilot for opinions.
BazzaBear - company name censored because I have no idea if they'd be happy to have their recruitment procedures scattered over the internet.
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best of luck with the application David. A small point (on which I may have totally the wrong end of the stick) In 1000characters.? Will only allow you about 200words max.
Should be sufficient if you keep it pithy.
Happy Job app writing Phil I
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DH - oddly enough I was helping a man at work fill in a similar sort of form re joinging the Int Corps as TA. I suggest that in the part where you are saying why you are good for the company you would find it useful to get in mention of achievement(s), working as a member of a team, meeting goals and aspirations, both your own and other peoples = Cooperation. Also make mention of pride in your work, overcoming obstacles to progress and give examples of the traits and attributes if you can find good ones and fit them into your 1000 words. Good luck, I was a pilot for 35 years and loved it!
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BazzaBear - company name censored because I have no idea if they'd be happy to have their recruitment procedures scattered over the internet.
I think you've misunderstood me. I realised why you used the *'s, my point was that you seem to have answered the question "Why do you want to work for the company?", you haven't answered the question "Why do you want to do this job?". I think both of those questions are implied in the original text.
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Oh, I see. :)
Well, not to worry, as that bit is taken care of. I came to the conclusion that the question is perhaps better interpreted as "Why do you wish to become a pilot, and why is *** suitable for you?", and I've tried to make best use of the advice given here.
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I came to the conclusion that the question is perhaps better interpreted as "Why do you wish to become a pilot and why is *** suitable for you?"
Yep, that's how I read it too.
Good luck!
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Thanks everyone I've taken your advice on board.
In interviews think before you speak and avoid using slang expressions, such as "on board". As a pilot you will be expected to communicate (with air traffic controllers etc) in precise plain English.
And don't make every sentence sound like a question by either using a rising inflection (see tinyurl.com/2gp7qg) or by adding "yeah?" at the end of every sentence
And definitely don't add "innit" to the end of every sencence!
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L\'escargot.
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And definitely don't add "innit" to the end of every sencence!
And don't do as I do, do as I say. Spell "sentence" correctly!
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L\'escargot.
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completely different to that
Different from ........!
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L\'escargot.
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"the style of writing I use in a forum post is completely different to that I'd use in an essay"
[pedant]
"different from", shurely.
[/pedant]
V
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I'm not asking you to tell us who ********** are, David, but in your answer consider whether they're a flag carrier or a low-fares operation. Traditionally, both wanted a different mindset from their crews.
Neither wants the company prospectus recited back to them (plenty other applicants will do that), but they will want to know a) why you want to work for them, b) why you'll be useful to them over the next number of years once you're licenced and c) why you want to fly in the first place (and primarily why you're not going to decide this wasn't such a good idea after all and quit shortly after getting your CPL at their expense).
While you don't want to repeat yourself exactly in answering both questions, do mention the most salient points about yourself that answer a, b and c in both questions: don't assume the recruiter who has to sieve through the forms will read both sections (or either!) in detail.
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Cheers, Gromit - that was something I was curious about and I'll do as you suggest. Interestingly, they are neither a flag carrier or a low fares operation. (*cues spooky music*)
L'escargot. OK, you got me. ;)
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Interestingly they are neither a flag carrier or a low fares operation.
........ nor a low fares .........
L'escargot. OK you got me. ;)
Again!
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L\'escargot.
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>>Neither wants the company prospectus recited back to them
A friend of mine, applying for new graduate City jobs got a whole raft of first - and indeed second - round interviews by spewing the contents of the companies websites back to them. "I really want to work for Bank of Bank because you are a progressive company [incomprehensible corporate-speak gobbledegook copied straight from website]."
What did that mean? It obviously impressed.
Avant, if you read this, what do you think?
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Mapmaker - as a recruiter I personally wouldn't have been impressed by swathes of website appearing on the application form - even less so at interview, as one particularly unoriginal candidate did! Maybe it was a big bank with a fairly junior HR apparatchik sifting through the forms.
David H - there's lots of good advice here, most of which I'd agree with. As you know it's a matter of showing them why they should choose YOU above all the others, so what is your 'unique selling point'? Maybe you could say more about the importance of teamwork - vital I'd imagine in flying a plane (I assume it's not a job guiding a ship in and out of dock - even then teamwork would be equally crucial!). Like everything else, it demands 'people skills'.
And yes - do check spelling and punctuation: some of the people who read CVs and application forms are pompous old pedants like me who still think these things matter. I can spell perfectly but am forever making typos. It's also a way of weeding out too many applications - e.g. if you get too many people wanting an apprenticeship, knock out all those who can't spell 'apprentice'.
Above all be yourself - in writing as well as in person - and you should be fine.
Best of luck.
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I usually ask candidates what it is we do differently to our competitors. This checks whether they have looked at corporate information and can analyse it to produce a sensible response, rather than just recite the website.
Spelling and grammar are vital - any that are bad go in the bin. That's the first filter I apply. If I'm in a good mood I may apply some tolerance. When you have 300 applications to one post, this usually gets them done to 50...
Don't just rely on spellcheckers - get someone to read it. "Your" and "You're" seem to be very common these days.
And don't get me started on apostrophe's :-)
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"...differently to..."
"...differently from..."
You say either and I say either.
V
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Again! -- L'escargot.
True, but that one was an accident (I forgot an "n") rather than a screw-up.
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