I have done over 100 resumes for the denizens of Avcanada, with the proviso that if you used what I have produced you would let me know how you make/made out. A bargain, a huge bargain considering the other site charges $150/pop and doesn't produce as nice a product as me (ahem).

Some of you have stayed in touch and told me what happened since with their job hunts. To those I say a sincere thank-you, I've enjoyed your successes vicariously; most of you have at least thanked me (you're welcome) but lots have not lived up to our informal bargain and told me what's happened to you since. I know that a few will take advantage of a freebie, thinking they won something from me and this site as all 'free' services get some abuse - there are always those who think they are entitled.

Some will think the resumes are rubbish.

This post is to guilt you into answering me - if you would like to post here so that others may see your success, great. If you want to do it to the private address we used, also great.

Let's hear from you!

I recieved an interview within 2 weeks using this new resume. Thank you Xsbank. Take advantage of this opportunity.

It worked! Everyone who asked xs for resume feedback should let him know how it worked. A great contribution like this should not go unreckognized.

Although I never had my resume proofread by you..I did read your advice on resume writing..EXCELLENT! Thats all I can say!

thanks again XS!


For those who didn't thank him..

Don't piss XS off...if you get help on something ..even if you don't like what was said/ done..a big " Thank you" is still in order..thank the person for their time.. common courtesy me thinks!

Guys, I'm not soliciting attaboys, but I would really like to hear how you've made out in your job searches. I also think some inspiring posts here will encourage those who haven't found their niche yet but are still struggling.

Even if you haven't availed yourselves of my 'services' (that thought made me shudder, servicing pilots...euuggghhh) post your job-hunting successes here.

There is a recurring theme here, guys who took ramp jobs with the promise of getting flying in the Fall......I'm pretty sure that is one of the oldest chestnuts in commercial aviation. Why would they check you out in the winter? The weather is the worst, business is slower, there may even be layoffs. I think if you have worked the ramp all summer and not checked out yet you are probably hooped until Spring, at which time if you are still not getting checked out you have my permission to shoot the chief pilot because he is a WOS.

You may also ask yourselves if you want to work for an outfit that is lying to you as well as decide if you want to spend the winter in the arctic.

Good luck to you all, may I be completely full of sh*t and you will all be flying by the end of September.....

I worked the ramp and got checked out in the fall. The job market has changed a lot xsbank. It's no longer driven so much by seasonal changes, but when your companies pilots meet Jazz/AC/WJ requirements and take the next step. Everyone is hiring all the time now. Are there times companies are more short? Yes. The fact is that they're always short though. I wouldn't be so quick to talk about "it's not gonna happen" etc etc.

I can't think of a major 704 player that isn't at least 10-15 pilots short. I know of more than one company that can't expand because of lack of crews.

Endless, I hope you're right, but your argument "...I can't think of a major 704 player that isn't at least 10-15 pilots short. I know of more than one company that can't expand because of lack of crews..." begs the question, why aren't the newbies being checked out faster? Why are they still on the ramp if there is a shortage? Like I said, I hope I am merely full of it and completely wrong.

You can't put a 200hr guy into the left seat of a 704 turbine no matter how short you are. Two companies I know in particular can't upgrade fast enough or hire outside direct entry captains fast enough. They've all lowered their minimums to below what some consider safe and they still can't find guys. Anyone with 3000hrs is looking at airlines not 704 turbine now. Anyone with 1500hrs is thinking maybe flying a dash-8 wouldn't be so bad, why upgrade on the king air and bond in for 10k when I can go to jazz make more money than I make in the right seat of the king air and move back to the city. It's definitely become a pilots market. When was the last time CMA or Georgian hired direct entry captains, let alone couldn't find guys to even become captains? 2 years ago guys were lined up a hundred deep willing to suck a dick to sit in the right seat of a 1900 out of Calgary, Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal or Halifax. Now it's a totally different reality.

Have things magically changed and made it easy for a 200hr guy? No. But don't even start to tell me that it's in the same universe of hard as it was just after sept 11th. When I started on the ramp the guys who were my captains had worked the ramp 3+ years. I was lucky and did just over a year. Guys at the same company are getting checked out now in well under 6 months. The only limit to how fast they're getting trained up is how fast the guys above them can meet the requirements of the next plane. Companies up north hiring instructors, certainly didn't see much of that 3 years ago. You needed northern time, and gravel time, and multi command time, and 703/4 time, etc etc. Now as long as you have the bare bones minimums you're in there hired over the phone with questions like "do you have any friends that are looking too?" asked.


sorry, kind of long winded there.. Short answer. The newbies are being checked out faster almost everywhere. How many guys were living in Thompson or Yellowknife "lurking" to get a ramp job at tindi/sunwest/skyward etc 4 years ago? 50? They can't find guys to even go to those spots for jobs anymore.

could i please get help with my resume? Ive been looking for work for over a year and havent had any success getting an interview.

thanks for the resume help xsbank, you really did a great job.
i will keep you posted on how things work out.

cheers

I'd also like to thank xsbank in public for the reworking he did on my cover letter and resume. I'll keep you posted on what happens.

I do not give THAT much attention to the CV Please have your hours and license very visible so I do not have to do math or look for the all over the CV and if you can have it all in 1 page even better. Some of the Kiwi's and Ozzie's likes the 3-5 pages....

I receive some that are just rubbish, spelling errors, wrong address(phone numbers, emails, etc)

And I do not like th cover letter with a lot of BS (you have to but...) I preffer a sincere cover letter, like the other day a guy fed up with the "inside friends"

PM me if you need a FI job.

JTFA wrote: And I do not like th cover letter with a lot of BS (you have to but...)

what is BS ?

SQ wrote:what is BS ?

Bachelor of Science.

bob sacamano wrote:

SQ wrote:what is BS ?

Bachelor of Science.

That's Bsc. Basically the same thing though.

endless wrote:You can't put a 200hr guy into the left seat of a 704 turbine no matter how short you are..

Have things magically changed and made it easy for a 200hr guy? No. But don't even start to tell me that it's in the same universe of hard as it was just after sept 11th.

Here here!

You're right about the 200 hr wonder into the left seat thing, but that guy will be useless to your operation if you are not checking him out. If he is better on the ramp and will not be checked out, have the balls to tell him. If your operation is so badly run that you will screw ramp guys just to have a pool of eager wannabes that you keep hanging on with a vague promise, you are a WOS.

How many of you got checked out in the dead of winter? Cojos, maybe, but to turn a guy loose in a single or light twin? Tell me that's going to happen.

You have to admit that if you can get a guy to stay on the ramp for a summer, you've probably got him 'til the Spring, too.

Yes, the newbie will probably have to pay his dues, its some antedeluvian right of passage whereby the seniors think that they are in some special club that you have to pay to get admitted to. It doesn't matter that the newbies are sharp and eager and excellent sponges for all the information you want them to soak up, you will run them down on the ramp 'til they're jaded and cynical and burnt out before they ever turn a prop. Make sense to you? Wait 'til they have lost some of their edge, their licenses are stale and they will find it harder to get going, all because your operation is too f*cked to hire real baggage-smashers. This is one part of aviation that NONE of us should be proud of.

You can learn 90% of what you need to learn on the ramp in, oh, 5 days. The rest is just bloody-minded exploitation and has no correlation at all to the stuff that lawyers or doctors do as associates. Besides, equating what pilots do to what lawyers do is assinine.

Rant off.

pm sent xs! Thanks again.

BS will be Bull Shit I was jut trying to be "politically correct" for some strange reason people get offended when you call bull shit, bull shit.

Thank you XS, I will let ya know after the 21st what happens with what you and I spoke about! Thank you.

Best Regards

RGM

"PC is the theory that posits that it is possible to pick up a turd by the clean end."

BS is marginally better than bullshit, but everyone knows what you mean anyway.

Hey xsbank,

Last I shot you an e-mail that I got a flying gig towing gliders with Pawnee's in Cambridge. Now I'm starting out flying floats in Red Lake. Shot out a resume to NZ for a winter gig, and I'll be flying Pawnee's towing gliders again just North of Wellington!

Thanks again! Starting out an amazing adventure into aviation!

Amazing is right! Way to go, Adam! Send us a post card while you enjoy the summer down there.