Pilot CV Tips and Tricks

Writing a good CV is essential when job hunting or applying for your dream job. Your CV should be a reflection of your skills and work experience, your card of presentation to a potential employer.

Being precise with the information you provide is a key factor. As recruiters, we see many CV’s every day. Some are clear and provide all the information required and others leave us filled with questions because of lack of information. Keep your CV comprehensive but concise, no more than three pages long in general.

Contact Information

Start by placing your name and personal details clearly at the top so that you can be contacted. Include your name, contact phone number, email address (keep this professional) and home address. You can also provide a link to your LinkedIn professional profile for more information.

Career Objective

It is a good idea to provide a career objective at the beginning of your Pilot CV, detailing your career goals and how the opportunity you are applying for fits within your career plans. Be sure to review this every time you are applying for a new opportunity.

Flight Hours

Most pilot opportunities will have set minimum hours requirements and experience which you will need to meet to be eligible to apply, so it is important that you list all of your flight experience. List your overall total flight time throughout your aviation career (including general aviation hours) and then continue to provide a breakdown of all your flight hours by aircraft type and by rank, listing your recent type first. Separate your turboprop, jet and multi-engine hours and include your simulator time here as well if you wish.

Qualifications

Under qualifications, you should note your licence type (ATPL or CPL), your aircraft ratings and their expiry dates. Details of your medical certificate can also be included here and expiry date.

Work History

A well-written work history is one of the key elements of a good CV. Start by listing all your aviation-related positions in chronological order with your current position first and work backwards. You should provide the company’s name, your position and employment dates. When it comes to employment dates, list the date, month and year in which you started and finished working for each company. If there are any periods of unemployment ensure these are accounted for, and provide a brief explanation to the person reading your CV. Recruiters and potential employers will want to know why you were unemployed during that time. Provide a brief description of each of your roles and responsibilities. You can also add your achievements in each particular role.

Education

The education section should highlight your highest qualification, for example, your University, college or flight school diploma. You can include details of your high school education as some employers will require candidates to have completed high school as a minimum requirement.

Other

List other skills and information about yourself that the employer might be interested in. For example, other languages that you can speak, your level of fluency and your computer skills.
Hobbies are something your employer may also be interested in as this will tell them a little more about you and what you enjoy doing outside of work. Just be sure to keep this professional and not too long.

Referees

Finally, it is your call whether you wish to provide referee details on your CV. You can state that references will be provided upon request or you could provide these details up front if you wish. Ideally, you will need to provide someone in a position of authority and to whom you report to or have reported to in the past. Provide as much detail as possible regarding the referee and include their name, the company they work for, work phone number and company email address.

If you follow these tips and tricks when it comes to CV writing, you will have a comprehensive and easy to read Pilot CV that will allow recruiters to easily identify your skills and qualifications when reviewing your application for a particular role.

At Wings Recruitment we are experts in pilot recruitment, so we can assist you when you decide to embark on your search for a new flying position. For information about all the opportunities we currently have available please visit our website www.wingsrecruitment.com. You can apply for our jobs directly through the website or contact our friendly consultants for advice.