6 Ways to Make the Most of a Job Fair

Come prepared for recruiters at your dream company

As a major airline pilot who has volunteered at the company recruitment booth for over two decades, I offer these six ways to make the most of pilot job fairs:

#1 PRIORITIZE

• Professional pilots seeking to advance their careers come to the aviation conferences and job fairs because these are ideal opportunities to meet recruiters and company pilot representatives from passenger airlines, air cargo airlines, Boeing, GE, FAA, and many more. Here you can make a key connection that can lead to a job interview and even a Conditional Job Offer (CJO).
• Arrive as early as possible at Registration and review the schedule and layout. Find the seminars that interest you and make note of the job fair hours. Locate the booth for your top choice of employers. 
• Set your priorities. It gets crowded and recruiters getting tired by the end of the day, so zero in on your dream company and get to that booth early. 

#2 DRESS FOR SUCCESS

• If you are wearing a flight suit, uniform, or company polo shirt as a volunteer at your squadron, flight school, or company booth, it’s fine to wear that to another recruitment booth; the recruiters will understand. 
• If possible, wear your best interview outfit. The pilot applicant ‘interview uniform’ is a navy, dark grey, or black business suit with a plain white shirt, because this approximates many airline pilot uniforms. Men wear ties. 
• Women wear pants or skirt and jacket, with a plain white or solid colored blouse that does not show cleavage. 
• Wear freshly polished, comfortable, closed-toe shoes. Convention centers are often quite spread out and far from your hotel room. You will be doing a lot of walking and standing. 
• Get a haircut and return your hair color to a natural shade. Women with long hair may choose to wear it pulled back in a braid or ponytail or bun. Men: Hair cut above the collar and clean-shaven.
• Remove all studs, gauges, rings, nose jewels, and jewelry from your face and ears, except for one set of conservative earrings, worn in the traditional way, one in each earlobe. Men: No jewelry on the face or head.
• If you have tattoos and other piercings, keep them completely covered. 
• Carry a nice brief that will hold your resume, business cards, conference schedule, wallet, and phone.
• Remember that you could meet a recruiter or representative from your dream company at any time or place, including at the airport, elevator, or breakfast cafe. This is why, for the “free” periods during the conference, I recommend business casual attire: Slacks (no jeans), shirt or blouse with sleeves or a polo shirt, and clean shoes. 
• The conference banquet is typically more dressy. If you think you will end up on stage — to receive a scholarship, for example — wear a formal dress, cocktail dress, or little black dress. Otherwise, an interview outfit or business casual attire is fine. 
• What’s most important is to have a polished image and feel comfortable and confident the entire time.

#3 BRING RESUMES & BUSINESS CARDS

• Have plenty of paper copies of your up-to-date resume.  For jobs in the U.S., do not include a photograph.
• Proofread! And have a friend or anyone else put a fresh set of eyes on it for another proofreading. 
• Consider bringing tailor-made resumes addressed to your top choices of employers. Be sure to have ‘generic’ resumes to hand out to any recruiter or company pilot you may meet. 
• I recommend having your own business cards with your name, phone number, and email address. 
• If you’re still using a cheeky email address like ‘topgamer1@yahoo’ or ‘hotstick4u@gmail’, it’s time to level up to a more professional email address based on your name.
• Spend the time to complete a LinkedIn profile, which serves as your online resume. Some smart folks have the QR code on their resumes and business cards. 
• Make your business cards easily accessible during the conference, such as in your right-hand pants pocket (if you’re right-handed), or an outside pocket of your brief. 
• Ask recruiters and other people for their business cards. Put these in a DIFFERENT place, such as your other pants pocket, or a different pocket inside your brief. You don’t want to give away that card by mistake. 
• Right away, or every evening, write notes on the back of the business cards you collected. You are going to meet A LOT of people at the conference, so it’s real important to do this as soon as possible.

#4 PROJECT CONFIDENCE 

• In U.S. business culture, people express friendly self-assurance by making eye contact, giving a firm handshake, and introducing themselves with a smile. 
• Say your name clearly. Make your name tag visible to the people you meet, to reinforce your verbal introduction. Have a short ‘elevator pitch’ ready that summarizes your credentials and your goals. 

CAPTAIN BEATTY’S #1 PET PEEVE: Do NOT use the words “just” or “only” to downplay your pilot credentials — EVER!!! 

• If you have ever taken an aircraft into the air and brought it back to Earth safely, even once, you have accomplished an incredible feat that few people in the world achieve. If you have any pilot rating on top of that, you have every reason to be proud. 
• I understand how some people, especially women, are uncomfortable announcing their achievements. Our culture does not like people, especially women, who seem too full of themselves. As a friend says, however: “It ain’t bragging if you can do it.” And if there is any time to trumpet your achievements, it is to a pilot recruiter!
• I also understand how it can be a little intimidating to speak to a Boeing 747 or Airbus A321 or Gulfstream G-V Captain. Please remember that each one of them — and Amelia Earhart, Charles Lindbergh, Chuck Yeager, and Patty Wagstaff — all started with ‘zero’ flight hours, same as you. Plus, pilot recruiters are there specifically to meet pilot candidates — we won’t bite! 
• In other words, practice using language that projects confidence in what you have achieved as a pilot so far, and assurance that you will reach your career goals. Examples of self-assured versus self-defeating elevator speeches:

Good: “I am flight instructing now, and plan to meet your minimum requirements for hiring within six months.”

NOT good: “I’m just a flight instructor.”

Good: “I have 1100 hours and am getting close to finishing my Restricted ATP. My ultimate goal is to fly for your air cargo airline.”

NOT good: “I don’t have the ATP because I have only 1100 hours.”

Good: “I am a First Officer for XYZ Airlines with 3000 total time, 500 hours turbine time, and I’m preparing for Captain upgrade. I have an application on file and look forward to the opportunity of a job interview.”

NOT good: “I’m just a First Officer and don’t have any turbine PIC time yet, so you probably don’t want to talk to me.”

#5 PREPARE FOR ON-SITE INTERVIEWS AND CJOs

• Organizations like Women in Aviation, International, the Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals, the National Gay Pilots Association, the Professional Asian Pilots Association, and the Latino Pilots Association make membership open to everyone. Even so, membership is not required to attend their job fairs. For the last several years, and especially in today’s pilot hiring boom, the major airlines come to job fairs prepared to conduct on-site interviews of strong candidates, which can result in Conditional Job Offers by day’s end.
• Who gets invited to these on-site interviews? That depends on the conference and the airline. Advanced sign-up might be required, and members of the organization may be given preference. The airline probably requires that the applicant already have an active application on file. There are also cases where a recruiter meets a strong candidate at the booth and pulls them aside for an interview, then and there. 
• Top-notch pilot applicants – military and civilian pilots with plenty of straight white males among them – have been showing up at these annual conferences, eager for a chance to meet face-to-face with recruiters. So, do not assume that only women are interviewed and given CJOs at the WAI Conference, or only Black pilots at the OBAP Conference, etc., because that simply isn’t true. A diversity of pilots get CJOs at these conferences, all of whom are strong candidates with competitive qualifications. 
• Invest in yourself one more time: Fork over the money for airline pilot job interview counseling. Why? A job with a major airline is worth multiple millions of dollars in pay and benefits over the course of your career. If this face-to-face opportunity lands you the job two or three months from now, versus landing the same job two or three years from now, it’s a difference of 1000-2000 seniority numbers, and 2-3 years of higher pay. Compound interest and all that. So, give this your all.
• While you're at it, pay a company to clean up your social media. Yes, airline recruiters check social media. Yes, they will find those pix of you in the midst of drunken shenanigans. Yes, it affects their hiring decision. I suggest using a pseudonym on all social media, except for LinkedIn, which is your online professional resume.
• If you have flight training failure(s) or job termination(s) in your past, read my article Overcoming Failures.

#6 NONSTOP NETWORKING

• This is a nonstop networking opportunity. Carry your business cards at all times and make the most of it.
• It’s not cool to sit in a cafe at the Women in Aviation Conference and complain to your buddies that “they're taking all the jobs”. First of all, that’s not true. Second, we’re sitting at the next table, we hear you, and we will recognize you when you show up at our recruitment booth later.  
• After you get home and catch your breath, send follow-up messages to the people you met. 
• Business etiquette says you do not send text messages to their cellphones. Rather, send a message through LinkedIn or via email. 
• Use a salutation. Be brief and to the point – you are grateful to have met them at the conference, and hope to establish a working connection going forward. Sign with your full name. Attach your resume to the email, in PDF format.

SO, SHOULD YOU GO?

• By all means, you should go to any aviation conference that interests you, especially if you want to benefit from the camaraderie of the aviation community and the workshops. In addition to making new friends, these conferences are a great way to build your network of aviation professionals: Peers, colleagues, and mentors.
• However, with registration fees, travel, hotel, etc., it can be costly to attend. So, if your PRIMARY objective is to meet with recruiters, but you’re still working on your professional pilot ratings or don’t have the minimum requirements for hiring, save your money. Direct your time, attention, and money on flight training and building experience. Plan to use these 6 ways to make the most of a job fair later, when you are more ready for a face-to-face with recruiters at your dream company. 

May your dreams take flight!

© 2022 Jenny Beatty. All Rights Reserved. 

Photo credit: August de Richelieu