AVIATOR INTELLIGENCE WEEKLY NEWSLETTER Mastering Pilot Career Fairs & Conferences Subject Line: The 8-Week Conference Prep Plan That Gets You Noticed (And Hired) I need to tell you something that might sting a bit: Most pilots waste their conference opportunities. Last year at Women in Aviation, more than 4,000 pilots walked the floor but only about 15% actually walked away with any real advantage. Why? Most showed up unprepared. Wrinkled shirts. Generic questions. No follow-up. They treated a career fair like a casual networking event instead of what it actually is: An 8-hour job interview. Here’s the good news: This is YOUR competitive advantage. While 95% of pilots wing it, you’re about to learn an exact system that puts you in the top 5%. This isn’t theory. This is the playbook. Let’s get into it. THE HARSH REALITY: WHY MOST PILOTS FAIL AT CONFERENCES Here’s what I see at EVERY single conference: ❌ Pilot #1: Approaches booth in jeans and polo. “Hey, what are your minimums?” (I literally have this on our website. Next.) ❌ Pilot #2: Sharp suit, but rambles for 15 minutes while 10 pilots wait behind him. (Monopolizing booth = noted as “lacks awareness”) ❌ Pilot #3: Great conversation, exchanges cards, promises to follow up… then I never hear from them again. (80% of pilots do this.) ❌ Pilot #4: Asks, “So uh, like, what kind of planes do you guys fly?” (They showed up knowing NOTHING about our airline.) Meanwhile, Pilot #5 walks up: ✓ Sharp suit, confident posture✓ “Good morning, I’m Sarah Martinez, ATP with 3,200 hours, currently flying CRJ-900 for SkyWest. I’m very interested in opportunities with United.”✓ Asks: “I noticed your recent 787 order for the Denver hub. How will that affect crew base expansion over the next 18 months?”✓ Hands me a professional resume and business card✓ Emails me within 24 hours with a personalized follow-up Guess who gets flagged as “RECOMMEND PHONE INTERVIEW” in our notes? The difference isn’t flight time. It’s preparation.

If you’re not following Delta Air Lines Pilot Recruiting on Facebook, you might be missing out! Today, they announced a new way to sign up for the Meet & Greet slots available at the PAPA Conference. If Delta is on your dream-job list, make sure you’re following their page and staying up to date. https://www.facebook.com/share/1AzbjTdxMk/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Hi everyone! ✈️ The Southwest pilot application window opens again on Thursday, April 9th! Even if you already have an application on file, submit a fresh one during this window. Keeping your application updated is key. If you’re one of our clients, don’t forget to send screenshots of your application in your coaching text thread before you hit submit so we can take a final look. Let’s make sure everything is dialed in. Best of luck—you’ve got this! 💪

Interesting datapoint: 23% of Part 61 Flight Schools are currently hiring CFIs or have open reqs. I'm analyzing over 1,300 schools in the US and here's what I've found so far: Most companies don't have a dedicated career page: Only about 30% have an actual page dedicated to accepting resumes or point applicants to a clear location to submit a resume. The most common course of action for an applicant is to send an email. Most companies that do have open reqs for CFIs don't list a minimum hour requirement. I found this to be interesting. Of those that do list minimums, it is more common for them to list a required "dual given" set of hours (200 hours and 400 hours seem to be pretty common) rather than a total time requirement. Many companies have added a desire for CFIIs as a requirement. I'm not sure if this is a new requirement but it seems to be pretty common lately, possibly as a way to filter out applicants or maybe to provide their operation with the most flexibility. My assumption is flight schools recognize that people learning to fly now are more career-focused rather than serving students who are just learning to fly for fun. I strongly recommend reading the instructions on career pages when they are available. Many companies have explicit instructions (download this form, send to this email, include XYZ information, etc) as a way of weeding out the email blasts that they likely get. So be sure to read the instructions if they are available. In some cases, a few companies say "don't email us, just call or visit our office" ... this is rare, but it is a good reminder to read the instructions they provide to make it through their filter. For international pilots (particularly Indian and Latin American CFIs), there are many flight schools in Florida that cater to international training. Your language skills and familiarity with the process will be beneficial to those. I've found the best way to spot these is: - they have little flags at the top of the website allowing you to switch the language of the website

Looking for recommendations: I’m enrolling back into college to finish my degree and need an online program that accepts a high amount of credit for military experience, aviation training, and prior learning. My GI Bill is exhausted, so I’m also searching for grants and scholarships. Any insight or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!