Have you ever been asked your AvCanada @ an Interview?

[Dust Devil]

Character and attitude are by far the #1 hiring attribute. Everything else can be taught. Like it or not but google and facebook and any other means will always be used for hiring potential employees and nothing can be done to change that.

Prove an employer googled your name or prove he saw a pic of you on facebook.

[Doc]

Must wonder how "analbumcover" would deal with that question. LOL

[ywgflyboy]

Must wonder how "analbumcover" would deal with that question. LOL

[Meatservo]

My nickname, since you ask, comes from an old joke favoured by engineers. It goes something like this:

A pilot entered an autopilot snag in the journey log. After checking out the autopilot, the engineer couldn't find anything wrong with it. Since the first pilot had gone home, he asked another one to do a test flight with him. The autopilot functioned perfectly, so he entered "Changed meat servo. Flight tested serviceable."

Get it? It's funny, because a servo is a device that moves the flight controls, sort of like a pilot does, and pilots are made out of flesh, or "meat".

[Braun]

While we are on the subject we should make a list of people we can pretend to be in interviews and state which member is best for each situation. That way we can cover all our bases for ATC: I vote JERRICHO!

[Meatservo]

This has got to be a joke. You win. You're funnier than me. Happy New year.

[Cat Driver]

I often wonder how long my career in aviation would have lasted had I kept up my life style of heavy drinking and living my off work time with people who had the same problem?

For sure I can remember not getting hired on several occasions because of having a reputation as a heavy drinker, one employer told me straight out that was why he would not hire me.

There is no escaping the fact that your off work life style will affect your career.

[AuxBatOn]

Can I maker reference to some popular examples of that thinking!!!!

- Good Old Michael Jackson
- Tiger Woods
- Graham James
- That BC police officer who got caught driving with twice the legal limit of alcohol in her blood should get that promotion; after all she was off duty.

These examples are not at all applicable to a pilot. First, some of these offences are criminal. There is no doubt a criminal record will prevent you from getting jobs.

Second, those that did not commit criminal offences are high profile people. The public isn't interested that First Officer So and So from Mom and pop airways cheated on his wife.

As long as what you do in your spare time does not impact your on the job performance (ie: you don't show up late/drunk for work), I see no reason why you should be denied a job on the basis that you post pictures on facebook of yourself having a good time.

[Wilbur]

Everyone is free to think as they wish regarding on and off the job conduct, including prospective employers. Plenty of them care what sort of person you are both on and off the job, and some only about on the job time. If you behave in ways off the job that a prospective employer takes issue with, you just closed a door on yourself. If you're OK with that, carry on. If you're not OK with that, then you have to change; not the prospective employer.

He with the gold makes the rules and, if you're looking for work, the prospective employer has the gold unless you happen to be in a field with a significant labour shortage or you posses some highly specialized skills that employers can't get anywhere else.

With my employer, we take a very hard look at people's behaviour and lifestyle off the job as it tells us plenty about the person and their character. Leopards don't change their spots, and behaviour off the job almost always carries over into the workplace to some degree.

[AuxBatOn]

With my employer, we take a very hard look at people's behaviour and lifestyle off the job as it tells us plenty about the person and their character. Leopards don't change their spots, and behaviour off the job almost always carries over into the workplace.

So, someone that gets wasted on his time off necessarily comes to work hammered?

[ditar]

Even wasted me through five are endowed with skills better by an order of magnitude over 6 - infinity.

EditedBrush up on your PDM training. The hazards of this sort of attitude are covered in there somewhere.

EditedEven if what I did wasn't nice, it seems the majority of people here agree that promoting an image of yourself as someone with no self control, whether that be accurate or not, is not beneficial to your career.

EditedI'm one of those who, unfortunately, is on call to wage war out there, as you say. When someone who has had way too much fun tonight slips on the sidewalk outside of the bar and cracks their head open, I'll be helping to save them 10 minutes after my phone rings.

While on the topic of fun, everyone has their own idea of what that is, none of which are necessarily right or wrong. If yours is the activities you've described, that's great. Have at it. I however am not jealous when I see photos of these sorts of things, because they no longer appeal to me. My idea of fun is different. On my weeks off I go mountain climbing or kayaking or skiing or I travel the world. In my personal experience, I find that these sort of experiences, particularly when shared with others, enrich me far more than any night out getting drunk ever has, and trust me, I've done my fair share of that in the past as well.

Happy New Year to everyone.

[Wilbur]

Sometimes they do show up still intoxicated, sometimes they come in hung-over, and sometimes they book off sick. Not too many employers are going to care if someone gets liquored up occasionally and acts a little stupid. But if someone makes a regular habit of doing it they will always be a source of headaches for management. Showing up looking like they just got shot out of a cannon, smelling of stale booze, making mistakes, not doing their share of work, booking off sick, etc. Potential employees who I know regularly drink and party excessivley simply aren't worth taking a chance on.

I've also found that prudes can be just as much of a liablility, just for different reasons.

When hiring people and looking at their personal lifestyles, my motto is everything legal within moderation, including moderation. I would bet that is a standard practiced by most employers.

[scopiton]

When hiring people and looking at their personal lifestyles, my motto is everything legal within moderation, including moderation.

I like that, it sounds very balanced.

[BoostedNihilist]

lol, I do aviation for fun, therefore, pdm has no place in my life outside the cockpit. People don't give a sh!t in the real world about 'this sort of attitude' when they're stranded and the drunk guy helps them out. In fact, this is usually met with a tip of beer. The fact that you disapprove of this 'attitude' means little to the rest of the world.

No need to respond to me with any more insults. You're not making your case with them.

Umm, I have no case to make, you made it for me.. You rats are all the same, with your holier than thou attitude and your perceived moral superiority.. perhaps you should come down out of your ivory tower and join us in reality. I've said it before and I've said it again.. on paper you are probably right.. in reality, you're a edited.. like the neighbor who makes you move a shared fence over 1 inch because there is more fence on his side of the property than yours.. Edited.

I'm always interested in constructive discussions, but judging by what you've said to date, you have very little constructive to say. Your overly defensive posture, and your resorting to petty name calling indicates that you are fighting a losing battle. Even if what I did wasn't nice, it seems the majority of people here agree that promoting an image of yourself as someone with no self control, whether that be accurate or not, is not beneficial to your career.

That's where you and I differ.. I don't see this as a battle to be fought.. you want some constructive criticism.. well, if you don't want to come off as a !!.. don't act like one.. there is your constructive criticism... all the rest is opinion. You are free to make your character judgments as you see fit and I am free to reciprocate..

so far as beneficial to my carreer.. I've said this before too, My reputation as an jackass, and an asset preceeds me... I have not applied for a single job I have not obtained.. I have had extraneous job offers on multiple occasions because I am the best at what I do in my area.. my guys, 2 - 4 are right up there with me and guess what, when we are drunk we are still the best by an order of magnitude.. So, where you might agree with yourself, my experience within society shows me that you are wrong.

One more point. I have turned jobs down because I thought the boss was a stuffed shirt with an attitude like yours.. number 6 went to work for him and he was out of business in 6 months.. one thing they shared.. they were both squares.. they never left the house and as such could never build the network of customers you can when you are social.. I mean, with your job (if I even believe what you say) the customers are provided for you by nature.. I have to work and uphold an image to retain my customers and you know what.. they don't care if I have pictures of myself drunk making an jackass out of myself on facebook.. they simply want the job done by the best.

I get it.. straightedge folks like yourself get all worked up because you believe you need to sacrifice socialization in order to exceed in your field.. It's really gotta burn you when you see those who don't need to make that same sacrifice succeed.. I get the jealousy angle and it is pathetic.

Edited

anyways, happy new years to you too.. despite the fact I don't really respect you a whole lot I hope you didn't have a busy night.

[ditar]

B.N., it seems we share many of the same interests, so our ideas of fun aren't so different after all. We may as well just agree to disagree on the rest and leave it at that. If you're interested, I'll buy you a beer next time I'm in your neck of the woods, and we can have a few laughs over how silly this whole discussion became. Otherwise, best wishes for 2010.

[AuxBatOn]

Ya wanna bet. A Joe nobody pilot can go from never in the news, too front page news in the blink of an eye... Either a hero or Zero in that same blink ---> Put a plane down in the Hudson with no loss of life and your famous in a good way, over fly your destination by and hour or so and you just made yourself that big fat Zero.
Try to board your plane in London while drunk and your now a front page Zero... Sadly enough there is way more Zeros that make the front page and many heroic acts of everyday life get quickly over looked by a media that desperately searches for dirt.

This is not your personnal life. This is your professional life. People don't care about your personnal life, as long as it doesn't affect your professional life.

So, unless you cheat on your wife while you're flying for a dime, you should be safe.

[Meatservo]

I used to work for a large railway company before I was a pilot. This company had in its policy a section dealing with "conduct unbecoming of a ***R employee". One of the deals was you could be fired for being implicated in illegal activities on or OFF duty. In some cases, if the illegal activity was something like spousal abuse or related to alchoholism or drug dependency, the company would provide counseling. If the employee refused treatment it would be grounds for dismissal. If the illegal activity was not of the kind that was covered by this policy they would just fire you. As far as I know this is all legal. Of course it doesn't have to do with being a buffoon on facebook, but still interesting.

[Widow]

This thread has been edited for profanity, personal attacks, etc. A user has been warned. Please try to be civil.

[North Shore]

Well, count me in the libertarian camp of 'as long as it isn't harming someone else, then what I do on my time off is no-one's business - as long as I come to work clean, sober, and able to conduct my duties in a professional manner.' And to say otherwise is pure bunk. A recent example: a well-known investment advisor and philanthropist, who gave $6 million to lymphoma research, sat on the boards of several organisations, and was happily married to his spouse of 50 years was recently sent to jail for the largest Ponzi scheme ever. (Bernie Madoff) I'm sure that, prior to the unravelling of his scheme, he looked really good on paper, and in a background check, to any potential employer.
That being said, while I have a facebook account, the most you'll see on there are my kids and recreational pursuits, so nothing to be ashamed of there. I'm also not about to post any pictures of me (not that there are any!) in compromising positions with my wife, neighbour, neighbour's pet goat, or combination of all 3, on the internet for all to see. If you chose to do so, then perhaps you should take your lumps like a man...OTOH, pointing out someone's 'fun' activities when they are peripherally connected to you seems a little gratuitous. My brother-in-law lives in Tokyo - not a blade of grass or mountain to be seen for miles - so his relaxation with his work buddies and friends revolves around restaurants and alcohol. IF he lived in Whistler, for example, I'd be pretty upset if his FB pictures showed anything other than the outdoors.. I can hear my kindergarten teacher: "If you can't say anything nice, then don't say anything at all.."

[BoostedNihilist]

If you want to play the moral superiority card then you should hold yourself to the same standard.

A big +1. A friend of a friend of mine on Facebook regularly uploads photos of him and his buddies engaged in all sorts of drunken debauchery. When this guy's resume came across our chief pilot's desk I was asked about it, and pulled up some of those photos for his perusal. The prospective candidate didn't get the job.

This, though perhaps justifiable, is not honorable. It is the act of a coward to take such action and not back it up with a personal face to face.. If you are going to do this to a guy, be a man and tell him to his face once you have done it. hiding behind the anonymity of human resources is weak and pathetic.

[The Old Fogducker]

BN:

"He" didn't do it to a guy ... the guy did it to himself, and his behaviour caught up with him.

By your code of manly conduct, the fellow who "turned him in" should have been challenged to a joust out behind the hangar to justify his behaviour, rather than the bozo ... I don't get it, but hey ... that's just me.

I'd be thankful the employee brought the matter to my attention ... given two applicants of generally equal qualifications and experience, one is a buffoon on his time off, the other a far lesser buffoon, there would be no contest as to who I would prefer to have on staff.

OFD

[supercub7]

If you want to play the moral superiority card then you should hold yourself to the same standard.

A big +1. A friend of a friend of mine on Facebook regularly uploads photos of him and his buddies engaged in all sorts of drunken debauchery. When this guy's resume came across our chief pilot's desk I was asked about it, and pulled up some of those photos for his perusal. The prospective candidate didn't get the job.

This, though perhaps justifiable, is not honorable. It is the act of a coward to take such action and not back it up with a personal face to face.. If you are going to do this to a guy, be a man and tell him to his face once you have done it. hiding behind the anonymity of human resources is weak and pathetic.

How would that make him a coward? If nimrod wants to post himself acting stupid on facebook then that is his problem and he he will have to have the consequences ex. not being hired.

[Cat Driver]

Lets take this a step further and play the role of employer.

You see videos of a pilot who you are thinking of hiring drunk and acting like a juvenile with a short circuit in his / her brain who after sobering up still thinks this behavior is funny enough to put on a world wide public forum such as face book.

You would have to gamble that this individual has a dual personality allowing him/her to put on a uniform and magically turn into Captain Wise someone you can count on to be the consummate professional with reliable decision making habits.

These videos are nothing more than Captain Wise relaxing and having fun free from the shackles of responsibility liberally lubricated by escape juice.

Are employers gamblers?

[BoostedNihilist]

You guys can use false analogies and hypotheticals to justify your positions all you want.. I don't care..

I was brought up to know that you don't talk about people behind their backs, and if you do, you do not say anything you would not say to their face. I would rather have a weekend buffoon in my employ than a sackless weasle.

[The Old Fogducker]

Well, I guess you can go out and hire a few then BN and run an organization with them ... more power to you.

All part of the process of maturing.