At BizJetJobs.com, we get this question from job-seeking corporate pilots quite often:
"How do I explain gaps on my resume?"
Our answer: "Be honest. Be prepared. Stay positive."
Whether you took six months off to travel Europe, stopped working when a child was born, or needed to leave your job in corporate aviation to care for an ailing relative, there’s always a way to be both honest and positive. You can even spin these gaps into areas of interest and strength that make you more than the typical corporate pilot.
Think about how taking courses, freelancing, traveling, even caring for a child can make you a better corporate pilot or flight attendant. Even if you had to exit the workforce for personal reasons, even if you were laid off or fired, you can still come out with the job. Here's how.
How to Be Honest
This is our #1 tip for corporate pilots. Lying about a resume gap is a really, really bad idea. Employers can easily verify your career history, and lying about it can be grounds for dismissal as a corporate pilot. Don’t fake dates or anything else. Even if you were fired, lost your medical, had an incident or an accident, you need to be honest. Being honest about your situation gives the employer a sense of your integrity and confidence, two characteristics every employer is looking for.
How to Prepare
Interviewers will always want to know why there is a gap in your job history and what, if anything, you did during that time. When applying for a job, it's best to address the gap in your corporate pilot job history right away in your cover letter. Then, briefly explain why. Explaining it your way puts you in the drivers' seat, rather than leaving it up to the hiring manager's imagination (which almost always goes to the worst-case scenario).
How to Stay Positive
Find the hidden gem in your corporate pilot resume gap. Whether it’s a stretch of freelancing experience, a handful of new skills you picked up or insight into what you’re really passionate about, the types of people we want to hang around always frame even trying circumstances as periods of personal and professional growth. So before you go to the corporate pilot interview, think through a few things you may have gained from your time away.
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