How to Get a Job in the Aviation Industry

There are several strategies that you need to use, if you want to get a job in the aviation industry. First of all, you need to know where to search for aviation industry jobs. Secondly, you need to know how to apply for the aviation industry jobs in the right manner. And thirdly, you need to know how to go through the aviation industry recruitment process successfully. It is also a good idea to know how to network with the people who are already in the aviation industry, and how to enhance your employability within the industry. In this article, we will be showing you how to do all those things.

Where to search for aviation industry jobs

Many of the companies in the aviation industry tend to have portals where they post all their job vacancies. That, at the very least, is what the major airlines do. Other peripheral players in the aviation industry also tend to have such HR portals, where job vacancies are advertised.

Some companies in the aviation industry have pages, within their websites, where they advertise all their current job vacancies. Those are the ‘job openings’ or ‘vacancies’ or ‘careers’ pages, within the websites.

At another level, the aviation industry jobs are also often picked up by web scrapping tools (or manually) and posted on the major job listings websites.

So, clearly, there are 3 places where you can search for aviation industry jobs:

(1). Firstly, you often find that the aviation companies have ‘careers’ pages on their websites where job openings are advertised.

(2). Then, secondly, you find that some of the aviation companies have portals, where current job openings are advertised.

(3). And thirdly, you have the scenario where you may come across jobs from aviation industry in the job listings websites.

There is yet another option: where, from time to time, the aviation companies tend to advertise some of the jobs in the media. Therefore, while skimming through your local newspaper, you may occasionally come across an ad for an aviation job.

So those are the places where you should go looking for aviation industry jobs. It is worth mentioning that some of the aviation industry companies don’t always advertise their job openings directly. We have some that opt to contract hiring agencies, to do the recruitment on their behalf. So you may find that it is the hiring agency that has set out a job ad — but it is actually recruiting on behalf of an aviation company.

How to apply for jobs in the aviation industry

Nowadays, most of the aviation industry jobs are meant to be applied for online. Therefore, most of the online ads for the aviation industry jobs will tend to have links to the pages where the jobs can be applied for. Even where the jobs are listed on the companies’ websites, you still find that there are links to the webpages where the jobs can be applied for. Therefore applying for the jobs is likely to be just a matter of filling in online forms with the required information. In some cases, you may be required to attach some documents. There are even cases where you may be required to attach your photos(given the fact that some aviation jobs require physically attractive people).

Of course, there are some – increasingly rare – aviation industry companies that still require paper applications. If you encounter one such company, you shouldn’t view it as too much work to write/type an application, and attach copies of your resume, certificates, testimonials and perhaps your photo — and then post them to the company.

Also worth mentioning is the fact that some aviation companies do at times advertise their jobs on ‘walk-in’ basis. So this is where they tell people who are interested to present themselves for interviews on given dates, at given times and venues. If you encounter such, all you’d have to do is prepare, and then present yourself on the stated date, at the stated time and venue, for the ‘walk-in’ interview.

How to go through the aviation industry recruitment process successfully

The recruitment process (for the key positions) in the aviation industry tends to be protracted. You need to be ready to go through an aptitude test, a psychometric test, an oral interview and perhaps a medical test. The most important thing here is to refresh your mind with the stuff you are likely to be interviewed on. You also need to be relaxed throughout the recruitment process, and ensure that you are getting adequate sleep, that you are well fed and that you maintain a positive attitude throughout.

How to network with people who are already in the aviation industry

Networking with the people who are already working in the aviation industry can enhance your chances of getting a job there. So it is a good idea to network intensively, and extensively, with the folks who work in the aviation industry, if you want to get a job there.

The first step here is to figure out where you are likely to encounter the folks who work within the local aviation industry.

Then the next step is to find opportunities to interact with them casually.

Then, once you have a chance to interact with them casually, you can build relationships with them, which you can then (slowly) turn into mentorship opportunities.

The most important thing here is to be relaxed, and ensure that you don’t come across as an individual who is too opportunistic. In other words, the relationships you create with folks who are already in the aviation industry should be ordinary, pleasant relations. On the strength of such relations, the people you have networked with will be in a position to alert you whenever there are opportunities for work within the industry. And on the strength of such relations, the people you have networked with will be well-placed to tell you the secrets of the industry, and to tell you what you really need to do, if you want to get a job within the aviation industry.

How to enhance your employability within the aviation industry

There are two simple things that you need to do, to enhance your employability within the aviation industry.

Firstly, you need to undertake some research, to find out which skills are in demand within this particular industry. You also need to understand the profile of the individual whom the aviation industry desires as a worker.

Then the second step is to ensure that you equip yourself with those skills. This may mean enrolling for the relevant courses, in order to acquire those skills. It is also at this stage that you may need to do some self-improvement, in order to acquire the profile of the sort of individual that the aviation industry desires as a worker.  This will definitely enhance your chances of getting employed within the aviation industry.