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Navigating the Meet and Great
So there you are invited to interview, rush, or visit a unit – a great opportunity! Let’s talk about your act at the bar.
First off, know that the pilots are in fact interested in meeting you. They want to work with fun people and it’s a big part of the subjective part of the hiring decision.
Cool, so how do you engage with those who are often a generation older while controlling some understandable nervousness.
Counter-intuitively, don’t talk about flying.
I know that’s weird, (and difficult for me on a good day – ask my wife) but there is an asymmetry of knowledge and the conversation can get really stilted. Instead try to move the conversation into hobbies and interests looking for something you share.
So there they are, two pilots each fighting their wristwatch while recounting ‘so there I was’. Just walk up to that conversation. Realize they have placed themselves in the bar to meet the candidates so they want to talk to you. Expect them to acknowledge you in a minute.
Introduce yourself, thank them and then ask them a question about them.
“Hey ya I’m Kyle, thanks for having me out, hey so how did y’all get here? Were you REGAF or a Guard baby?”
That may give me a sense of where they’ve been that I can connect with.
“Oh ya you started in Colorado – are you a skier or a boarder?”
Some other ones
“Do you surf? Longboard or shortboard?”
“Are you a Glock guy or a Barertta guy?”
“Either of you have a boat?”
“Where did you go to school?”
“Either of you car guys?”
“Either of you gym guys?”And so on….why??
Well, what I’m hoping is that I can find a similar interest with one of them that we can connect with. Nerd out on ski bindings or the best spot to fish or whatever. That way after the interview when the pilots conviene to talk about the candidates. Maybe that discussion goes:
“Ok Kyle, other than being slightly uglier than average what did we think?”
hopefully at that moment one of the folks goes “ya he’s cool he skis and likes craft beers”. That’s a +1 and often the final score is close enough that it matters.
Realize you won’t connect with everyone. That’s fine. If the convo is dead, thank them and walk away. As long as you were polite you probably still helped your case. Try to really connect with two or three that’s all you need.
Cheers!
Husky -
2 Replies
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Great examples. “We can teach you to fly. We can’t teach you to be someone we want to spend all day in an aircraft with”. 😆
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“Realize they have placed themselves in the bar to meet the candidates”
I’d say its 50/50 with the ones who’ve placed themselves in the bar to meet beers.
On a serious note, I do need to get better about approaching folks in the bars! It’s tough to look like a civilian idiot doing this. Met a few other folks who are current officers rushing and they sympathize with the situation but it’s just a bit of awkwardness we need to punch through to get a dream job!
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