Q&A with Lori Clark: Resignations

Hi Lori,


One of [my former employers] Chief Pilots suggested I contact you. I recently busted my IOE line check for a bad visual approach which led to my forced resignation with Trans States Airlines. I did fairly well in training, accumulating a 96% average in Ground School .

I had a few extra sims, but passed my oral and check ride on the first attempt. During IOE I had some trouble with Visuals, but had improved to the point where my IOE captain signed me off for the line check. During the line check, of course I got a visual, and ended up coming in high which resulted in a busted line check and subsequently the company asked me to resign. I have interviewed with other regionals since then, but unfortunately this scar has prevented me from being hired. I am back in the flight instructing world for now as a means to stay current, but am wondering if this bust will prevent me from ever being hired again with another regional. My TT is about 920 with approx 150 Multi. Any advise you could share would be much appreciated.

Thank You.

Steve

Steve,


I'm sorry to hear that you've experienced this speed bump in your career. I am glad that you jumped back into instructing however. Stay in the game. You aren't the first to fail training, nor will you be the last. Many folks have failed 121 training and continued on to have very successful flying careers. Having a failure in your background may not have been the only thing that prevented you from being hired elsewhere. Quite often it isn't the failure itself that gets someone the no-thanks, but instead how they discuss it. How you present what happened is far more important than the failure itself.

When approaching the subject with an interviewer you need to stick to only the facts and leave all emotion out of the story, no matter if you think it's relevant or not. Take responsibility and accountability for what happened - even if you don't believe that to be true. Anything short of this being YOUR failure will be perceived by the interviewer as whining, BS, "it's not your fault" or a general feeling that you think you're better than everyone else. None of which will result in a positive interview. Remember, were talking about perceptions.

I think the hardest thing about explaining incidents is to explain just the facts and accept complete ownership. But it's important for you to remember that the interviewer doesn't know you or the other parties involved and thus will not be bias towards you while listening. In fact, quite the opposite, they will listen for who you blame in the situation. In addition to taking ownership of the situation it is imperative that you *shine* in the technical portion of the interview. And no, I don't think this will prevent you from being hired by a regional in the future. The best thing you can do now is what you have been doing...keep pushing forward. The time that passes and the more hours you accumulate the smaller and smaller this incident will become.

I hope this helps.

Lori Clark, PHR