How do you casually mention that you own an airplane without coming off like a ****?

MarkH said:
The "you quit school because you are a quitter" is not an uncommon attitude, I faced it a lot after dropping out of college. Did I quit college because I am a quitter?
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I believe I may not have stated it clearly or you have misunderstood my point. People don't lose because they fail, they lose when they quit. Many of the kids in that time were more into parties and making money in ways that are not considered legal but they dropped out of school to pursue a life of luxury without the toil required to earn it.

But I also learned that there were some that had no choice, like a young man that quit school to support his mom and siblings after dad had to leave for trying to cave in the side of momma's head.

I learned a lot of life lessons along the way and one of them was to not be so judgmental about such things. What I referred to was many, many, years ago ...
 
MarkH said:
Personally, I think if someone has any education beyond a GED, then the GED is not something that should be judged on.
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If someone has any education beyond high school or equivalent, why would they put their high school education on their resume?
 
Jim K said:
Every time I've told someone we own an airplane, we get the same reaction as if I told them we own a 100' yacht.
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I think most people are picturing a Gulfstream or Learjet

You'll see that too sometimes with people who say they own boats, they're picturing some big yacht when in reality it could be a 25-ft sailboat they bought on Craigslist for $5K

I no longer bring up planes or aviation in polite company unless the conversation definitely requires it haha. It's kind of enigmatic to a lot of people, they assume you fly for an airline and the notion of flying just for fun is either unfathomable or some activity reserved for the ultra ric

It's not bad though, it can be a curious conversation item. My career is boring and I have little interest in talking about it or sports so if I get to talk about aviation in a non-douche way I capitalize on the opportunity
 
Every time I see this thread, I think of Dos Gringos and their #1 hit “I’m a Pilot”, off 2003’s Live at the Sand Trap album.

It’s not safe for work. Or kids. Or pretty much anything else, but it’s one way to get over the awkwardness of the owning a plane.
 
Tantalum said:
I think most people are picturing a Gulfstream or Learjet

You'll see that too sometimes with people who say they own boats, they're picturing some big yacht when in reality it could be a 25-ft sailboat they bought on Craigslist for $5K

I no longer bring up planes or aviation in polite company unless the conversation definitely requires it haha. It's kind of enigmatic to a lot of people, they assume you fly for an airline and the notion of flying just for fun is either unfathomable or some activity reserved for the ultra ric

It's not bad though, it can be a curious conversation item. My career is boring and I have little interest in talking about it or sports so if I get to talk about aviation in a non-douche way I capitalize on the opportunity
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Y'all are putting off some vibes if people assume you own a Gulfstream. If I tell people I own an airplane, they consider it an insult to airplanes.
 
Right after I got my license, I took a friend from work and his wife from Denver to Sante Fe. We had lunch and wandered around for a bit (after ski season, things were really slow). Went into a gallery, the owner came over, Ken (from work) started chatting. Obvious conversaton - where you from, etc. Ken said we just flew down from Denver, owner immediately thinks he's got a big sale in the bag. Ken's wife and I were doing everything we could to keep from laughing, and got Ken out of there as fast as we could.

On the ramp at Sante Fe were a number of jets. And my little cherokee.
 
Tom Wells said:
I usually just say "I have a plane... but it was built back when Nixon was in office and it costs less than your BMW."
followed by "also, it's got this wing spar AD issue that makes pilots think the wings are going to pop off at any moment"

That removes any hint of bragging :)
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This is fantastic!
 
MauleSkinner said:
I’m with @Half Fast , but I inherited my lack of tact from my dad and my maternal grandfather (my mom says these things have been known to skip a generation on the mother’s side.) I don’t make immediate comparisons or excuses, I just wait until the conversation turns to what they do for fun, and say, “I wish I could afford to do stuff like that.” :D

Being from Minnesota, I’ve had a lot of friends who fish. The few that I told how much I spent on my airplane annually admitted that it was less than they spend on their fishing boats.
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I get grief from co-workers about flying. I also being from MN, MANY of them have stupid expensive shiny fishing boats and spend a ton of money to take them to Canada.
 
Jim K said:
I used the phrase "I'm a pilot" in an email, and I feel kind of weird about it. Actually more about the impression I feel like it gives off.

My wife is having a health issue requiring surgery, and we're using a third party to help find a suitable provider. Knowing that she is in pain, this person was concerned about options further from home. I couldn't come up with any other way to express that we can go a couple hundred miles, provided there is a GA airport nearby.

Every time I've told someone we own an airplane, we get the same reaction as if I told them we own a 100' yacht. I'm not going to claim we're poor, but I'd say we're solidly middle class and have made some sacrifices and some good decisions. You all know that airplanes are not cheap, but they're also not unobtainable.

Anyway. Feeling a little weird about it.
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I think we all get this Jim. I'm in the same boat of making those sacrifices and good financial planning as a family. All the jokes and sarcasm aside, I hope things are ok and things go well for the wife with surgery!
 
Daleandee said:
I once mentioned in a management meeting that I wanted to see a graduation diploma on a resume rather than a G.E.D. certificate.

I understand that some people get into situations that may require them to go that route but quitting school after 10 or 11 years without a just cause seems like an early indicator that needs more clarification, but asking the applicant about that means that HR would have had a stroke ... :eek:
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If there were no compensating assets for the GED in the resume/CV, the way to handle HR in a situation like this, is to drop the resume into the circular file and move on. In a previous life, I hired about 2 dozen people over my career, read hundreds of resumes, interviewed over a 100 (in and out of my department), fired 2, and laid-off most of my team when the company was bought out--heartbreaking.

For a few naive years, early in my career, I believed HR was there for the employees. Although I loved our HR director, I came to understand HR's primary mission was to protect the company. Which is okay, as long as everyone recognizes that fact. The way to protect the employees from the company is to have specific, well-documented HR processes.

After cutting my very first employee (inherited) a lot of slack (compensated time off beyond sick leave and vacation plus adjusted hours) so she could deal with a psychotic kid, a failing marriage, and numerous residential relocations, she quit, then filed an L&I complaint to the effect I had forced her out in favor of another employee. I was shocked and quite hurt by her actions. With HR's help, we did the entire process, depositions, interviews, and arbitration. HR was instrumental in helping me through the unfamiliar process. We prevailed.
 
Domenick said:
… HR's primary mission was to protect the company...
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This. HR also has to understand it is part of the business, too. An HR org that is not enabling business outcomes has no value.
 
murphey said:
Dad used to say if you can sell womens shoes, you can sell anything!
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I should of tried to sell freezers to Eskimos while I was in Alaska...:lol::lol:

And yes, trying to get shoes for my wife is a real pain...
 
Domenick said:
For a few naive years, early in my career, I believed HR was there for the employees. Although I loved our HR director, I came to understand HR's primary mission was to protect the company. Which is okay, as long as everyone recognizes that fact. The way to protect the employees from the company is to have specific, well-documented HR processes.
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Thanks for the reassurance that I wasn't the only one a little naïve in the beginning of my business life ... :)
 
Daleandee said:
I once mentioned in a management meeting that I wanted to see a graduation diploma on a resume rather than a G.E.D. certificate.

I understand that some people get into situations that may require them to go that route but quitting school after 10 or 11 years without a just cause seems like an early indicator that needs more clarification, but asking the applicant about that means that HR would have had a stroke ... :eek:
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Actually I would think the other way. Anybody can sleep walk through high school today. But a GED requires effort and commitment to finish a project. It requires acceptance an error was made. And that an effort was needed to correct it. I greatly admire somebody who can pick themselves up and put themselves on a new path.
 
Country Flier said:
I don’t either. If you tell them:

— Every time a plane crashes, anywhere in the country, you’ll get people saying, “I thought it was you.”

— Every time a plane flies low over the neighborhood, you’ll get people saying, “I thought it was you.”

— Every time some schmuck violates a TFR…ah, you get the picture.
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— Every time the local ramp rat walks into the FBO at 5 AM, steals a King Air, threatens to crash it into Walmart, and makes it on national news...
 
Domenick said:
I came to understand HR's primary mission was to protect the company.
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A good HR team, which I've been fortunate to work with several, protects both sides. They protect the company from employees like the one you describe. And they protect employees from bad bosses. They also make sure that employees know about and take advantage of benefits that are available, which is something I've been going through lately with an employee fighting cancer. Our HR group made sure that the sick employee knew about both company defined benefits and legal protections that he had at his disposal.

Any HR team that only does one of those things is not a good HR team.
 
flyingron said:
I've had a few people come in for interviews with notations they were pilot on their resumes.
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I've been on hiring panels where every applicant noted that they were a pilot, along with times, types, and ratings. :cool:

Nauga,
who makes the houses get bigger and smaller
 
I put down that I was a pilot and also a firefighter/paramedic. It at least shows you're somewhat well rounded.

My old boss hated that I was a pilot. He was always afraid I was going to kill myself and deprive the company of my services. A later manager started grilling me about small jets after 9/11 thinking they might be a good idea.
Of course, once Textron bought us, GA was right out. Small airplanes are dangerous. We should know. We make them, their engines, and propellers.
 
I always put "private pilot and antique (later experimental) aircraft owner" on my resume as technical hobbies are relevant for an engineer, mentioned R/C modeling, too.

In an engineering office, flying isn't as unusual; several other engineers I work with are either pilots (not necessarily active) or had at least had some flying lessons.
 
Morgan3820 said:
Actually I would think the other way. Anybody can sleep walk through high school today. But a GED requires effort and commitment to finish a project. It requires acceptance an error was made. And that an effort was needed to correct it. I greatly admire somebody who can pick themselves up and put themselves on a new path.
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Sure enough. Read what I wrote and interpret it correctly - "but quitting school after 10 or 11 years without a just cause seems like an early indicator that needs more clarification."

I've seen people that went to college, got a degree, and then took a minimum wage job where the degree wasn't even applicable. Things like that and quitting school after 11 years are things that need more clarification. But as I noted the HR department don't like managers when they attempt to find out the logic a person uses for making what appear to be unwise choices.

We were even instructed to stop applicants that shared too much information. If I'm hiring a person that will be solely responsible for millions of dollars worth of someone else's stuff you can best believe I'd like to know a bit about what motivates them ...
 
re resumes, I haven't listed personal interests or hobbies on a resume in 20+ years. As I see it, it's a business document. There is a chance that anything I list could be seen as a negative by HR or someone on a review panel, and I don't see much chance that anything I add is going to put me on a list that I wouldn't get on otherwise. If something comes up during discussion at an interview, that's a different thing.
 
This ^^^^^

However, if someone I am interviewing has put something on their resume that clicks, I may bring it up. Normally earlier in the interview, as talking about something they enjoy relaxes them a bit.
 
Daleandee said:
…We were even instructed to stop applicants that shared too much information ...
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You either competed for federal and/or contracts in a handful of specific states or your HR department gave you bad advice.

Which is not unusual, really. Many in HR see themselves as crusaders, which is unfortunate. The role of HR is to ensure the company compliantly and efficiently manages people processes.
 
TCABM said:
in a handful of specific states
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Not long ago, I was sitting in Florida doing a Zoom interview of a person in California for a job in Texas. Other interviewers on the call were in a couple of other states.

Corporations and HR departments are compelled to adopt very conservative overarching policies.
 
flyingron said:
...My old boss hated that I was a pilot. He was always afraid I was going to kill myself and deprive the company of my services. ...
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The company where I worked for 23 years had an early policy of not allowing certain key personnel to fly together. Our travel agent had the list and pairings.

Daleandee said:
...We were even instructed to stop applicants that shared too much information. If I'm hiring a person that will be solely responsible for millions of dollars worth of someone else's stuff you can best believe I'd like to know a bit about what motivates them ...
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In the interviews I've done we had a number of applicants who talked themselves out of a job. In an interview with me and my two directors, during a long pregnant pause in the proceedings, the guy suddenly looked at the female director and blurted, "I can work with women," and glancing at the male director, he dug deeper, "... and young people too."

BTW, can we still say, "pregnant pause?"

Even better:
I often got 100 resumes for an open position and sorted them into 3 piles, interview, maybe interview, and never-ever interview. I was interviewing one of my top candidates from the interview pile. After the interview me and my director were in agreement. He was a great guy with the right experience and good intangibles. During the interview, he had mentioned his good friend with whom he currently worked had also applied for the position. I went back to my office and rummaged through the stacks looking for a resume with the same employment reference. It was in the maybe pile. Side by side, the two friends' resumes were nearly identical, and I couldn't ethically justify interviewing one of these guys and not the other. Yep, the friend got the job and worked for me for 21 years.

I have one more heartbreaking interview story but will save it.
 
Half Fast said:
Not long ago, I was sitting in Florida doing a Zoom interview of a person in California for a job in Texas. Other interviewers on the call were in a couple of other states.

Corporations and HR departments are compelled to adopt very conservative overarching policies.
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Yeah, California has it’s own set of rules in play, and the company has to comply with all the rules and laws in each state it is licensed to operate in for applicants and employees based in that state. One of the two HR certifying bodies has a specific credential for California HR practices.

Historically, it was fed/49 states and then there was CA. Today, there’s quite a few states with their own takes on compensation transparency and they don’t always align.

Since my company operate in all those states, we comply with the most onerous rule for comp transparency and everyone else gets their rules complied with plus ‘bonus’ transparency…makes it easy for the company and prevents labor law violations.

I have a peer in a company that operates solely in Tx and he shakes his head at the complexity our HR programs.
 
TCABM said:
You either competed for federal and/or contracts in a handful of specific states or your HR department gave you bad advice.
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Global corporation.

As Domenick notes above, some folks just talk too much ...

 
Daleandee said:
We were even instructed to stop applicants that shared too much information.
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Sometimes they really do share too much.

I was interviewing to fill a position years ago, and as usual I asked candidates why they wanted this job and why they wanted to come to work for us. One gentleman began a long answer in which the gist was, "My wife has cancer and I need medical coverage until she qualifies for Medicare." Hands over my ears, "La la la la....." I really don't need to hear that, and can't consider it in the hiring decision anyway. Ultimately it didn't matter as he was far from the best candidate anyway, but I felt quite bad for him.


Domenick said:
I often got 100 resumes for an open position and sorted them into 3 piles, interview, maybe interview, and never-ever interview.
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Similar here. If I was lucky, I'd have 30 minutes to review a stack of 50 resumes. I'd make a quick pass through the stack, giving each resume maybe 20 seconds or so. If it didn't hook me in that quick glance, it went into the "No" pile. Others went into "Interview" and "Backup" piles. The "Interview" stack got read in detail and if I didn't have enough candidates I'd go to the "Backup" pile.

I emphasized to folks all the time to keep their resumes brief and make sure the most important qualifications "pop" so that the eye is drawn to them immediately. If the resume doesn't get past the hiring manager's first glance, it will never be read in detail.
 
Had an opening in my work area. Two brothers applied, submitting their resumes. One brother had left "show changes" turned on which made it obvious he used his brother's resume as a template.

Nothing was false, they'd just gone to the same school, etc. He did add additional information that showed he was closer to what we wanted. Ended up hiring him.

Ron Wanttaja
 
I work with as many pilots and mechanics as I did when I was in industry as an Aerospace engineer….there were very few then and now.
 
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Easy in the USAF when I was there. Either they had wings or not. Closer look revealed what type. Of course rank insignia was of more significance.

Cheers
 
Half Fast said:
Sometimes they really do share too much.

I was interviewing to fill a position years ago, and as usual I asked candidates why they wanted this job and why they wanted to come to work for us. One gentleman began a long answer in which the gist was, "My wife has cancer and I need medical coverage until she qualifies for Medicare." Hands over my ears, "La la la la....." I really don't need to hear that, and can't consider it in the hiring decision anyway. Ultimately it didn't matter as he was far from the best candidate anyway, but I felt quite bad for him.




Similar here. If I was lucky, I'd have 30 minutes to review a stack of 50 resumes. I'd make a quick pass through the stack, giving each resume maybe 20 seconds or so. If it didn't hook me in that quick glance, it went into the "No" pile. Others went into "Interview" and "Backup" piles. The "Interview" stack got read in detail and if I didn't have enough candidates I'd go to the "Backup" pile.

I emphasized to folks all the time to keep their resumes brief and make sure the most important qualifications "pop" so that the eye is drawn to them immediately. If the resume doesn't get past the hiring manager's first glance, it will never be read in detail.
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These days, if it doesn’t pass the automated resume software, no human will ever see it.
 
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