OPSGROUP wants to help you find that new job.

Hi. Mark here. On Saturday morning, I posted a little note to our members in Slack, and this on LinkedIn:

I got a lot of messages. In starting to compile a list, it struck me that I hadn’t quite asked for the right thing.

I felt I wasn’t doing justice to telling each persons story.

What I’d said was, condense your CV/Resume into a little paragraph, and we’ll send that out to the group. But it felt a little flat.

And I think that’s because CV’s are a little flat. It’s just a snapshot of your story, but there are better ways to tell it. I want people to read your story, and think – yep, that person could be right for us. It’s hard to do that with a list of aircraft types and places you’ve worked and what certificates you have.

So if I’m really going to help, I have to look for a better way to tell your story.

When we hire at OPSGROUP, we don’t ask the standard HR questions. They don’t work for us. “Where do you see yourself five years from now?”: Kidding, right?

What we do, is try to get to know you a little – what lights you up, what do you love working on, what do you want to change in aviation, what adventures you’ve been on. We like those questions. They may be specific to our mission, but the concept is important: something about you stands out, and we want to find it.

So, if I’m going to send an email out to our group and tell them about you, how can I tell your story so that something stands out? How do we make it engaging, so that it’s actually fun to read, and people will actually read it – and in turn, give you a decent chance of someone contacting you with a role that might fit?

And so, I had a better idea (I think). How about we make each one into a mini-feature. Like you might read in a magazine. Short and sweet, but with a few good questions that bring out more about you than a CV can. Here’s what we have to get started – If you have a great question to add, comment below or send it to me and we’ll add it to the list (this is just a starter):

* What has been your biggest adventure?
* What book has had the biggest impact on you?
* What is your superhero skill?
* What would you love to do in aviation that you haven’t done yet?
* In the last five years, what new belief, behavior, or habit has most improved your life?
* What’s the most positive impact of 2020?
* What unusual hobby do you have?
* What advice would you give to your 20-year-old self?
* Is there something that really lights you up?
* What’s the best thing about working in aviation?

So here’s the plan. Send me your paragraph, but structure it like this:

1. Your name and your ‘resume snapshot’ – where you are based, your experience, etc.
2. Choose three questions from the list and answer them
3. Put down your contact details – email, LinkedIn profile, and if you like – social.

Here’s an example of what you might end up with:

So if you like, make your own paragraph, and then just email it to me. Whether you’re a member of the group or not doesn’t matter, we’ll get the word out. I suggest keeping it short and sweet! Maybe 10-15 lines, just like the one above.

If you don’t know about OPSGROUP, here’s our own little story: OPSGROUP was formed to solve a problem. When MH17 was shot down over Ukraine, we learned that a handful of people had known about the risk, and avoided the airspace. Nobody else did, because they didn’t know. Today, OPSGROUP has 7000 individual members – We are Flight Dispatchers, Pilots, Air Traffic Controllers, and operational specialists from large airlines, small aircraft operators, Civil Aviation Authorities, ICAO, NBAA, and a multitude of other aviation organizations. We work together to share critical new information about airspace risk, procedures, and just help each other out. Most importantly, this is a group of people, not of companies or authorities. More on us here.

What this means for you, right now, is that we have a big group of people at the heart of flight operations, who will read your story, and might have a job that suits you. I know we have a great group and if there’s a chance for someone to help, they’ll take it.

As promised, I’ll compile a list, make it into an email, and send it out to our group.

I can’t promise that you’ll get responses, but I do think that this way of doing things gives you a much better chance.

I would also love your thoughts. Maybe you have even better ideas.

Cheers – Mark.

Email: mark.z@ops.group

OPSGROUP wants to help you find that new job.