Professionalism in the Aviation Industry
Antoine Hafed
Inter-American University of Puerto Rico
Bayamon Campus

This paper was prepared for AWSC 4100, Taught by Professor Ocasio

Being a commercial pilot is an achievement that a lot of student pilots dream of. It takes a lot of dedication, sacrifice and passion to achieve. Apart from receiving proper training, licenses, and certifications to become a certified commercial pilot, growing professionally as a person is very important in the aviation industry. Being professional will make you stand out; will increase your chances of being hired and being treated with respect among others. Having this professionalism is indeed necessary nowadays; competition in the industry stands tougher as time goes on.
Obtaining a college degree will make you grow academically, but not always professionally. This is why it’s important to find different ways gain experience as an “acting” professional. At the Inter American University, they offer a bachelor’s degree in aviation, which provides a very intriguing class called: “Career Development for Aerospace Professionals”. While enrolled in this class, students will act and dress as professionals during the entire length of the class. Many wonder why they have to dress up for a class, not realizing that presentation is a very important key for obtaining a good professionalism.
Impressions count for a lot, especially first impressions. Wearing the proper attire is the first thing people look at, making this a judgment tool. If you dress up properly, you will be judged as a professional and serious person. Nevertheless, dressing correctly is just the beginning for being a professional, and dressing up every time for the class will adapt students to dress properly every time with confidence.

The class also focuses on preparing the students for professional situations, like interviews. Interviews are very tough; they input a lot of stress for everyone, especially when unprepared. Preparing for an interview starts at home, preparing your résumé and cover letter. Preparing a résumé should be carefully done, a resume is the way of selling yourself in writing, and it should stand out. Interviewers should be impressed by just looking at the résumé.
While being a part of this class, I performed a mock Interview with a South West Airline Pilot, Pablo Ortiz. This interview focused on appearance, attitude, skills and verbal and non-verbal communication. During this mock interview, I realized how much importance this class had been. Everything learned in class was put in practice during the interview, from the handshake at the beginning to the end of the interview. After the interview, it was pointed at me that my nonverbal communication was very good, but not excellent.
Nonverbal communication is defined as a positive, assertive body language and good eye contact. To improve this, I will try and focus more on the interviewer itself, instead of trying to cover my nerves looking around the room. Also, this interview has brought me a lot of confidence for future interviews, hopefully helping me control my nerves.
This mock interview has been of great improvement for my professionalism. It has helped me gain experience as a professional and will make me stand out from others. Overall, the whole class has taught me different things that I thought they’d never matter. It is of great pleasure to have taken this class, and hopefully I will put in practice everything I’ve learned for the real world.

My career development plan doesn’t stop here. I plan on gaining more professional experiences during these two years left in my college degree. Hopefully, I will be part of a pilot internship that will help me get a sense of really working as a pilot before I graduate. As for my current plan, my focus is on culminating my pilot licenses so I can become a flight instructor and build up many hours so I can move to a regional airline. All of this will not be possible if I don’t gain professionalism during my training.
Also, being part of the JetBlue Gateway Program will help me fulfill my dreams by opening up many possibilities and opportunities before and after I graduate. Finally, taking my career to the next level is my dream, and thankfully for this class I am able to properly manage my long and short term goals by knowing my priorities and important information I have to obtain for better results.

--------------------------------------------
[ 1 ]. To arouse the curiosity or interest of by unusual, new, or otherwise fascinating or compelling qualities; appeal strongly to; captivate.