I believe that the workplace is perhaps on of the most important places to develop and maintain a professional reputation. During my as an undergraduate, I have been part of the aviation program here at the University of Illinois. From the first day of class, the chief pilot announced to the class that flying an airplane is not only demanding, but very many more precautions and thought must be taken while in college. This includes drugs, driving, and alcohol. She acknowledged that while we were mere 101 students at the time, in a few years we may wish to become flight instructors at the university, and our resume starts with our reputation. Because aviation is such a small program, I took these words to heart and modeled my life around building a reputation that I would be happy with asking for a job once I received an instructors certificate. The way I did this was not only showing up to class on time and doing well on exams, but also making good decisions outside of class like not drinking the night before a flight or getting into trouble.
At the beginning of the semester, I successfully gained employment at the university as a flight instructor. While I realize that I have groomed my reputation around the airport as a student, after gaining employment, I feel the need that it is now even more necessary to build my reputation further. The first reason for this is I want my colleagues to respect me and know that I take the job very seriously. This is not only because we have the same goals in educating students, but also because if we see each other in the professional world(maybe the airlines), they will know that I have a professional skill set. The next reason I take strides to better my reputation is because I have students. I want them not only to respect me, but I want them to take me seriously. For many who have not flown a plane, their instructor is the expert and I want them to know that the advice and lessons I give them are worth something and they should really consider them. I also don't want my student to feel afraid to ask question and I want to be known as someone who is there to help them. This is important because flying at times can be very high stress and sometimes having someone to count on really helps. I want to be that person. I do this by always being available for help and providing them with accurate and meaningful instruction.
The only instance I can think of where I abandoned my reputation for immediate gain was when I was a student. It was my roommates birthday and wanted to go out for the night. I knew I had to fly the next day, but I really wanted to go out with my roommate. I ended up going out that night and ended up calling my instructor the next day to tell him I was way too hungover to drive, let alone operate an airplane. My instructor was disappointed at me, but seemed to understand. For the rest of the semester I made sure that I made better decisions and always kept school a top priority.
Is your ambition to be a flight instructor but not a pilot? I'd be curious about why the one and not the other.
ReplyDeleteI can imagine being a pilot, which might seem glamorous at first, becomes quite a lonely activity, especially if you do long haul flights and end up spending substantial time away from home as a result. If so, the partying that you talk about might become part of the deal as a way to cope. Have you thought that one through?
Because of the security issues involved, commercial piloting now seems much more stressful to me (an outsider who doesn't know anything of the real business) than it was when I was kid. So I wonder what drew you to piloting. Did you have some outside encouragement?
Let me turn to the reputation aspect that you talked about. How many students were in that first class with you that you took from the Chief Pilot? Did they all respond the same as you did. Or did some of the other students take the activity less seriously? Sometimes reputation is formed by comparison with others. It's hard for me as reader to tell whether that was at play here.
I do aspire to become a pilot for a commercial airline. However, carriers require a minimum number of hours to be hired. I will get these flight hours by instructing for a couple of years.
DeleteI've always been interesting in airplanes and knew a few people who were getting their private pilots license. I tried it out in college and I liked it, so I stuck with it.
As for partying, I don't believe that its a coping mechanism. Although I cannot go out as much as some of my friends, I still find time to hangout with them and I guess do what college aged people do when they have free time. (other than study, of course).
In the first class I took, there were about 30 or so people in my class. Not all of them were interested in pursuing a professional career in aviation so they did not all respond similarly. Many just wanted to get a private license or just wanted the experience of flying an airplane in college. However, I would say the people who are now my colleagues responded to the message in a similar way. In terms of forming a reputation by comparison with others, I would say that by interacting with other instructors as a student, you get to know the "standard" it takes to develop a favorable reputation.
I agree that in piloting having a good reputation is crucial. I think its probably relative to the amount of responsibility bestowed upon that role. Your story actually reminded me of drivers ed. When you first start, you have no reputation, and no one really wants to drive with you or around you. Through demonstrated responsibility, attentiveness, and an interest in perfecting skills however you build a solid reputation which eventually gets you to a point where you can mentor others as well. The degree of responsibility when piloting a plane is even more intense I assume than driving a car, and thus maintaining a good reputation becomes that much more important. This is a great example which combines the reputation expected at work with one of potentially high risk activity. The result is a situation where reputation becomes essential.
ReplyDeleteI would agree with your analogy. When driving a car, if one doesn't trust you or you have a bad record, they might not want you to teach them to drive. However if you have a good reputation, they will be more willing to accept advice from you and trust your skills.
DeleteI think the your example of abandoning your reputation in such case is interesting because it also shows that your concern about your reputation in honesty and performance. If I were your instructor, even if I would feel frustrated, I would definitely appreciate that you tell the truth and avoid something worse happen. Another point I agree is that perhaps reputation is more important in a small group program/company because the word of mouth and interaction is more frequent. It is easier to build your reputation yet harder to get rid of bad reputation. So people might be more cautious in such circumstance.
ReplyDelete