Navigating Failure: A Guide for Cadet Pilot Program Rejection

This is something we don't talk about much in our community, but it's really important. We often focus on success, not failure, and we don't discuss how to handle it. In this article, I'll walk you through the steps you can take to overcome challenges in dealing with rejection or failure.

1-It is okay to get depress. Feel it.

As soon as we find ourselves with the rejection email from an airline, emotions will start to sweep in. The doubt, the insecurities and overwhelming negative emotions starts to creep in. Ive felt this before. Its really not as easy as it seems to be. However, it is OKAY to acknowledge your feelings and accept your feelings of dissapointment. Give yourself time to process the situation; some people take weeks or days to accept it but take it at your own time. The reason for this is because we are humans and emotions are valid. It is okay to cry and get frustrated at what has happened, as long as it is released in a healthy coping way. Like me, I usually listen to sad songs, write down my emotions in my diary so that it is let out, I also try to talk with my family members about my dissapointment so that I don't feel that lonely in this journey. Go to an airport or somewhere, a beach or whatever and let the feelings flow. 

One of the major mistakes of undergoing this depression is saying something like " I don't deserve to become a pilot because it is too hard " because once u take it into negative, it is really hard to apply for the next cadet pilot intake because u feel that u are "unworthy" of becoming a cadet. And I witnessed that this kind of negative self-talk has impacted many of our young talented candidates who gaved up too early because they feel it's too "impossible" to achieve and relate with all their weaknesses.

2-Identify weaknesses in assessment

Once the emotions are slowly fading away, its time to get back up. U won't get up instantly but by this time u are able to move on abit(not entirely). It may take few months or so but don't worry there is a cooling period for our emotions. At this stage, try to identify what went wrong during your previous assessment with the airline. What is it, that is bothering u or u are not satisfied with in the assessment? Usually before any cadet assessment I would jot down in notes of my experiences, feelings and what Im not satisfied with AFTER the assessment so that I can let my future "me" understand what kind of problems im facing at that particular moment. Once u are able to identify the weaknesses, u can start to work on them first before the next upcoming intake. Time will be your greatest asset and advantage for your upcoming intake. Just know that, every inch of your efforts will be worth it at the end. Keep on striving!

3- Collect resources

What does it mean by resources? Collecting resources refers to gathering various materials and information that can aid in your learning and preparation for cadet pilot programme. Usually from what Ive seen is that, candidates who just got their rejected email will simply leave the study group or will just move on from applying airline cadetship. This is already a big mistake. U see, the beauty of applying cadet pilot programme is that there are still other candidates that managed to pass and are preparing for their next exams; we can take advantage of that by ALSO participating in their group of network and learn together of what is expected! Isn't that a genius? Of course it is! It's smart work! The information and experiences that u gathered with those candidates that passed will aid in your journey for the program. So that, u will become 30% wiser and prepared what to expect next. 

4-Find mentor

One of the ways to be successful is to find someone who have already gone through the hardship and that is a mentor. A mentor will give u the best guidance and tips on how to go through the obstacles that u will have to face. A simple analogy of this is this; picture that u want to navigate to an unknown location and u just simply follow the signboards on the highway but did not end up in the place that u wanted to go. So instead of doing this trials-and-errors by yourself, a Google Map/Waze who acts as a mentor will help u directly find your way to that place with the least amount of traffic and a shortcut. This will save more of your time trying to navigate your way into the cadet pilot programme.

5-Strategise during assessment

Okay so lets say u are being called up again for the assessment that u used to fail, and you've done your preparation, studied, gathered materials etc. Now, the question is how will you prepare during the assessment? Say that u have to attend a psychomotor exam, the instructions stated that u need to follow a flight director, memorise a bunch of numbers, report shapes and sizes, and listen to audiotory numbers. How will u do that? Which one will u prioritise? or tackle first given the limited amount of time? This is where u have to plan what do u plan on tackling first so that your workload is reduced and you are able to do other tasks at the same time with few to less errors. If u are given a paper, use that to your advantage and write whatever u need, or flashcards maybe u can put in front of the computer. Or say the joystick is not comfortable, try to play with it and see where should u put your joystick at for your comfortability. These kind of small adjustments and strategy during your assessments will definitely give u more clarity and anticipitation for the exam.