When I was a cadet at the USAF Academy I got to fly Cessna 172’s, a single-engine plane, for just long enough to solo plus a few hours. Too bad it was my only flying experience, because it was one of the most memorable, thrilling things I’ve ever done.

All of flying is tough…especially in a military environment. There’s a daily ’stand up’ when the instructor pilots fire questions at you that you have to answer just to be able to get into the plane!

There are so many things to learn that are critical to successfully slipping the surly bonds of earth and living to tell about it: checking the plane out, starting it up, taxiing to the runway, ‘running’ the plane up to make sure the engine is going to take the stress of taking off. All that just to get onto the runway and into the air!

And after that, there are dozens of things to learn to fly safely and competently. Then you still have to land the plane without killing yourself.

Your first few times, landing contradicts all your natural self-preservation instincts – you purposefully cut the power and point the nose of the plane at the ground at an angle that seems a tad suicidal. Then at the last second, you pull back and skim along the ground until the wheels touch down.

Too hard or too steep an angle and you’ll bounce off and hurt the plane. Too slow and you’ll land short of the runway, in a big smoking hole of your own manufacture.

(Navy pilots who land on aircraft carriers actually refer to their landings as ‘controlled crashes’…nice!)

Keeping the plane level, adjusting the power, finding all the right angles and then waiting for the feel of the wheels touching down are about as nerve-wracking as it gets, and it never goes away no matter how long you’re a pilot.

Flyers have an old saying – any landing you can walk away from is a good one. After all, landing is one of the two times where you’re closest to the ground, which is the one major object you have to ‘hit’ every flight; and you want to hit it correctly.

After a pilot gets more experience, the goal isn’t just to walk away, but to ‘grease’ every landing – make that transition from flying to rolling so smooth you can’t even feel it, no matter what the weather or wind is doing.

In hiring the landing is the hardest too. Of all the things you’ve got to learn to do well whether you’re a candidate or an employer (analysis, marketing, screening,and interviewing) landing is where it’s easy to make the biggest mistakes.

3 parallels from landing for companies and candidates

1. Too fast – going too fast is dangerous. Hiring managers and candidates both often think it’s wonderful that they got everything over with quickly, but often the worst mistakes in hiring happen when you go too fast.

Bad personality fits, wrong goals, skills that aren’t adequate, needs that won’t be met…I’ve seen all of those accidents happen, and none of them are worth ‘landing’ faster. Especially if the front end of the process (analyzing the job and what results you want) wasn’t done well by the employer, a fast hire can doom everyone to hurt feelings and a bad experience.

2. Too slow – everyone (especially candidates) are like high-schoolers after a first date once the end of the interview process is in sight. Slow communication, a poor process, a salary amount that gets fiddled with at the last second…all these can ruin the chances of a solid connection, even if it’s ultimately a good one.

Remember, landing isn’t like other parts of the process – it’s more nerve-wracking, difficult and important. Employers – DO NOT stall this close to the ground. Candidates – chill…a slow process doesn’t necessarily MEAN anything bad is happening, so try not to let you imagination create all sorts of myths about what’s happening and why.

3. Wrong angle – there’s a perfect angle (or “glide path” in aero-speak) for landing based on the plane, the weather and the airport. The best way to ensure a good landing is to get on that angle early and STAY on it the whole way to the ground.

See-sawing up and down is a sure recipe for disaster. So both parties need to know what they want before they get too far in the process – money, opportunity, management style, relationships: the works. If companies and candidates will clearly define (and stick to) their guns, landing the right person will be a lot easier.

Of course my job (as a recruiter and a job coach) is to help my clients get smooth landings, along with all the other parts of the process. I’m up to 730 these days…and landing doesn’t get easier, but I can spot the potential for trouble a lot sooner than many.

Hiring is still a kick for me when the right person gets to be part of the right team. So I hope your landings are good ones – call me if you want some help figuring it out!