Macdacpilot

Nice! Clearly I stand corrected, and that's a good thing in this case!

Kiowa

Hi guys, congrats on all who are progressing nicely through the process. I was hoping someone might answer a question for me.

1.) On airlineapps I am not able to upload a resume unless I purchase a membership. How important is this feature? Conventional wisdom would say that I'm wasting my time filling out the app without submitting a resume & cover letter with it, but perhaps United doesn't function this way.

I don't mean to seem cheap but I'm only using airlineapps to apply for United, so I hoped the free version would suffice.

2.) How much weight does an internal recommendation from a regular United line pilot carry? The one where you enter their email address inside airline apps, and they forward something to them?

Thanks guys - I really appreciate it! Good luck to all!

Grumble

You're shooting for a (potentially) multi-million dollar career. Spend the cash and stop being cheap. That said, the resume upload function IIRC just auto populates some of the fields. Do it all by hand if you want it accurate and presentable.

Internal recs don't carry a ton or weight but will separate you from those that have none. A chief pilot rec is what moves you from the big stack to the short stack.

Kiowa

Grumble, thank you for the quick and candid reply!

OnCenterline

Internal recs...a friend that worked in training had a lunch meeting with Charlie Venema, who was then in charge of hiring. According to Charlie, the internals were more important than most people realized. However, it isn't just having the internal rec, it's the quality of the rec.

Charlie is no longer in charge. Bill Kennedy is now. I don't know how he weights the internals. I do know that, like most airlines, they don't call the references. Southwest is the only one I know that still actively and aggressively calls internal and external references.

As for the CP letter carrying weight...I think this is still one of those mysteries that the HR folks keep to themselves, but it would make sense. Several UAL check airmen have told me that their ability to get people selected for interviews is nowhere near what it used to be.

UAL is big on pilots who: go to job fairs and meet recruiters; have been check airmen/chief pilots/managers in 121 world; have good recommendations. During the interview, honesty goes a long, long way.

full of luv

What airline prefers dishonesty during interviews? That is the useful gouge!

Kiowa

Great post OnCenterline, thanks! When you say quality of the rec, do you mean quality in terms of the position of the individual making the rec, or do you mean the quality of presentation, i.e. well written, etc.? OR Both ?

OnCenterline

Kiowa, both. If you are doing the rec just as a courtesy or because you can't bring yourself to say "no" to someone, you can write a short letter that says, "So-and-so is a good pilot and a nice guy." Compare that to one that goes into some detail and depth about the individual's flying skills, experience, personality, character, etc.

The company can read between the lines....and will.

Kiowa

I completely understand what you mean OnCenterline. Sort of makes one rethink the whole recommendation phenomena - and how to approach it.

BSlew7523

Hoping to reinvigorate this thread (although it is somewhat similar to the Interview Calls & Hiring Predictions thread). Couple of things:

1. A little different from others was that my LOR from the M&G was never posted to AirlineApps - it was, however, sent to the hiring department from what I understand.

2. There haven't been too many posts from the June interviews - did anyone NOT get the job offer? Any insights or advice for some preparing for August?

Thanks.