Originally Posted by
flyingfarmer
Lee,
No problem Lee,
I think chip has been knocked off for a few years, age has a tendency to do that. No, I was not referring to the eeoc mandated hiring, although I am aware it took place. I know a few regional pilots hhired in the late 90's early 2000 at UAL that were FOs with no PIC. On the other hand, everyone I knew as a new hire in 2007-2008 came from extensive military or civialian backgrounds w/ thousands of hours turbine/jet PIC. On the CAL side in 2007-2008 it was a different story... Many new hires were First Officers from the right seat of an Embraer jet with almost no experience. Many of them had been my First Officers at COEX. Some were excellent pilots, some you scratched your head and said what the.... The point I was simply making is when United hired last the new hires were very qualifiedwith a mix of military, civilian, and civilian ex pats who were getting back to the states. Many of my new hire class had 3 or more type ratings.
No problem. I understand your point. I think the original poster might have been referring to a time when UAL had 12,000 qualified applicants with what Nancy Stuke quantified as about a third of that being exceptionally qualified in their eyes. Pretty tough competition back then.
For the new guys I saw in the 2007 time frame. They were all competent and well qualified, there just wasn't that huge pool of applicants to pull from like in the heyday. Hence the change in atmosphere of the interview referenced in another thread.
A fact that doesn't denigrate the quality of the applicants, but rather, the lower quality of the airline.
UAL in the nineties was the place to go. In my new hire class we had a 50/50 split of both military and civilian. All rose above the other 12,000 apps. All survived the interview. And for the folks interested, we had folks leave SWA, FDX, DAL, etc., to come to UAL.
I'm sure those guys are wondering what they were thinking reflecting back. But, it was a sound decision in many ways at that time. Heck, I declined SWA and DAL to go UAL......what was I thinking????
Frats,
Lee