I am so glad I went on the first day. From what I've been hearing the lines on the second day were quite a bit longer. Here's my take on it all.
I met Atlas first. When I got to the booth, there was only one person there talking with them. I spoke with a female line FO and the BR from HR. I mentioned to her that I met her previously at another job fair in Sept 12, but that line was 3+ hours long so obviously she didn't remember. She told me that they prefer heavy intl time, but to keep applying.
United was next. Stood in line for 2 hours. I thought that was bad, but obviously not as bad as I've heard about the second day. Talked to the lady for a couple minutes and went over my resume.
Went to US Airways next. Checked in with HR lady who took down your email address to cross check it against your online app. Then talked to a CA in a group of six about hiring and the interview process. Nothing earth shattering. The CA looked over my resume after the presentation, but they weren't taking them.
Next was AA. Talked to a really nice FO for a couple minutes. She didn't have much to say about hiring and did not take my resume.
Talked to DAL at the end right before I left. There was no one in line then. Talked with a female CA. She said no off the street hiring in 2013. Next year would be mainly flowups from their regionals with a few possibly off the street. Real off the street hiring would start in 2015. I was proud that she recognized that I'm an ex-Laker and talked about how hard their training is and how it's not the best place to work and she respected that.
One common topic that came up with UA, AA, and DAL was volunteer work and outside activities. Every single one of them asked about it. If I was joining the priesthood I would understand. Don't get me wrong. I admire and respect those that volunteer their time for the good of mankind. I'm not a bad person. I'm just not one of them, commuting and working a regional schedule. So I guess this is another requirement to get hired and another loop I need to jump through. Off to the soup kitchen and homeless shelter I go.