Originally Posted by
Lifeisgood
From a very internal source:
No one cares if they use delta.com email account or not. It looks better if they do and there is a push to be more professional, but it is not essential.
A lot of people are under impression that only Delta pilots can recommend candidates and only LOR's from Delta pilots will be considered. Not true at all. The recruiters will consider any recommendations, from anyone.
The important thing is that people you ask for the LOR know you very well. If they don't they should not recommend and if the recruiters feel they don't - the LOR will be disregarded.
Everyone was asking, but the BOD didn't approve pilot hiring budget for 2013. Delta has a lot of company patriots who will volunteer if need be so expect Delta team at pilot job fairs starting this fall.
Limited selection from airlineapps is already underway; fyi - nothing turns recruiters off more then a sloppy application.
Interviewing should start in October/November 2013.
Expect first class in the beginning of January 2014.
Expect a break for the summer with more or less continuous hiring starting in the fall 2014.
That's good intel.
In 2007 Delta was using the internal email as a sorting preference. While they would consider all recs, the first hurdle was getting your application pulled out of a stack of ten thousand. That first filter made the internal address important. That may have changed by now.