Originally Posted by
oicur12
I was wondering if anyone here could help out with a question.
I am applying for a position with a non legacy carrier and the online app asks if I know of anybody presently employed by the airline.
I have never met anybody from this airline although I have had dealings with several of their pilots through unrelated business matters via telephone and email. They know my work history and have copies of my resume.
Would this contact be suitable to use for an application?
I have worked for many years as an airline pilot but never worked in the US and don't fully understand how close internal recs need to be.
Thank you for any guidance.
Oicur,
Sorry for meatballs rather unprofessional reply.
Recently united had a job fair and they stated they have 13,000 applications on file. You can figure maybe half of those won't have today's competitive qualifications to get hired. The good news is delta, united, American, JetBlue, spirit, atlas etc. are hiring and all will be hiring for the foreseeable future. The vast majority of those 13k apps are applying to all the airlines listed above and that list of applications will dwindle by this time next year as they get hired by companies.
Here's what all legacies are hiring as far as competitive:
Four year degree, good gpa, community service, administrative or instructor experience at current company, flight time varies but typically 4-5k hours with some time as a captain in airline ops. There are other areas of preferred credentials, but this is the jist of it.
Here's what it boils down to. Definitely you need to have internal recommendations, but those only carry so much weight. There is such a flood or regional pilots, like myself, beating on the majors door just wanting an interview and still haven't heard anything. I think it could be five years before the legacies are having to Show concern for finding good qualified individuals.
Here's my personal advice for if you want to fly in the U.S. and have a shot at a legacy in the next few years. Do all the necessary steps to get a right to work here in the U.S. then get hired by a regional. Also, a degree is almost a requirement and some majors do require it. So if you don't have it then you will need it. Even if you do the above there is no guarantee you will get to a legacy soon (2-3 years).
I hope this helps, I'm sure the word all over the world the U.S. carriers have mass retirements coming. This is true, but a US legacy pilot shortage probably won't happen for another 8 years.
Best of luck!