I'm sure he's aware of that. He's probably speaking to the ones who bypass their upgrade for QOL reasons like commuting, sitting on reserve, etc.. There is plenty of useful info on this thread. You can't control everything (like an upgrade for PIC time), but you can control things like volunteer work, advanced degrees, extra-curricular activities within the company and/or union and networking. If you have all of those boxes checked, then you're probably in the queue to be invited to an interview. If not, then fill in the blanks.