Originally Posted by
Work2much
I'm in the same boat. I have personally met each chief pilot from SEA and LAX on more than one occasion. I met with 3 of them privately in their offices more than once. I've had 4 very senior Alaska pilots recommend me on more than one occasion with some of them previously being on the hiring committee. I've been in the regional shuffle for 9 years with a good amount of 121 time and turbine PIC, a 4 year degree with good GPA, gone to recruiting events and even have confirmed that HR has my app, recommendations and such...all of that has done NOTHING in terms of getting my phone to ring. Then I hear of guys who have done none of that and they're sitting in new hire class at this very moment. Time and patience is what they say....It's very frustrating.
I understand your frustrations, this seems to be the normal experience. From what I've gathered in this process is that one has to meet or exceed their competitive minimums AND have an excellent meeting with recruiters/CPs combined with LORs from reputable/influential pilots. It sounds like you have to have "the right stuff" and be "in the right place at the right time" to get the magical phone call.
Does AS historically favor MIL pilots over civilian? I'm sure that Horizon gets preference (as they should), but what is the background of the "ideal candidate" for Alaska?