Originally Posted by Hacker15e

In my experience, unless you've actually laid eyes on the resume/application of those "little experience" FOs, then your statement isn't at all accurate.

There are lots of people who have experience, qualifications, etc, that don't get discussed in idle cockpit conversation, and which you'd never know about unless you specifically looked into it.

I am one of those regional FOs who got hired at a major "in front of" a number of Captains who thought I was less experienced simply because I'd been hired at a regional after them. More than one contacted me, asking what my "secret" was that helped me get hired so quickly and, in one guy's words, "out of seniority". When I sent them my resume, they seemed surprised to learn I was a retired military pilot with a ton of things on my resume that they had no idea about, and had been flying professionally since they were in elementary school.

My advice is, instead of raging at the machine -- because the only people that control this process are the folks at the majors who are inviting people for interviews and handing out CJOs -- is ask those "little experience" FOs for a copy of their application and their advice on what they did to get the call.