Originally Posted by
rickair7777
Correct. Regionals will hire anybody with ATP mins, majors are more selective. Once he reaches the interview threshold for majors his background might make him pop out. I had a similar situation (non-typical background) and when I interviewed it was pretty clear that was what got their attention in the first place.
Typically at the majors the people or process that selects the candidates doesn't necessarily do the interviewing. So when you sit down to interview with the pilots they didn't select you. But they are vetting you. Some of it is canned, or required topics, and some of it is free form.
The free form can be very interesting if the candidate has non typical experience, like being a regional CA and taking a military leave of absence to enlist in a reserve Special Forces unit. Wait! What? You're a regional Captain and enlisted in the National Guard for Special Forces despite never having been in the service!?! What airline pilot does that?? In his case the flying stuff was trivial but the rest of the discussion was very interesting.