Originally Posted by
Tbpilot06
So just curious do you feel Pilots are only qualified if someone internally recommends them? I agree it should be given consideration but there are plenty of us who may be very well qualified but don’t know anyone within the company. I’m also in favor of pilots picking who interviews as well as even in our corporate department HR is clueless about who makes a good pilot /teammate.
I definitely feel we should interview some pilots with no recommendations, there are some great pilots out there that don't know anyone on the inside. That's what the Dr Kavorkian Computer Matrix was supposed to do for us. Score applications based on certain qualifications and experiences. Recommendations did raise someone's score, as it should. If they are a known quantity, and I'm willing to stake my reputation on someone who's a great fit here, then that should happen.
Where things went south is when the Lawyers got the hammer on who we hire about 3-4 years ago. They decide who interviews and who does not. These NON-PILOT Lawyers actually went in and started lowering peoples scores if they had too many recommendation (not urban legend, it really happened). This is crazy, and as previously posted you can't make this sh-t up.
So guess who stopped getting called? The rock star, test pilot school graduate, Space X pilot who had 10 letters of recommendation. That really happened. Others some of us knew and flew with (mostly military fighter types in the circles I ran in) that were rock stars also were passed on getting the call to interview here. They are all at Delta, American, SWA, and United now.
Now, the same is happening with PEs. Those with PEs are getting punished and we continue to hire pilots with ZERO recommendations in large numbers over guys with a past we can vouch for.
We need to change the sign on the Door of pilot recruitment to "Lawyers Enter by Appointment Only."
PS - If that was too Microaggressive, my appologies