Originally Posted by
galaxy flyer
Having watched and participated in the airline hiring over 40 years, I will say the systems used seem to be pretty good at hiring the type of candidate the HR department wants.
Four of us at my old ANG unit were rejected at AA, in the days of three-part interviews and astronaut physicals, and hired at EAL. And nearly vice-versa. The process does reject those who would be great assets, but I think it is more geared toward flagging and rejecting those who HR believes aren’t a good fit. They don’t necessarily want excellence as much as avoiding future problems. As a friend said, “every employee, but especially pilots operating $100 million assets, has a personal P&L statement”.
GF
But I don't think there's that much variance for pilot "fit" between major airlines. If you select for good leaders and good pilots, that doesn't leave you a whole lot of wiggle room for other traits.
I'd be curious as to what they think they're looking for. I could see a business case for selecting for "compliant" (ie will roll over at contract time) but that would seem to have a compatibility issue with assertive leadership. Might get away with passive seat-meat for FO's, but that wouldn't go so well at upgrade time.
But I'm no expert on this kind of stuff, all of the hiring I did was the old fashioned way (an interview or two, maybe a written or practical test).