Originally Posted by
THEKERNALKLINK
You would be shocked at how much weight the professional references carry. Back in the day, prior to the big "pilot shortage", In my case, we were all told we were all hired, until we convinced them otherwise. "nobody was invited who we do not want to hire based on what we've seen so far, and it's 100% possible that every one of you makes it."
The hard truth is that I'd have gone with the 1st to take me. But what really impresses me to this day is that from that 1st day I walked in the door full of hope, to the day I walked in to my 1st day of training, 9/11 happened, and I thought for sure they would figure out a way to get out of their obligation. THEY DID NOT, obviously.
Yep, hiring was based on merit and recommendations back then. People you worked with at previous jobs would recommend you because they knew you were a good pilot and someone they would want to work with. The "a-holes and bad apples" never got recommendations from anyone, and thus were essentially blackballed.
It worked quite well. If someone was an a-hole, they would never be hired by a major. We actually had a couple of 727 CA's that fit the bill. An FO at our carrier got on with WN and before he left, he told a certain a-hole CA of ours that he would do everything he could to make sure that he would never be hired there. And WN was the CA's dream job.
So, you never knew who could torpedo your chances if you made enemies.