I know that was the number one of the talent acq guys threw out last year, but I’m not quite sure it’s accurate. When he said it, he appeared uncertain and sounded like he just made it up. And if you think about it, with less than 150 attendees this year, only 15 would be hired a year who went to VIB. That can’t be right. One year they said they had 49 interview slots they were trying to fill solely from the VIB attendees. That was a good chunk of the attendees that year. I just don’t think they’d spend all that time, money, and effort (and that of the volunteers and paid leadership/employees working it) to hire only 15 veterans, nor would they waste the time and money of 150 applicants who could just apply and indicate veteran status anyway if they intended on hiring only a handful of them.

Also, there’s a decent percentage of the group that goes who is barely qualified for the regionals and minimally (if at all) qualified for a major. And some guys were still 1-2+ years from getting out of the military. I’d say if you were a mil guy and have competitive flight hours, which aren’t very high anymore, and at least 1k fixed wing, and 200 hours in the last year, have an application on file, and have a good one on one mini interview, you have a good shot of getting an interview, especially with as much hiring as we (and everyone else) are doing in the next couple years. And it deserves repeating, that one on one interview is important. Do at least a little prep for it. If you can’t answer some very basic, softball interview questions very well, it probably won’t go well.

Maybe hyperboy can provide some more input.