There’ve been numerous threads on that subject here in the past. Try the search function and you’ll find some good info there.
I’m sure you’re aware that it’ll bee several years before either of the two will be hiring. When they do start hiring however it’ll be all about the supply and demand… Since there will be lots of supply and little demand it’ll be very competitive to get hired.
In the past it was not “abnormal” to see a 135 turboprop driver here at Big Brown but it was definitely unusual. My class had one pilot with all part 135 experience but he had some turboprop and also turbojet time (Beechjet). A few months later yet another 135 driver was hired; mainly KingAir and Beechjet flight time. About a year and a half prior another friend of mine was hired with all part 91 time but he flew state-of-the-art Gulfstreams all over the world for a Fortune 500 company.
Before I was hired I’d heard UPS really liked to hire people form different aviation backgrounds and from what I’ve seen that seems to be very accurate. Someone told me once that the ratio seems to be something like 1/3 military pilots, 1/3 -121 commuter or other airline background, and 1/3 “everything else” (mixed mil/civ, part 135, part 91, etc.)
I think that’s pretty accurate and personally I really like it because every time you fly with someone here you always learn something interesting about the aviation field. Not too long ago I flew with a former NASA test pilot and a few weeks prior with a guy who started his flying career spraying the farm fields with pesticide in an Ag-Cat.
From what I hear from my purple buds, they seem to focus a little more on ex-mil pilots (Fred Smith was a Marine pilot himself so a slight bias is very understandable). However, they too have lots of ex-civilian pilots (which I believe applies to you?)
I’d say focus on any job that’ll make you happy, that’s number one prerogative. If you’re happy doing what you’re doing now, stay there! IF however you think FDX or UPS are the places to be once we start hiring again, personally I’d look for other jobs that could greatly improve your chances.
Basically any job where you’ll fly heavy iron all over the world will increase your chances because you’ll be doing “our” type of flying. (Note! if you take such a job, you must be based in the US to get an interview with FDX due to their postal contract).
Also, remember, I said it’ll increase your chances of getting hired but it will NOT guarantee you a job!
When I interviewed a few years back I felt like a Beech Duchess pilot here because the biggest airplanes I’d flown were B717s and B737s while everyone else interviewing with me flew heavy equipment all over the world. I guess you could say I was the “Boeing RJ” pilot.
Both FDX and UPS like experience and in the past when we were hiring you could always count on seeing a World, Omni, Polar, etc. driver in the lobby waiting for an interview. Of course there were also numerous military tanker pilots, etc. there with them. Every now and then you’d see a few commuter pilots and then some of those “unusual” part 135/91 aviators.
However, although many of the heavy drivers were hired, some were not - which is why I am repeating that flying heavies might increase your chances of getting an interview but it’s not a guarantee of getting a job.
Good luck to you and I for one, like the fact we’re talking about hiring as opposed to furloughing pilots here again… 