Originally Posted by
PilotBrandon07
I'm currently a student at a university in Oklahoma and I have a few questions about internships and how they can affect interviews for jobs both positive and negative.
1. Would it be better to do an internship at a regional or major?
2. If I do an internship at a major airline, will a regional airline look down on this and believe that I'm just going to be there for a couple of years and then leave them?
3. Would an internship make an interview easier or harder? Would I be expected to know more than others my age that did not do an internship?
Any feedback from anybody on these forums will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for your time.
1. MAJOR, MAJOR, MAJOR. It's easy to get hired at a regional, don't waste an internship there.
2. A regional will assume that you will leave for the major in a few years...that is what they WANT you to do. It is cheaper to keep training pilots than a have a bunch of senior captains at a regional. Having done an internship at a major will not hurt your chances at a regional.
3. An internship at a major is a golden ticket. Assuming you don't get any DUI's or FAA violations, you will most likely get called for an interview when you meet the minimums...which is far earlier than most pilots get called. You will most likely get hired too.
I know several ex-interns who spent 18 months in the right seat of an RJ and then got hired by CAL.
Also try to pick a major which might be hiring when you will want to get hired. AA and UA might not be hiring this decade...or next decade.