Originally Posted by
fogrunner
I am not busting this guys balls. I am certainly not bragging on Gemini either. You at World drew a line in the sand on your contract. I wish we had done the same.
Having to pay for your drug, security and background checks is ludicrous, add in the fact they want you to pony up two checks for $8000. Where will this nonsense stop. I think you know as well as I do that bean counters will look at this and say "well if 360 can do this, why not World or Gemini"?
I don't think these are "fairly good benefits". Some of the folks on here seem to be tauting the management, funding and future. It certainly is not reflected in the recruitment package.
I interviewed with them, and was likewise impressed. So far, my cost to seek employment with them has been no more than it would have been at FedEx (I paid my way up to SEA and pay for my own hotel) and that seems to be fairly standard, industry wide, and I got to travel on my schedule, not theirs. Some companies fly you up on the company line. (CAL, AirTran, SWA come to mind) not all pay lodging when it is required, and it seems to me that the plane ride to the interview is really part of the interview. I know that there are lots of variations on this theme, but I don't see 360 as being all that far out of line with the "industry leaders".
If I have to cough up another few hundred bucks for the screens, so be it, I'll bet I get it back sooner or later, and I'll bet it is deductible with the IRS as well. And if I read the chart correctly the 360 pay is better than year 4/5 at Gemini and about equal to Atlas. I think if I do the math right, lifelong earnings for a newhire at Gemini would not exceed those of a 360 guy until somewhere in year 10 or 11, and if the 360 guy upgrades as predicted, the Gemini guy/gal may never catch up. As for $8000 checks, I think not, I was not asked to write a check, and no self respecting company would ask a new employee to actually write a check for his/her training or type rating, now would they?
At 360 I was told that lodging is provided in training, last time I checked, at FDX in MEM, you need a crashpad, or a comfortable RV in south Memphis somewhere, but heck, you still get the IRS deduction.... 2-3 months on your own dime. Air Tran doesn't pay lodging expenses in training, hope you have a pad in ATL, but heck, you still get the deduction.... 2-3 months on your own dime. There is a trend here...
I won't know if I made the right decision until I'm 60...