System won't let me upload any attachments, tried IE and Firefox.

Also, besides uploading recommendation letters, is there a place for current pilots to email or submit recs?

Where did you try to do it on the app? The page you use is "my career tools". You would then upload the letter from a pilot yourself there, along with cover letter, etc.

I have no dog in this fight but curious about one of their hiring requirements....

"20/20 corrected in each eye"

Say one has a first class medical with no restrictions, however has a SODA for having best corrected distant vision in one eye at 20/25. The near vision in that eye is 20/20 and the other eye's near and distant vision are both 20/20.

If they otherwise meet the requirements, is that a no-go? How can they "legally" get away with this when the FAA says all you need is a first class medical. I thought most of the majors were done with the astronaut type physicals anyway?

Again, no dog in this fight, but just curious how this would play out....

Question on background checks
 

How does Alaska or any other airline check with your "employer" if you are military? Do they ask for your fitness reports, Form 8's, etc? Do they just start calling the Squadron, Ops Group, or Wing Commander until they get a hold of someone and say "we are such and such.....what do you think of this person?" Not trying to be antagonistic, just wondering how that process works, especially since there is a high turnover rate in a Squadron.

I have been trying to upload letters of rec and its not working. I recall this happening during the last window but cant remember how I got them to work.

Its just another eliminator. When you have 3000-5000 apps for 66 positions you add requirements that cull the herd. I'm not saying its fair or that you may eliminate a superior aviator. But that's the way the game is played in HR departments.

One of my AS buds told me the CP has 300+ apps on his desk with in house recs or sons/daughters of active pilots. Those will get the first look.

I've never heard of any airline calling squadrons. Military flight training and experience are a known factor with the airlines. They know the standardization is consistent. With civilian trained and experienced pilots you just don't know the level of training.

You can pretty much buy any license or type rating you want if you shop around.

I have the exact same problem like I have mentioned earlier in this thread. I have a rec letter from an AS pilot, but cannot upload anything. Tried different browsers, too.

A third party firm will be used to conduct a background check...pretty standard at most carriers. One of the tasks will be to verify employment...which will not likely result in anything but just that. Just use a phone number where there would be little chance in the person who answers the phone didn't know you were ever assigned there. Don't let your chance of being hired at a carrier be lost because some third party didn't get to talk with the right person. Your letters of recommendation would most likely be the source of character references.

Good Luck!

I'm guessing here, but as far as I know they still do not do any sort of medical exam. As long as you can hold a valid first class medical, I would say you are good.

I have the same problem. Fortunately the application included my earlier recs and cover letter, but I can't seem to add any additional ones. I tried Safari and Firefox on the Mac, and Explorer and Firefox on the PC. Once I click the 'upload' button after selecting the pdf file, it just hangs up.

That said, I don't have an internal, so there's no way I'll get a call regardless.

Thank you for the reply.

I reapplied today but when I was double checking my prevous entries under college education, I got a message saying "graduate indicator should be set to on" but I saw no such indicator, even after looking with multiple browsers. Anyone else have this problem?

Yes this is an IT glitch. Delete the entry and re-enter it like it's a new one and you won't have the problem.

It is not the easiest system to navigate, and once you hit submit, you are locked in. Funny thing is, my ex-neighbor (I used to live in SEA) is an IT manager in charge of their website. I think I am going to call him and give him some heat about it.

I had to make a correction to my resume' and add an availability date since there wasn't a spot for one on their website. I just emailed their HR folks and they got right back to me. The email that I got back was very friendly, personal, and conversational, not an automatic response or anything like that. It just reaffirmed my decision to apply and hope for an interview. I would definitely rather fly with Alaska then a few of their higher paid competitors.

If you're an IT guy who lives in SEA and works for Alaska, you probably aren't the pick of the litter.

He left Microsoft to work for them. He is doing ok.

Unfortunately I already hit submit, not realizing you could not alter it later. I showed in at least 3 other places I am a college graduate so hopefully it will not be an issue.

Email them at [email protected]. They will ensure it is fixed.

I remember a "check the box" that said something about a bachelor degree...(yes/no). I had the same IT issue.

Does anyone know if C-17 Time counts as "High performance" per their 1200 requirement?

Who knows...high performance is technically any aircraft above 250 hp. I would say you could email them and ask.

Pretty sure it is their intent to lower the hours requirement for fighter pilots but as long as you feel like you can justify your answer in an interview have a nut. If I flew heavies I wouldn't consider my aircraft high performance just to make it under the wire of a reduced hours requirement. Makes me wonder if they'd consider the pathetically underpowered T-37 and T-38 "high performance" :).

Alaska Air Hiring
 

threw my name in the hat. not expecting a phone call though :)

I am over 3,000 either way, so it doesn't matter to me. I would agree, that sounds like the intent of the 1,200 question. Single seat guys tend to get less hours due to shorter legs. I don't know that a 1,200 fighter guy equals a 3,000 heavy guy in experience level (2.5 to 3 flying tours) though, but I am not the one doing the hiring.
I agree, though, where do you draw the line? T-37? T-38? T-34 (550HP, but waaaaaay underpowered), T-6?

There are a lot of UPT and Navy VT guys that have over 1,200 in model and less than 3,000 total.

What's up with the nicotine question? No smoking at Alaska? Even the gum, haha. And going back 2 years no less, wow. Not that I'm a smoker, just found it curious.

I found that curious too. Maybe someone from Alaska can weigh in...
Insurance premiums?
Company culture?

It sure eliminates a lot of qualified candidates.

Its been that way for at least 25 years. The curious thing is once you get hired, they don't care if you smoke. Go figure.

P.S. They test for nicotine on your pre-hire drug test.

On my interview day - all of us in suits and ties, sitting together in a large room, filling out the paperwork. A HR lady is walking around us like an old school nun looking over our shoulders as we all write our "tell us about yourself" stories. A military guy raises his hand and asks about the smoking / nicotine question. He obviously had not studied the company and had no idea. He tells the HR lady that he does not smoke, but that he did have a cigar at a friends wedding about 6 weeks ago - and was that OK? She says to him, it's a yes or no question - have you smoked in the last two years. He says, well... I guess I have and marks his paper as such.
We all turn our paperwork in and are giving our instructions on where to go and what to do for the next phase - except Mr. Knucklehead, who was thanked for his time and sent out the door. True story...

I don't think I know one mil type that hasn't smoked a cigar in the last 2 yrs. Geesh....... Of course except for myself.....:D

Unlike pot which can be detected in urine for a month, nicotine is gone in 4-5 days. If you haven't smoked in a couple weeks, you're probably ok.

Don't be a Knucklehead.

Actually, it's anything above 200 hp, but the app specifically stated turbine, multi engine, high performance, IIRC. I would think that anything as large as a king air or larger would suffice.

It says large (Part I) which is an a/c over 41,000 MGTOW.

It lists that as an option. Technically the way they listed it with commas means any of each of the options listed. However, I'm not sure that they intended that...

I kind of figured they were talking about Fighters, but since it was not defined, I submitted an app anyway... I'm happy to play dumb if that's what they come back with... I'm betting most other cargo carriers haven't seen 40 deg nose up on departure, or -20,000 VVI on descent... if they want some justification.

I also got a blank sheet email with just a subject notation that the app was received. I had the hardest time getting files to attach properly. Tried a PC and Mac. And IE safari mozilla and chrome.

System doesn't like PDF, go with word 2003 a .doc not .docx Worked for me.

Good luck.

Any Alaska job fairs coming up? Hopefully a recent new hire can shed some light on the process.

I think they'll be at the Northwest Aviation Conference & Trade show in Puyallup...but...not confirmed.

Do you know if they venture beyond the PNW? Puyallup is a little tough in getting to for a lot of people. Thanks for the response.

Merry Christmas

They are on the list for the WIA conference.