Originally Posted by swaayze

I’ll play the grumpy old man:

Welcome to the major/legacy airline quest. “Very qualified” merely gets you into the short stack of a couple thousand resumes. The three main ingredients for winning the major airline job lotto in no particular order are:

1) Networking

2) Active patience (update and improve regularly, but expect nothing to speed the process)

3) Luck

Even in the best pilots' market in decades you can forget about expecting fairness and/or entitlement (the “not running for office” comment had these tones imo). Maybe the regionals are easy to get a job at now, but the shortage hasn’t crunched the top tier yet, nor will it for a few more years. You gotta work hard within coach's rules so you might get to play the game, or don’t and sit on the bench.

So Santini, your app is probably fine. Have someone else sit and review it with you. Get interview/app consulting. Pray. Not trying to be flippant, that’s just what else you can do.


Good luck!

Originally Posted by RhinoBallAuto

I'll add an observation that it's more of an extension of the point on networking. All of the big boys have some form of recommendation process. They clearly need a way to filter through the "small" stack of highly qualified applicants. The internal LOR (or LORs) seems to be a big breakout. It's clearly the case at DAL, FX, SWA, AA....an on.

At American, they are pretty open about where they focus their recruiting emphasis. They push their WOs, like military trained aviators, and straight from Pilot Recruitment, they place a premium on internal recs. As you build your network, try to get connected with mainline or WO CAs/FOs... It could be the last bit of help you need!

Originally Posted by cactusmike

That’s crap. The only thing I care about is whether the guy or gal next to me can; #1, fly well enough for me to trust them, #2 isn’t such a tool that I shut them out after 15 minutes.

The only thing that should count is skills and the ability to get along. The best qualified person for the job, period. Artificial quotas lead to issues in training and line ops. I’ve seen that show before and it’s not pretty.

Originally Posted by flydc

You all are missing the point. Nobody is saying you need to be a minority to get hired as an AA pilot. The overwhelming majority of our new hires are straight, white, men.

American Airlines wants to see that you support diversity and inclusion because you’re going to be working with people from all walks of life. Not just in the cockpit, but with all different types of coworkers and customers. We don’t want people that are going to bring their bias and prejudice into the workplace.

You may not personally agree with this, but this is the official philosophy of the airline. It may not matter to you, but it is important to many of the people who work here, myself included.

Btw, you should be prepared to talk about what diversity and inclusion means to you, should you ever be fortunate enough to get an interview. I was asked in two different ways when I interviewed in 2016.

Originally Posted by GHOST

Exactly. I love how white males feel they are being discriminated against whenever a minority gets hired. 90% of our pilots look the same and have similar qualifications. However when a minority gets hired with the same credentials - somehow "they" didn’t deserve it, or had an advantage. When 10% is too much.

Originally Posted by tizzizzailslf04

As usual with these kinds of threads...a lot of people telling on themselves.

If you can't get hired in a profession that's 90%+ white male, it's not the minorities...it's you. Reflect.

Originally Posted by A330FoodCritic

Maybe there is a reason AA hasn't called you.

Good luck chasing UAL.

Originally Posted by Learflyer

Je$u$ tap dancing Christ. Two words that need to take a little breather in this country.

Originally Posted by Santini

No, I hear ya. Just saying, people want professionals up front. They could care less what parades you march in on your days off. And like it or lump it, it’s reassuring to see that evil white male up front. I don’t think people say, “Wow, all I see are pale male pilots! I’m taking the bus!”

Funny, when I was overseas they wanted Americans in front. Being a white guy is a bonus everywhere but here I guess. Thank goodness my kids can claim “Native American”—they’re gonna’ need it.

Originally Posted by GHOST

Reassuring for who? Please remind us, how is being a white guy not a bonus here in the United States. You clearly don’t get it. Good luck in your future, Sir.