pilotjr2263

So roughly how long is this whole process of everything moves smoothly? I did my video interview coming up on 3 weeks ago.

Clint

The following is from the AA Director of Pilot Recruiting & Development
-----------------

For this week’s hotline, I thought we would answer a few of the most common questions our Pilot Recruiting team receives.

Do we really have a pilot shortage?
This is not only one of the more common questions we get, but probably also one that you are asked by friends, neighbors or others. The answer is, the industry certainly has a pilot shortage, but American Airlines does not. This pilot shortage we hear so much about is most noticeable in other segments of aviation including our military (I’m sure most of you have heard of the US Air Force pilot shortage), regionals, cargo and corporate operations, and even with certified flight instructors. Many collegiate aviation programs have been limiting enrollments due to a lack of instructors. Instructors have become such a commodity in some markets; CFI’s are out there making over $100,000 a year! Of course that may be rare, but it certainly is happening.

American has thousands of current and competitive applications on hand. With our regional flow providing approximately 50% of all our new hire positions, we have considerably more great candidates than we have positions to fill. Despite the fact many of our applicants are also applying at other mainline carriers, our competitive pool has remained very consistent in size if not growing slightly. We are certainly in good shape for the foreseeable future when it comes to providing our cockpits with the best aviators possible.

Do our internal recommendations help get an interview?
Yes, they certainly do. We place significant value on quality recommendations from our pilots. Actually, most pilots hired have numerous internal recommendations. If an applicant is competitive and has these quality referrals, that applicant is most likely in a group we are diligently processing. Unfortunately, there are far more of these qualified applicants than we have open positions, so working through the list takes time. Last year our department received nearly 4,000 personal recommendations from our own employees. We only had 285 new hire positions to fill; with the other 360 coming via our flow agreements.

Do our pilots have a role in our hiring?
In addition to the personal letters of recommendation, our line pilots conduct most of the actual interviews. Our pilots play a very significant role in this selection process as we depend on their perspective and accurate assessment of the candidate throughout the interview process. The first component of this process, the video interview, is reviewed and graded by a group of line pilots that specifically focus on this element. For those candidates that progress to the next phase, the in-person interview, the candidate spends the majority of their time interviewing with two line pilots that assess their skills, judgement and ability.

How does hiring look for this year, and what does it take to get “noticed”?
Fortunately, the hiring plan looks incredibly strong for many years to come. We anticipate between 700-900 new pilots in 2018. About half of these pilots will come to us as result of our flow agreements and the other half through our selection process. The majority of the pilots we interview have a military background and a considerable amount of turboprop or turbojet PIC time. If an applicant has these attributes, scores well on our organizational fit assessment and has a few quality internal recommendations, chances are they are on our radar already. As we have the openings to fill, we continue to bring these candidates in for interviews.

What advice do you have for someone with an ultimate career goal of flying for American?
Our three wholly owned regionals — PSA, Piedmont and Envoy - play an integral part in our long-term pilot pipeline strategy. For someone who is taking the civilian route and desiring to fly for American, we highly recommend flying for one of our regionals. As you have seen in the last few years, our primary source of pilots is the military and our three regionals. Our unique seniority-based flow agreements make the regional path the one most certain to lead to our cockpit.

Again, your recommendations and involvement in our recruitment process are key elements to our success. Thank you for helping us to find pilots who would be a great asset to our airline.

1Barracuda

Anyone have any current information on what questions asked in the video interview currently?

Thanks!

thrust

Join the “RST American” Facebook group and ask there.

Pneal29

Got an video interview invite today as well. Be careful as the email is from the “Support Department” and I almost deleted it, yikes! Cheers!

RNO Flyer

Anybody have an idea on how high/low threat the video interview is?

Saber72

Pretty low threat unless you have some big personality issues or don't answer the questions at all. Per some of the personnel who review the videos, it takes an egregious fault to "fail" it.

General rule for AA (now) is if they invite you to interview they want to hire you. It's yours to lose.

Soup

I took mine a little bit ago, 3 questions. It went so fast I thought they cut me short actually. Then I got the additional information the next day. It was very low threat. Dress in a suit/tie, clean background and it goes fast. I paid for a interview prep company, not a single question they provided was in the video haha so not sure it was worth the money. But, the questions I did receive were very straightforward and the 1 minute timer allowed plenty of time for one to generate a proper response.

Pilot X

Do they play the Jeopardy music during the timer?

desertdweller

A few questions with regards to letters of recommendation:

Can retirees submit them?
Can family members submit them?

Thank you!