Or adding flight hours not actually flown.. Maybe add a few thousand extra hours to pad the resume..?
Where would it end?

Personal integrity?

That is one of the most asinine assessments I have ever heard.
Not all of us work 9-5 (like HR) or fly 3-4 day trips. Some of us are/were gone 20+ days a month and the only thing you want to do when you finally get home is recuperate. By the time you get caught up physically/mentally and do all of those housing keeping items (such as paying bills) it is time to go back to work. Barely having time to do the have-to-stuff.

This whole (semi-mandatory) volunteering thing is nothing more than some cube dweller's idea to justify their job and never realizing that a good portion of us in this industry do not live the way they do.

Just like how long did it take you to finish college thing. Well, some of us worked out way through college and I had a couple of buddies that would go one or two semesters and then take a semester off to make money to come back. For them to finish their degree it took 6+ yrs.

At OBAP last year, I talked to a real nice HR lady at UPS. She looked over my resume and complemented me on all my different type ratings. She commented on things that made my resume stand out like being an evaluator or functional check pilot for my wing and leadership responsibilities that I've had like chief of safety, and chief of scheduling and whatnot. "These are all things that would make us want to have you on our team", she said. Of course, I'm thinking "Great!"

Then she asks me, "what have you done to volunteer? I see no volunteer activities on your resume."

There was an ackward pause on my part, then she said, "You see that gentleman over there? He volunteers at the United Way. And that gentleman...he volunteers his free time at Habitat for Humanity. And that captain..." She kept rambling.

Of course what I wanted to say and what I did say we're two different things...

"If you're looking for someone to show up on time, work hard, and not complain, I'm your guy. If you're looking for someone to build playgrounds for orphans on their time off, maybe this isn't the place for me."

And "thank you for your time."

"I volunteer my time by choosing to catch up with my wife and family while I'm home because I leave them 16 days/month. I volunteer to give my wife a break from the household duties while i'm home."

That'd be my answer. Does she really think that the tens of thousands of major airline pilots flying the skies today all volunteer on their days off? For realz?

Volunteer as a family. It can be rewarding and a great way to introduce your children to helping others.

Volunteer once every two months.

I've worked 20+ day trips. I found ways to volunteer. I enjoy it. I have friends I work with.

Just saying it can be done if you want to instead of making excuses, not saying you have to.

You're right, it can be done if you wanted to bad enough. I could stop drinking too, if I wanted to.

I basically told her that I spent the majority of 2014 in Afghanistan, and since I had retuned to the states in December (OBAP was in August of 15) I had been volunteering with coaching my sons' t-ball team. That didn't seem good enough of an answer for her. That's when she went on about the United Way, yada, yada.

Anyway, I'm perfectly content to work at a place where I was hired based on my credentials and people are free to volunteer because they want to, not because they profit from it somehow and it makes them look good.

I hear ya.

IMHO, not accepting volunteering for your son's t-ball is pretty weak. I'd be upset, that's BS.

The reason they ask these questions is not to determine your charitable nature, but to see how good you are at slinging baloney.
Pilots need this important skill for making P.A. announcements.

Only 16? Not 18-19 commuting to reserve

Which ends up being 20-21+ for some.

With that type of schedule, I agree. Enjoy a few days off with the family and obligations, dedicate 1-2 to volunteer, dedicate what's rest for the family and obligations, boom.

Now, doing a 4/5 on 2/3 off pattern all month involving 4-5 days of commuting on days off is NOT ANYWHERE NEAR AS EASY. Or less difficult, depending on your perspective.

Being home for 36-64 hours at a time creates TONS of logistical problems.