Tips for getting the interview...
 

Talking to many United pilots, there are a lot of good tips out there for getting a better chance of an interview. So far the big ones are, double check and update your app, 5 LORs, get a 4 year degree, and go to the WIA and OBAP job fairs. I figure though some of you on here might be a little closer to the hiring and may have some additional advice that might help.

My situation is that I'm a 2700 hour E175 FO, I was in the Army for 7 years and left as an operations NCOIC. Before getting hired at the regionals, I was a Chief Flight Instructor for a Part 61 school in Alaska. I understand the need for a degree and while I'll be working on it, I'm at the very beginning because of deployments and work trying to get to this point. I may have to wait 4+ years till I have it, but seniority is everything and though I haven't "paid my dues" as much as most RA guys, I'm looking to be that go getter doing everything else I can in the mean time to get noticed. I don't know any management people and don't know many United pilots.

All that said, does anyone have advice on what I can do to stand out. Maybe I should send fruit baskets to all the CPs 😂
Thanks in advance for the advice!

I would recommend a meet and greet with a cp!


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The four year degree would be the best addition to your repertoire. As a low time guy, you will not get looked at without all the big boxes checked off...college being the most obvious. Keep updating and make sure everything on the application is accurate. I had a conversation with Doris...the nice lady that is the gatekeeper to all the interview stuff. She said they have never seen someone with a perfect driving record. Be sure to include any traffic violation from when you started driving. It puts up a red BS flag if nothing is in there.

Keep chugging away, get your degree and keep your name out of the headlines. You will get there. I'd also Recommend trying to get involved in your airlines interview process. You can learn a lot by being involved in the process. Volunteer to work your airlines booth at the job fairs. You make some serious connections and it might open a door for you.

There are a lot of low time guys at regionals with a false sense of hope for an interview. You need to check every regular box and check one or two hard to get boxes to have a shot. The low time guys getting calls aren't your normal run of the mill regional guys. They are the interns, union volunteers, or are just over achievers in general.

Get the degree, network your ass off, forget the "you max out points at X letters of rec" and just keep adding to the pile with people inside/outside the organization, and the hardest part is showing that you really, truly want the job. A sloppy app, not doing interview prep (helps with job fairs), and not going above and beyond the average guy are all the kiss of death. It is a marathon and no quick fix will get the job.

Your service is great but you have holes in your app. Network while you fix them and as soon as you are competitive you should get the call.

Hey guys thanks for the advice. I did forget to add that I do volunteer as a part of the recruiting team. I have done some interviews and spoken at a few colleges.

We were also told by a hiring representative that the "Employment Awards and Achievements" and "Educational Awards and Achievements" boxes on airlineapps were highly weighted and gave a lot of points to an applicant. So work hard to find ways to get things in there!

I was in your situation, they called me after I finished my 2 year degree....quiet literally a few weeks after I finished it.

Chief pilot rec. If you can get one of those, you'll get an interview. The CP recs are hard to come by these days. They've limited the amount of recs a cp can submit, but I believe anyone with a rec these days is getting a shot at an interview. Good Luck!

Tips for getting the interview...
 

I recommend being extremely detail oriented on your app. For example. It's WAI, not WIA.
https://www.wai.org

And seek out some quality volunteer work.

I have a perfect driving record and I got hired. Just be honest.