RedeyeAV8r

Hey Mark I agree with you but.............

Remember when MGT paid for the whole Interview Porcess?
Round trip Airfare to/from your home
Hotel in MEM paid for by FDX......I stayed at the Courtyard Marriot just off Millbranch. They told me to expense my meals and Taxi rides.

Lets bring that back.........trouble is, it ain't up to us.

You will still see that BLUE F-18 ( or other tactiacl grey warbird)occasionaly parked at Wilson Aviation for the Day............Do you really think that guy is setting up Airshows??

It is just how things are.

FXDX

Maybe I wasn't clear enough in my post. I am ok with the referral system. I don't see the need for a formal, required meet and greet with an ACP prior to even getting a call for an interview.

I was one of the 30 people in line back in Jun (I believe) when they had the open season for the M&G and it was a nightmare. Totally unnecessary as well in my opinion. The ACPs weren't happy, the pilots weren't happy, and the poor receptionist wasn't happy. It was ridiculous.

In 2003 I was able to get a bud an informal m&g with JL and it was very helpful for that candidate. I've helped several others before the required meet and greet process was incorporated and they did just fine.

I agree that coming to Mempho and meeting an ACP is a wise idea and certainly might give you a leg up in the process. I don't agree with making it mandatory, however, and wish the requirement would go away. If the sponsor is willing to go in and sit down with the ACP informally and convince the ACP that this person is right for FedEx that ought to be enough.

I also understand that the more sponsors the better, the tag team approach works great, but I don't think that 3 sponsors should be required either. Not everybody knows 3 pilots at FedEx and one good sponsor ought to be enough to get a freakin interview. It is the interviewer's job, after all, to determine if the candidate is right for FedEx, and we eliminate a lot of qualified, top notch pilots with the (unofficial) requirement to have 3 sponsors.

Every HR department in the world preaches that they want the best employees possible, but what they really mean is that they want the best they can get right now in with the least risk and cheapest costs. We forgo considering a lot of excellent candidates with our process, but it is what it is.

FDX aviator

I'm not against some kind of a sponsor system.
What really surprises me is that our system has become institutionalized enough that they put it out on 'paper', (FCIF) b/c it seems to me that would open up the company for a lawsuit on equal opportunity.
Let's face it, there are a lot of people out there who are very qualified, excellent pilots/employees, but don't know anyone here. (or at least haven't flown with anyone here) Of course, you don't want to bite the hand that might feed you, but surely there might be some sour grapes out there that can get their hands on a copy of an FCIF. I don't think one of the FCIFs would look good in court.

80ktsClamp

Thanks for the input... I assumed it would just go back to the way it was before it became an "interview before the interview."

Hope to be joining you guys at Fred soon.

FDXer

Lawsuit about what? It's called references. Every employment application worth a darn has a space for references. It just so happens FedEx's are called meet-n-greets, sponsors, recs, or anthing else you can drum up. Equal opportunity folks still need to back it up with references...

frozenboxhauler

Hey Redeye, when did they do that? It had to be before 88. If not, I wonder if it's too late to expense it
fbh

fecav8r

Here's why the meet and greets are important. At last count we had 11000+ applications on file. Of those about 70% qualify. Of those, only about 70% have any rec's at all. We are basically building this company for the future. Yeah, I hear the stuff about "if they have a rec it should be good enough." Well, I've seen some rec's that weren't worth the paper they were written on. So what you do is you make the sponsor and the applicant put their money where their mouth is. You force the "sponsor" to go the extra mile and set up a meet and greet with an ACP. Hey, if you won't take a day out of your life to come to Mem to do this, what do you really think of your app. I have had guys jumpseat in from Paris to do a meet and greet. Hell, I had a guy come to Manila to do one. (oh hell, I just gave it away). I also had a guy bring an app into my office that was supposedly his nephews. When I told him to get with me and set up a time he could meet with his nephew, he(the Uncle) said he lived on the west coast and that would be real inconvenient for him. I shredded the app when he walked out the door. With all the applicants out there, you have to have a screening process, and I'd rather leave it to pilots than HR people.

Fedex999999

You are right, in theory. But the real problem was IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO GET A MEET AND GREET APPOINTMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It became a whole new layer of "who you know" just to get that appointment. So even if you were willing to go the extra mile, show up whenever and wherever with your guy, some were still denied access.

And what about guys that have 1 or 2 recs, but not three? Rec are recs. Or they should be if they are strong.

fecav8r

Yeah, I agree that the process is a bit screwed up, but the reason they went to that is that the CP's in Mem were spending 3 or 4 hours a day just doing meet and greets and somebody had to come up with a process that was somewhat "fair". It's not perfect but it is a step in the right direction.

FXDX

Well, from my experience at the last cattle call we have a long way to go toward fixing the process.

If the ACPs are spending too much time on it then it should just be eliminated, not made more complex and difficult.