crflyer

Got ya. What I'm wondering is if, say, you had a really good resume but they would not call you until you hit X hours, all other things aside. Does anyone know if there's any sort of filter like this? Just throwing out 1500 for mil and 4000 civil as examples. Are people going to waste an internal rec for a year if their time isn't XXX...

captkdobbs

How about this explanation regarding education?:
1.) Aviation/Higher-ranked school probably scores higher than Party School.
2.) 4-yr Completion probably scores higher than >4-yr Completion
3.) Aviation/Engineering/Challenging Degree probably scores higher than Under-water Basket Weaving
4.) 4.0 GPA probably scores higher than a 3.0 GPA
5.) Having job dates that coincide with college probably scores higher than not. (perhaps it shows you were working your way through school)

And probably, the infinite combination of the above 5 items scores differently.

I would guess that the absolute highest scoring educational situation would be attaining an Aviation/Engineering Degree from a Highly-rated/Aviation University, completing in 4 years with a 4.0, all while flying and holding down a job or two. Education score: One Meeelion Points!

The problem is that, even if you max out the education score, this is only one part of a very complex application. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to maximize your application's total score to that magical threshold that will trigger the interview invite. And before you ask, no, I don't know the magic score. Sorry.

lear700pilot

I think most know on here that I am still an outside guy looking in - I just like to make this statement so most can stop here and move on to the next post

TED makes a good point with his paragraph from above stating "Every right to analyze the system responsible for and/or the timing of their dream job." This isn't to mean that we have rights to knowing how Delta's system is set up - that's proprietary to them of course, but we should do our dangest to try and figure it out. Just one mistake could cost an applicant six months or years of seniority. I've done two interview preps and one was with a Delta recruiter that has a side business doing interview prep. He looked at my app and stated "it's clean and very competitive", but I haven't heard a word and that's been a while ago since he reviewed my app. I know I and and many will get the call, but how much will be lost in the process? Some say don't worry the hiring hasn't even started, but we never know what tomorrow will bring to screw it up again for another lost decade.

One thing that I can give validity to after attending two conferences and having three Delta recruiters tell me the same information - there is a Selection Team and an Interview Team. Those trying to get an invite are trying to tip the scales in favor of the SELECTION TEAM. Once you get the invite then it is the INTERVIEW TEAM that you have to prove yourself to. The Selection Team does not seem to be near as big of a group of people as the interview team.

The point I am trying to make is that so many of us just want to find a way to tip the Section team scales in our favor. So much of our careers seems to be judged now off what we did 10, 15, and 20 years ago in college or the degree we got. I have a non aviation but technical degree with a high gpa. It took me 6 years to complete while working through it to pay for it and flight training, but a pure civ FO guy I flew with recently that graduated riddle with a good gpa and did that in 4 years is training to be a 767 driver at DAL. That is not all that got him the job, but on a flight before he left we talked about what set him apart and that was the highlight. I took the first upgrade, have thousands of 121 PIC hrs, training department work, but PIC hrs definitely don't seem have the weight for the selection team they used to. Maybe to the interview team they might make a big impression.

Please do not think I am trying to compare myself to others and say I am better than someone else because that's not the case here - I've been told once before I was coming across that way. My point is I've been trying to proactively find ways to improve myself and find out what is helping others get noticed and see if it is something I can do as well without putting too much stress on family life in the process.

Those getting the invite now can easily say "hey, this is what works", but we can't all go back to what we did over a decade ago, maybe we can change some of the short term stuff, but short term is something that almost everyone will change as well. It is what it is, but hopefully a year from now vast majority on here will be complaining about how our profit sharing should be ... percent!

Humboldt

I interviewed with 3500 TT, 1500 of which was helo time, don't sweat it too much. Then again, I attached a Glamour Shots photo to my app and was called a couple days later.

Humboldt

Learflyer

I will have completed my degree in 22 years. How's that? But....I've shown longevity and grit weathering multiple furloughs, was a LCA, Training Center Examiner, and Sim Instructor. Not to mention about 7 type ratings so I'm trainable.

MikeF16

I wouldn't worry about the time it took to get the double major. I took 9 semesters for EE/ROTC to get 148 credit hours (I think it was like 124 required to graduate but my school didn't apply any of the ROTC classes towards my major). Coming out of the military you're used to all the tech majors out there. Once I got hired I have found very few people with tech majors other than those same guys who had them in the military. Not to say there aren't any, but for the most part the high % of engineering majors to become a pilot is a (stupid) military anomaly. In my non-insider information opinion, I think your double engineering major in 5 years is a plus, not a minus.

It's like the military prides itself on making officers get really hard degrees and then never let us use them. Other than looking good on my airline application, my engineering degree has done NOTHING for me since earning it over 20 years ago. Sorry for the minor rant .

ExAF

That and don't forget the required Masters Degree.

Mesabah

That's the amazing thing about it, in the airline world, your engineering degree has value, but in the engineering world, because it is so old without any recent experience, is worthless. It would make a whole lot more sense if airlines required an aviation degree, but then there would be a shortage, and they would have to pay us more money.

MikeF16

Yeah, forgot about that gem. At least my masters degree is in aviation safety from ERAU. Not saying it is terribly more applicable than my undergrad but at least an outsider might think it helps me do a better job.

Funny, I never really even considered this. Very astute point.

EDIT: on 2nd thought, I had a friend who tried to hire me to a defense contractor to manage engineering projects. I told him how little I remembered about engineering but he said it didn't matter, he just needed somebody who could talk the talk. I think I'd have done very poorly but in regard to the point, the degree would've helped me get the job if not necessarily do well at it.

gloopy

And the whole issue of college times and GPA in its entirety is a small part of the overall picture, including the MANUAL SCORING system. Longer than 4.0 years and lower GPA's ARE getting hired right now. Its about your total app. You are WAY over emphasising this one tiny issue.

As for trying to craft advice for new people at this point, its a bit late for that. By the time anyone still in college gets the time and experience to be even remotely competitive things will have changed a lot and we'll be deep into the bell curve of tier II anyway.

You are WAY over-emphasising this.