You have field that can hold more than 500 characters. If you’re not using them, maybe is time to see how to fill them with your story.

Example: Why you left X company?
Usual answer: “I left X company because got hired at Y company”

Better Answer: “I left X company, because X company unfortunately was closing. Y company gave me the opportunity to keep growing as a professional pilot at the same time I was finishing my degree”

Which one would you think it may have a better chance? Every story is different, tell yours and keep knocking the door.

 

excactly!

fill those boxes of work achievements/ any clubs you were or are a part of. Do you do any side work at your 91/135 or at the 2 previous airlines. Most guys/gals have basically everything they have accomplished in there professional life college and forward listed or explained. The app is the killer for so many people who have the bare minimum in each box.

And my class had a few purely bizjet pilots as well so ignore what that one pilot said.

 

Thanks for the tips and the encouragement.
I'll be working on revamping the application. If anything pans out from it, we'll see. Can any of you suggest a good resume/application reviewing company?

 

Personally, I’d use a friend who works here first and has been through the process. Get it right so that when you review they can hone in on the minor things and make it sparkle.

I used Centerline a few years ago and it payed off.

 

True, but UAL also has a CP meet and greet (as far as I know they still do) which I assume has limits on how many people you can "walk in" so to speak. JB has/had a "blue dart" F9 has/had a "silver bullet" etc. While I don't think we should return to the days of knowing/having access to one particular person (even though he was a really cool person) as being the only way for a non connected, non Space Shuttle Door Gunner pilot to have a chance, I would like to see a little more weight attached to a limited number of (even if its just one) pilot recommendations. If they're so particular about who they hire, especially when so much of that is the person and not just the numbers on the resume, then wouldn't it make sense to weigh the recommendation of those hand selected people a little more than just a blind app pull/score?

 

While that doesn't make me feel better at all, that's the case with pretty much every airline, especially the ones considered to be more desirable airlines among the broader pilot applicant group at large. As a general rule, airlines who pretty much automatically take anyone who meets/exceeds their published qualifications are generally not the best places to be, and no airline is or has ever been a pure stove-piped meritocracy.

While I can't speak for the Endeavor pilots you referenced, there are great pilots turned down by pretty much every airline. Sometimes its the wonkish double jeopardy trivia questions on the written test (if there is one). Sometimes it is (was) the arguably laughable evaluation in a full motion airline sim that they never flew before. Other times its the battery of cog tests which, while we may roll our eyes at that, the powers that be swear that there is a strong correlation between those predictors and success in the firehose training programs. Other times literally 5 minutes in the "hot seat" of an otherwise "good cop" interview is enough to rattle someone enough to give those in the position of deciding if they want to hire someone for several decades while only having a very short time with them to make that decision some serious doubt.

And we simply have to move on from the concept of "good enough to fly XYZ's passengers" because that's just silly. It attaches a level of morality to it that simply doesn't resonate with the reality of it. Is that really superior to being "good enough" to fly nuclear weapons? High level politicians/military leaders/VIP's? Other airline's passengers?

I'd like to see a stronger relationship between DL and its regionals WRT pilot hiring, but I don't think a 100% guaranteed pipeline is always the way to go.

 

Checked and set.

https://checkedandset.net/

 

Boy I’m glad I got hired a long time ago. My app was pretty much I graduated from college and flew tankers in the Air Force........

 

I came from a 91 corporate department with a 121 regional background prior to that. There are a lot of aspects of 91 corporate flying that you can emphasize as strengths that can set you apart. Cage consulting did my app review. FWIW

 

A close friend of mine applied at UA a few years ago. He wanted them in the worst way. I attended a UA job fare with him. It was obvious not even the UA hiring department knows their "algorithm".


He finally gave up on UA and got hired by Delta. It now appears that was the better choice all along. FWIW. He graduated summa cum laude from a respected university. He flew for an express carrier for several years before going to DL.