I will admit this. Delta does have some ego. I personally know the woman that you are referring to. She is a class act. I will say this Delta is not like other places. If you do not comply they will kick your sorry a$$ to the curb. They make no qualms about it. It is a little rough. Basically they want to know if you can play the game. Some cannot, and that is what they are weeding out. IMHO they just weeded you out because you do not want to deal with their BS. It saves them time and resources so I guess that she did her job. I have to say that it is quite effective.

"how "wrong" and "unfair" the system really is. We can't fix that"

It doesn't need to be fixed. Anyone who considers a career as a pilot at SWA beneath him, and yet moans about how unfair the system is, has no credibility.

"I've always believed that sometimes the battle goes to the persistent"

It does.

First off, you are right, she weeded me out, or I weeded myself out. Good for her. I do not think I would fit the Delta corporate culture, if that presentation was any indication.

Secondly, I get what you are saying but I am far from a "sorry a$$'. Every company I have ever worked for has been lucky to have me. From my first job as a landscaper, to my current employer. Generally there is no one at a company that works harder or more diligently than me. I am also real good at what I do.

Third, I can play the game. I can do and have done what it takes to fit in wherever I have worked. The difference now is that I do not want to play the game anymore. I am looking for the career job now. I am looking for that place that I am going to retire from. Therefore company culture is more important than pay. I would rather make $120,000 a year at retirement and be happy than $200,000 a year and be miserable.

I am happy for you that you are there, and I hope it is good for you. I do not think it is for me. To each their own.

That right there is the funniest f'n post I've read. EVER!

S>

Are you sure you wouldn't fit in at DAL? :D

I didn't say that to be cocky or rude, but it is true. I am extremely competent, quick on the uptake, and have had more than one employer tell me that they wished everyone did as good a job as me. A company either wants to hire me or they don't, I'm not losing sleep over it.

Her point is to be professional. Put your best foot forward. You should see some of the crap that they get in these applications. They want you to write complete sentences, and spell correctly. It really is not that difficult
Many people have been hired with less than perfect pasts. Delta knows that people make mistakes, it is what you do with them that counts.
I am sorry that she made a bad impression. She is by far one of the good ones. I think that you took the words the wrong way. Delta is very professional. That is putting it mildly. It does not fit everyone. That is why Delta is mostly Military. They can put up with the BS to get in the door. It is a lot different once you are in. I think that you may actually like it here.

Point
 

The point that I am bringing up is that this career made some sense back when it was common to reach your goal job while still in your 20's. Today the average age of new hire at the majors is near 40.

The minimums at the majors have been changing faster then many can keep up with. Hardly ten years ago FedEx had minimums of 500 SIC turbine and people were getting hired at those times. Now UPS wants huge PIC and international overseas time.

In my case I started out when UAL wanted 250 total time and a commercial license. I put my best efforts forward for more than a decade and a half. Every year the minimums went higher and every year I chased them like everyone else only to discover that by the time I got there that they had changed again.

The path use to be CFI - charter - major. Then CFI - Charter - Regional - Major. The next wave seems to be CFI - Charter - Regional - LCC - Major. Starting totally over with each new layer.

At some point in investing, War and life sticking the course is just plain stupid. If the age 65 rule is put into place the average age of major new hire will be nearing 45. Pilots will reach an 80K FO by 50 years old.

The experience I had that gave me interviews in years past was now worthless. At 36 I was expected to start completely over. I don't have decades of my life to waste anymore. At best I might have been able to reach competitive minimums again by 43-45. It just isn't even close to being worth it.

This career has gone from lucrative and rewarding to abusive and foolish.


Skyhigh

unfortunately, these gals exist; which makes my life a lot harder. :(

Delta ops...
 

As for Delta, their engineering department at ATL called me in for a face to face interview before I graduated engineering school. They went over everything from how to do engineering problems to what do I think is going to happen to Delta in their bankruptcy to why I chose to work such and such a summer job last year. I thought the interview would never end, it went on for three hours. One of the engineers played hard cop and the other good cop while a third and fourth sat there like mafioso and said nothing the whole time. I remember them asking questions that were deliberately designed to prod and provoke. They didn't offer me the job and I was glad they didn't. I don't know about the flying side but the engineering wing is very military like.

SkyHigh may be a downer to some of you and the pancake bunny is funny, but I believe he is doing the pilot community a valuable service by posting about his true to life experiences. If more pilots who have his sort of past reported on it, and I think there are some... there wouldn't be a pilot surplus. What's funny about SkyHigh is that he feels some responsibility to take on this role of underdog and get splashed all the time. The guy really loves aviation, pilots, and writing about the two.