Job Fair in DC
09-24-2007, 07:34 AM
#2
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Joined APC: Jun 2007
Position: Bigfoot
Posts: 1,077
Seemed like less people than were in attendance at the ATL fair, but more exhibitors. Still massive lines for CAL, DAL, and UPS. I was very surprised to see almost non-existent lines at NWA, UAL, LUV, and USair - so naturally I hit all those up. I have to hand it to Kit Darby - I wonder how much that guy clears on average with each job fair?
09-24-2007, 10:26 AM
#3
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jul 2007
Position: E190
Posts: 103
DCA Fair
Brief Synopsis:
My favorites: When Great Lakes and Mesa came up to do their spiel. Why to work for them:
#1 GL "this is a great place to come if you want to get someplace else."
#2 Mesa "We are the only ones in the industry to never take a pay cut. Of course we have never had a pay raise either."
#3 A fractional rep was stating how he never thought he would be flying the fractionals but was telling how satisfying it was. He just was waiting for the pilot shortage as he shot a look at Kit Darby and said "I was waiting a long time for the shortage to come around until I gave up and started with the fractionals"
Majors
DAL was doing about a 5 minute screener. Was told I would hear something in 1 week. They were screening people at the door of their room. If you didn't have the mins you were not allowed in. The room was busy to the very end.
CAL was doing about 5 - 10 minute and longer screener. Took a number and waited my turn. There were so many people that they eventually shut the line down and took resumes promising to look over them. I met someone who did not meet the mins, went into the room and was shunned for taking up their time. At the very end the CAL HR looked like they had just come off a EWR HKG flight.
UPS was not taking resumes and they were only interested in taking some names to pull from their electronic files. I do not have a current FEX so they did not say much to me. (I guess I'll go to ALL ATP and and get myslef current for a THIRD time) It was a Q and A session at most. Any other experience from a qualified candidate is welcome. They had a stable line all day.
United was very friendly and was checking your resumes against their computers. Apparently a lot of people, including myself, had the time matrix wrong. So many that they are sending a general email out to all in Oct to recheck your times. If your times do not match up with the bubble questions in the front part of the app you go into limbo. Was told to call one of the reps if I had not heard something in a few weeks and was handed a personal business card.
Northwest was also very friendly and was assured I would receive a call soon.
US Airways was very nice and I had a problem with there online app. It did not even appear in their system. They had some problems with their app process and have fixed their problem. They had a laptop with app info their to check your status to make sure it was ok. Apparently mine did not exist.
Emirates was setting up time slots for initial screening interviews and answering any questions about Dubai.
Cathay had some initial screenings. They have switched to an all electronic CV process. (Yeah no more A4 paper!)
The lines were all at the majors. The regionals were all there except for Xjet and Trans States. The regionals had a few people in line at the most all day. It was nice to see there empty tables. Maybe this will be a sign that the 17k/year will cease to exist.
Daniel Webster University was there. I talked with Steve Brown, a flight manager, and good guy. He is hiring professional flight instructors starting around 40k. The universities cannot keep instructors on site long enough to finish a primary student let. Half the graduating class has a slot at the regionals.
With all the regionals hiring there is no reason beside base location to start your career at Gojet, Mesa, or Great Lakes. Hold out for a month or two. You will get hired with this regional demand. I have never seen anything like it.
The contractors were there but for the most part this was a low time fair.
The were mostly looking for typed people and time requirements that were not readily available. Some of the overseas contracts looked nice.
The fractionals made their pitch about QOL and stability. I think they are feeling the pinch from the regional hiring.
The LCCs were out in force but the Skybus line was not as big as you would think from all the lower time guys running around. Good to see that its not worth it. Virgin was not present. Jetblue was friendly as usual and enthusiastic as JetBlue is, but it did not have the lines it did in the past as upgrade time had pushed way out. Met a guy who dropped a blue resume on JB and they ate it up. SWA is not hiring now so for an odd reversal their room had only a few people inside. They are still no requiring a type but they look at the typed preferably. I just had a friend a few months back who got the job without the type. Airtran had some people in line also but I did not get any info from people that went over to talk to them.
You may not have gotten hired at the job fair but I am sure that resultant interviews will occur for many people at many of the majors.
The process of hiring at most of the majors is in disarray. They are gearing up and polishing their systems and are no where near peak efficiency. CAL is doing well as they have been using their system regularly but ALL the majors were not prepared for the sheer volume of candidates present. The lines were the biggest at CAL and DAL. After people finished with CAL and DAL they set off for the other airlines. I went reverse flow and started with the contractors and other legacies and hit them up in about an hour. The rest took 4 hours. Again, there were virtually no lines at the regionals so stick to your guns come contract time and you will see improvement. I can't stress how many regionals kept stating "these are our minimums but come and talk to us and we will work something out" Many had commercial rating as their basic requirement.
The pilot shortage may finally be here and I do NOT give credit to Kit Darby's predictions as eventually someone will be right when they say the end of the world is near....because eventually , in the course of time, it will be.
My favorites: When Great Lakes and Mesa came up to do their spiel. Why to work for them:
#1 GL "this is a great place to come if you want to get someplace else."
#2 Mesa "We are the only ones in the industry to never take a pay cut. Of course we have never had a pay raise either."
#3 A fractional rep was stating how he never thought he would be flying the fractionals but was telling how satisfying it was. He just was waiting for the pilot shortage as he shot a look at Kit Darby and said "I was waiting a long time for the shortage to come around until I gave up and started with the fractionals"
Majors
DAL was doing about a 5 minute screener. Was told I would hear something in 1 week. They were screening people at the door of their room. If you didn't have the mins you were not allowed in. The room was busy to the very end.
CAL was doing about 5 - 10 minute and longer screener. Took a number and waited my turn. There were so many people that they eventually shut the line down and took resumes promising to look over them. I met someone who did not meet the mins, went into the room and was shunned for taking up their time. At the very end the CAL HR looked like they had just come off a EWR HKG flight.
UPS was not taking resumes and they were only interested in taking some names to pull from their electronic files. I do not have a current FEX so they did not say much to me. (I guess I'll go to ALL ATP and and get myslef current for a THIRD time) It was a Q and A session at most. Any other experience from a qualified candidate is welcome. They had a stable line all day.
United was very friendly and was checking your resumes against their computers. Apparently a lot of people, including myself, had the time matrix wrong. So many that they are sending a general email out to all in Oct to recheck your times. If your times do not match up with the bubble questions in the front part of the app you go into limbo. Was told to call one of the reps if I had not heard something in a few weeks and was handed a personal business card.
Northwest was also very friendly and was assured I would receive a call soon.
US Airways was very nice and I had a problem with there online app. It did not even appear in their system. They had some problems with their app process and have fixed their problem. They had a laptop with app info their to check your status to make sure it was ok. Apparently mine did not exist.
Emirates was setting up time slots for initial screening interviews and answering any questions about Dubai.
Cathay had some initial screenings. They have switched to an all electronic CV process. (Yeah no more A4 paper!)
The lines were all at the majors. The regionals were all there except for Xjet and Trans States. The regionals had a few people in line at the most all day. It was nice to see there empty tables. Maybe this will be a sign that the 17k/year will cease to exist.
Daniel Webster University was there. I talked with Steve Brown, a flight manager, and good guy. He is hiring professional flight instructors starting around 40k. The universities cannot keep instructors on site long enough to finish a primary student let. Half the graduating class has a slot at the regionals.
With all the regionals hiring there is no reason beside base location to start your career at Gojet, Mesa, or Great Lakes. Hold out for a month or two. You will get hired with this regional demand. I have never seen anything like it.
The contractors were there but for the most part this was a low time fair.
The were mostly looking for typed people and time requirements that were not readily available. Some of the overseas contracts looked nice.
The fractionals made their pitch about QOL and stability. I think they are feeling the pinch from the regional hiring.
The LCCs were out in force but the Skybus line was not as big as you would think from all the lower time guys running around. Good to see that its not worth it. Virgin was not present. Jetblue was friendly as usual and enthusiastic as JetBlue is, but it did not have the lines it did in the past as upgrade time had pushed way out. Met a guy who dropped a blue resume on JB and they ate it up. SWA is not hiring now so for an odd reversal their room had only a few people inside. They are still no requiring a type but they look at the typed preferably. I just had a friend a few months back who got the job without the type. Airtran had some people in line also but I did not get any info from people that went over to talk to them.
You may not have gotten hired at the job fair but I am sure that resultant interviews will occur for many people at many of the majors.
The process of hiring at most of the majors is in disarray. They are gearing up and polishing their systems and are no where near peak efficiency. CAL is doing well as they have been using their system regularly but ALL the majors were not prepared for the sheer volume of candidates present. The lines were the biggest at CAL and DAL. After people finished with CAL and DAL they set off for the other airlines. I went reverse flow and started with the contractors and other legacies and hit them up in about an hour. The rest took 4 hours. Again, there were virtually no lines at the regionals so stick to your guns come contract time and you will see improvement. I can't stress how many regionals kept stating "these are our minimums but come and talk to us and we will work something out" Many had commercial rating as their basic requirement.
The pilot shortage may finally be here and I do NOT give credit to Kit Darby's predictions as eventually someone will be right when they say the end of the world is near....because eventually , in the course of time, it will be.
09-24-2007, 10:52 AM
#6
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Sep 2007
Position: KC-135R IP/EP
Posts: 273
Pilotss hit the nail on the head...my $.02-when I was 23, fresh out of ERAU with a comm/mel/cfii/mei and 500tt, I couldn't even talk to someone flying a 1900 unless I had $12,500 to pay flight safety and MAYBE then I might get an interview (most still wanted 1200tt/200me), NOW, if you have 400tt/50me, you can pick your ERJ/CRJ/1900 carrier of choice and get full pay while in training...Don't like Mr. Darby myself, but he is onto something, never seen anything quite like this...
09-24-2007, 11:22 AM
#7
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Mar 2006
Posts: 3,333
Originally Posted by LifeNtheFstLne
Seemed like less people than were in attendance at the ATL fair, but more exhibitors. Still massive lines for CAL, DAL, and UPS. I was very surprised to see almost non-existent lines at NWA, UAL, LUV, and USair - so naturally I hit all those up. I have to hand it to Kit Darby - I wonder how much that guy clears on average with each job fair?
Pilotss - great report.
Last edited by ⌐ AV8OR WANNABE; 09-24-2007 at 11:30 AM.
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