I don't think it is quite as easy to get hired as you are making it seem. After slogging it out with a perfect record, multiple job fairs with great interactions, chief pilot meet and greets, 7000+ TT and 1500 TPIC I still haven't been able to make it to a legacy... my regional was full of guys with great experience and every box checked just waiting on the call. We are literally a dime a dozen and the legacy airlines are working through the stack of applicants. Right now it takes quite a bit to be competitive unless you really stand out from the herd. That might not be the case in two years but for right now the average times of those civilians getting hired by legacy carriers (roughly 7500) is equivalent to almost a decade of regional flying.

I think TT and TPIC have much less to do with hiring than most people think. It might have been the case 10 years ago, but now it seems that advanced degrees, union work, committee work, volunteer work, etc is what is setting a lot of people apart.

This certainly wasn't the case for the people who showed in my hiring group. 7/8 were male, the female didn't get hired. No minorities. Half were in their 40's, the rest were in their low to mid 30's. None had flowthrough. Every one of them seemed like a genuinely nice person. 5/8 were strict military, one was mil/regional but he didn't get hired...
YMMV but there are jobs out there. Keep networking and keep trying!

Boy these HR departments like titles.... All the guys getting hired are mil IP, EP, WIC, XP or astronauts.

I wonder how many "no shows" are appearing in the new hire classes? I know mil guys w/ multiple CJOs.

I think this hits the nail on the head. If you really want that legacy job, (just my opinion) fastest rout would be to side step to a junk carrier that flies heavier metal. Takes you out of the 10000+ pile o rj drivers and puts you into a different class.

Ymmv, obviously

Not sure the heavier metal helps that much. I have lots of heavy time. I didn't hear anything until I had some major inside help.. FWIW..

While this number may in fact be true you can rest assured that most of these applicants also have paper in at UAL, DAL, SWA etc and WILL go to the first company that offers them a job or will no show a class date if they indeed do have multiple offers. The number above is actually quite a bit smaller than what all these HR departments seem to think.

CaptCool... Heavy time doesn't seem to mean much anymore either. Or at least that is what it seems like to me. Early 30's, several thousand hrs on "Heavies" including PIC, and still nothing. All the other boxes are checked as well (i.e. degree, internals, clean record, 1000+ TPIC, volunteer, union position, job fairs, etc.) So who really knows what the magic formula is. That being said, I think something will come up soon but its still pretty competitive out there.... Good luck to everyone, we all need it!

Guys I'm not saying it's a ticket to ride. Just that if you've got 7-8k hours of rj it might help. Obviously it sucks making lateral moves, no one wants to start again.

Just an idea to get the ball rolling. If any of us knew the magic formula, I'd be selling it for $1000/oz.

Personally, if the option was available, I'd switch aircraft internally before quitting and going to the ACMI job for some heavy flying.