Thanks FreightDog for all your awesome info!

I'll be finishing up my current contract at the end of the year. Will be close to a 1000tt with over 120 instrument. Only snag is I will need to get my multi done as soon as I can and only have about 25 hours night. So looks like I would only qualify as a regular FO?

is 500 hours good enough for a FO position, or is the reality more hours required to be competitive?

Yes, the minimums are good enough. The only real aspect to "competitive" is when we have our next opening. We aren't hiring permanent first officers, so they turn over fairly quickly. Our first officers, while they are required crew members in the E120, are also here to get the hours required to become captains in our BE99s and then follow on aircraft.

Yes, with the hours listed, we could only consider you for a First Officer position. However, our goal is to get you to our Captain mins quickly. You would upgrade to Captain when you reach mins, which are: 1,200 TT, 50 ME, 500 XC (defined as point to point), 100 night, 500 PIC, 75 instrument
In your situation, that could take as little as 4-6 months.

That sounds great, where could one expect to be based as an FO?

Here are our bases for EMB120 First Officers: BQN, GEG, ONT, PDX, PHX, and SLC

Training over the holiday\Peak season
 

When you guys have classes during the holiday\peak months of Nov\Dec, are there any adjustments made to the schedule for the holiday's, or to account for check pilots having to fly the line?

It varies year to year. This year I think we plan to run classes for the BE99, SA227 and E120. This is because we have available instructors who, for various reasons, are not able to fly. We are not planning to have a BE1900 class because every available instructor for that program will probably be flying on Peak runs.

Also, wanted to add that you'll get the holiday itself off (Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year) while in training. There may be additional adjustments depending on the program manager for that stage in training.

My son recently applied to you and got a response back that you are not hiring any FO's at this time. Even if they meet or exceed the minimums that you posted.

He was told that it is taking a few years to get FO's to the min hours for CA, therefore they are not hiring any at this time.