calling in sick for interview?
 

If you cant drop/move/trade a date around for a highly sought interview, is it frowned upon to call in sick if you have sick days available? Or would you rather pass on the interview opportunity

A lot of major airlines frankly ask you if you called in sick for this interview.

What answer do you want to give them?

Sick.

(filler)

Assuming that you've been trying to make it work on your own, can you ask your CP for help?

Most potential employers would prefer that you be honest and honor your commitments to your current employer. A few might prefer that you demonstrate that you want to work for them so badly that you'd do whatever it takes to get to the interview. Try to find out which it is.

Try everything you possibly can, including bribing someone to cover your trip. I would call the recruiter, tell them you're unable to get time off and request another interview date before I'd call in sick

Some companies have been known to ask, and what are you going to say?

If they bother to ask, I'd have to assume that admitting a sick call would be an interview fail.

Can you lie with a straight face? What if they find out somehow... after you have a job offer?

if you call out sick and show up & then they ask. If you say yes possible fail, but if you say no it’s a 50/50 they find out. I’d rather say no and see what happens. Your an idiot if you say yes in my opinion. No one is looking for the truth when they ask this question.

I feel like it’s voluntary giving out detrimental info.

Better hope they don't find out AFTER you start class.

The right answer (for your personal career security) is find someone to cover your trip.

* They know you’re a Pilot (duh)
* They know you are bound by a schedule
*They know the date may cause a conflict

I’d call and ask for a different date as you foresee some trouble getting the time off.
Two possible outcomes:
They give you a different date or they tell you absolutely not it’s our way or the highway you snooze you loose.

Lots of airlines have “Honesty” or “Integrity” in their company values....for a reason.
You’re the worlds most loyal employee and you’re just looking to advance your career.
Not backstab and burn at every opportunity.

When I first read this, I thought the question was about calling in sick FOR the interview.

”Hi recruiter, I have been assigned a trip I am unable to drop so I’m going to need to reschedule the interview. Oh two weeks from now? Ok great that week is open, thanks so much.”

im as paranoid as anybody, but to think that an airline is checking to see if I called out sick for an interview, AFTER I’ve started indoc is a little far fetched.

What if no one can cover and you only get one chance for this interview, as a possible reschedule could be years away. Do you still say it’s best interest to not go, or go and see if they ask the question if you called in sick? Any carriers in specific that ask this?

and when you don’t get a CJO from that interview but your current company finds out you were jumpseating and using KCM on your “sick” day..?

jumpseating and using KCM when calling out sick is foolish under any circumstance, and most know better than to do that when calling out sick. Whether it’s for an interview or not.

Let's work under the assumption that most airlines that are hiring don't hold an interview once every two years.

Back to the original question: can you not ask your CP for help? If you're in the regionals, then your CP should know that most of their pilots are trying to get out. This is assuming that you've tried to drop, have had the trip posted for trade, have groveled to CS, etc.

silly question but can you use vacation time ? do you need to confess the purpose of vacation time to your CP or supervisor ?

Vacation would be fine, if you can get it on short notice (that's usually a problem at regionals).

I came close to that, and would have told them I called out sick with my CP's concurrence (which was true).

Don't be afraid to talk to your chief, almost all regional CP's will be cool because they understand they're in the stepping-stone business. The CP may not have the authority to clear your schedule (mine didn't) but they may be able to provide top-cover for a sick call (mine would have if needed).

Tough position to be in. It's too bad that some majors put you in that catch-22.

It can't possibly be true that companies are allowed to disclose sick days and schedules to anyone who asks for it. That's lunacy if true.

You have bigger things to worry about, if the company is looking that deep with your sick calls. It's not worth their time to investigate every sick calls, unless they are building a case against you.

Pay somebody double or triple out of your own pocket.
If this interview is THAT important and hard to get I wouldn’t risk calling in sick.

If you really have to use sick time for your interview do these things: 1. Buy a full fare round trip ticket. Preferably choose an airline that has no connection to your regional (WN, JB, NK, F9, etc). 2. Don't use KCM. Regular security only. 3. Don't wear your uniform/ID badge. Today you are just regular John Q Public.

Calling out sick can be risky but only if you run into the CP or someone who actually knows who you are that may be in management. I'm not saying you should call in sick, but if you have to, just cover your tracks and be smart about it. There really should be no record of you traveling that your airline can legally use to investigate if they became suspicious. My old regional could barely keep the phones working for a full business day so I wouldn't have been worried about them going CSI on me.

FWIW, a few years ago at CPZ, DL had a career fair and a few pilots called out sick. The CPO sent a pretty threatening email that DL agreed to give them names of all the CP pilots that attended the job fair and that they were going to cross reference that with people that called out sick. Delta found out about that email and essentially made CPZ management issue an apology email that they will not and cannot do that. Good luck on the interview.

Don’t get me wrong, I DO wish you the best of luck on your interview.
It would just royally suck if you wouldn’t get a CJO or worse it gets pulled because you called in sick.

There's some grey area on the old bro network. If someone is interested in you for some reason, they might make a phone call. It happens, and while I said almost all regional CP's are understanding, I didn't say ALL of them are understanding... some are big fish in little ponds, others resent the fact that XYZ major rejected them back in '95.

You probably won't get caught, but the consequences are high enough that it's worth trying really hard not to even risk it.

Probably also matters where you are in life... if you're 20-something single, you can take a chance on resigning your old job and then losing the new one. If you're older with a family, it's risky enough just subjecting yourself to new-hire training and probation.

Those of us who have been around are not making up hypothetical scenarios for fun... this stuff has all happened.

Never use KCM, CASS, or nonrev when sick, unless you can easily explain why you were traveling while sick (sometimes you can).

Also typically managers can pull up a list of your IP addresses (and associated location) when you log into company systems (VPN, hint, hint). This is easy, off-the-shelf management tools available today.

How about calling in emergency instead of sick?

Maybe. It's risky though... unlike sick, they can ask for details and second-guess you.

You can call off unavailable at some places. Which is just telling them you cannot be at work, but are not sick. This however could be used as a reason to terminate if you ever get in to an attendance situation with sick calls.