TheFly

So a degree isn't required if you follow through...double standards.

JetDoc

One thing this industry is not short on when it comes to hiring is hypocrisy.

justflytheplane

A while back a good friend of mine said, let's apply at American Airlines .We both didn't have a degree. He got the call and the job. It wasn't fair, but I couldn't have been happier for him. To some people using all your resources,whatever they may be is unfair. Well life is unfair.

Storm01

Yep....use all the resources available. Get a degree......

The facts are that if you make it to a major without one, you are the extreme minority. Now, the future situation may drive the requirement to have one down, but make no mistake about it, it is preferred as highlighted in previous posts many times. So, I would think that someone who is serious about a profession do everything that they can to make themselves successful in preparation for the next step. This isn't an indictment against those who don't have a degree, just saying that having one helps when it comes to being hired by a legacy carrier....that argument can't be broken!

JetDoc

LOL....

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* A trillion dollars in student loans.
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The mikeroweWORKS Foundation started the Profoundly Disconnected® campaign to challenge the absurd belief that a four-year degree is the only path to success. The Skills Gap is here, and if we don’t close it, it’ll swallow us all. Which is a long way of saying, we could use your help…

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Hacker15e

Fellas, that's fascinating and all, but totally irrelevant to this topic about getting hired at the majors today and if you can (should?) side-step those requirements via flow.

Storm01

It's funny how it always starts out as "do you really need a degree to be a Legacy pilot" and then turns into defense/rationalization of not having a degree.......followed up shortly thereafter by the 7 examples industry wide of someone making it to the majors without one.....

Comical............

Mesabah

I personally feel I wasted my money on my degree, also I find it unethical to ask a young person to take on that kind of debt for such an unstable career. Also, my backup degree can't be used anymore since it is over 10 years old, and I have no experience in that field.

justflytheplane

No what is funny is two of the three airlines you use both say preferred. And I know a lot who have been hired. So relax, I hope it all works out for you. I can tell your always right.

Hacker15e

I'm all ready at my career airline of choice, thanks, so it has all ready long since "worked out." I have no dog in this fight.

The whole point of these forums is discussion, not an echo chamber of folks feeding each other bad information and then back-slapping about how smart they are. I don't agree with the opinions being presented in this thread as fact, so I'm simply trying to inject some reality into the fantasy some have.

It is fine that people really, really want to believe that they can have their professional flying career without going to college. Good luck to 'em...but it doesn't change the reality of what the hiring picture looks like now. It may have looked different in the past, and may look different in the future, but this is the story today.

How many threads to we see on APC of people grinding their teeth, frustrated that they can't get called for an interview at a major airline? How many OBAP and WAI and NGPA threads about paying bucks and standing in line? How many debates about volunteerism on the resume?

It is great that people want the system to change and for the bar to lower. Maybe it'll happen, and maybe it won't. Just think of all the income and seniority lost while waiting in the wings and betting on that chance.

What isn't great is that there are these very specific things that people can do to enhance their chances of getting hired at their career airline of choice, and yet the same people who want to move up the ladder won't do those specific things because they don't want to.

And then they gripe that they're not getting an interview call.

Yes, there are outliers. Outliers get hired with non-typical resumes and experience. Outliers are called outliers for a reason. Everyone wishes they could be an outlier, too, but statistically that just isn't possible.

The smart person doesn't bet a career on outliers. Nor does the smart person ignore plainly evident ways to make their resume more appealing to the people actually making the hiring decisions, instead hoping that market forces will magically move the goalpost closer to them.

One would think that folks with the intelligence of professional aviators would be smarter than that.