NGPA's Industry Expo is coming up next month -- February 10th & 11th -- and is going to have all the big major airlines there: Alaska, American, Delta, FedEx, Frontier, Southwest, Spirit, United, & UPS.

That said, they also have the registration open on a first come, first serve basis for one-on-one time slots with recruiters from American, Delta, & United. I have a few questions as I've never attended a job fair and the one-on-one time with a recruiter seems extremely valuable ...

(1) What is the best way to prepare for job fair interactions with recruiters -- especially if one has a face-to-face slot with a recruiter?
(2) Bringing a résumé is a given; however, is there anything else worth bringing (cover letter, letters of recommendation, etc.)?
(3) How do recruiters view candidates in regards to this event? I'm assuming it potentially gets your application reviewed, scored, etc. which all increases your chances of getting invited to interview.

Hiring is going to be crazy this year.... best of luck to everyone interested in making career moves.

A GOOD resume’, dress appropriately, try to know the current goings-on by reading the last investor report of the companies you will be talking to. Oh, and make damn sure you actually have an application in at that carrier - preferably before you speak to them but for damn sure ASAP afterwards

This is actually a good question. I've heard someone refer to the one-on-one sessions as essentially "on site interviews" and would treat it as such. Maybe someone could elaborate more though. For what it's worth, I believe NGPA & OBAP did something like this a few years ago and one of the legacies were offering CJOs on site at the convention, hence why you should show up fully prepped. Recruiters typically keep a list of attendees and use it to manually review apps on AirlineApps or Pilot Credentials, so definitely worthwhile.

To your point about 2022 being a great year for hiring: I saw a post on RTAG's Facebook page that the U.S. airlines are going to be hiring around 9,000+ pilots conservatively in 2022. I also saw on RST American that "Recruitment claims they only have 1500 qualified apps left." It's going to be an interesting year for sure. The smaller majors like Spirit and Frontier are going to have a tough time recruiter or retaining pilots which will likely result in hindering their growth. Meanwhile, if the regionals get pillaged by the majors hiring, you're going to see operational meltdowns due to lack of staff, check airmen, simulators, etc. Operations are going to be redlining all year assuming we don't have a lethal flurona, SARS CoV-3, WWIII, etc. happen.

Yup. Be fully prepared, and that includes resume, logbook, interview prep, grooming, appropriate attire (suit & tie unless otherwise specified for the conference). Make sure your app is updated.

Be prepared for " how did you get the time off to be here today?". Wrong answers:

1. Called in sick.
2. Lie about calling in sick

As many have said, hiring times are wild. A couple things that I'd add.

1. As Excargo basically said, having your applications to the companies you want to work at, updated, and ACCURATE is a must. Resume is obviously important, but having a weak application is no good when they go to pull your app after a great interaction with them.
2. Having a great answer to "why xyz company?"
3. In this day and age, treat every interaction like it's an interview conversation. The legacies/majors are fighting over applicants, so what better way to fill up classes than pull apps and maybe even offer CJOs to expo goer's.

Everything else like dressing well, being polite is a given. But for the love of God, don't be that guy that while standing in line, you start bad mouthing other companies (including your own). Those people are cancer, and you never know who you're talking too, standing by, or who's listening.

Looks like you’ve been missing a lot of work lately….

and make sure you have a current medical and clean underwear

it’s ngpa… go commando

It’s advertised as 2 days but is the ENTIRE recruiting event stretched over those two days? Or is it two days of the same itinerary. I ask in case I don’t get both days off work and only one instead. Will attending one of the two days suffice or do you need to stay for both?

Did you click on schedule?