I made 4 recommendations. Two for 2011 and already did two for 2012. With the exception of one, all these guys had others recommending them as well.
All regional guys CRJ, E145 or E170 types. All of them live in S FL. All of them are very sharp and zero issues like DUI or failed rides, etc. No bad marks whatsoever. Btw I am a nobody here with zero pull, just a line guy.
Guy #1 around 3k jet PIC 2y degree. I sent in his stuff day one when the window opened. This guy made all the legwork and he was actively trying to make face to face contact (and I am not going to get into the details on how he did it but he did make contact) with the company. He got a call, he got hired with the first wave. He did great.
Guy #2 lots of 121 jet time but no jet PIC. He did work in the training department at his regional. 4y degree. Me and Guy#1 were trying to talk to "important folks" like P Ole (reference for insiders) but it took about a year for him to get a call because he had no jet PIC and because initially recommendations from senior people were taken care of. He got in still, he is flying the line now.
Guy #3 around 3-4k jet PIC 2y degree. I was the only one recommending him. He applied a long time ago and I sent in his email to HR but nothing for a year. In December I have sent in his stuff directly to the assistant chief in an email. Still nothing. Eventually I ran into the assistant chief one day and asked him to look into this guy. He did while I was standing there. He liked him and forwarded it to HR and he got called the next week. But here is the thing! I was looking over his shoulder while he was trying to find my email and we went page, after page, after page, etc. We had to page through hundreds of recommendations that he had received only within a month or two to find my email. My email never got any attention.
Guy #4 around 3-4k jet PIC 4y degree. I did exactly what I had done with Guy #3 except this time I was actively hunting for the assistant chief. I got lucky and I ran into him only days after I have sent the email. We looked up this guy as well and as it turns out he already forwarded my email to HR just based on the guys qualifications. This guy is waiting for the 2nd email right now.
So I think I have said this before in this thread, but here it is again. If your contact does nothing else but recommending you, that is not enough. If your case is not being pushed you can wait a very long time. There has to be anywhere from 500 to 1000 recommendations in the system right now. Probably not all of them are qualified but still a lot of apps for a small company with a very small HR department. They do get overwhelmed. If nothing is done your stuff will sink to the bottom without ever getting attention. Say the person in charge has to go through a 100 emails because she has not attended to her mailbox for a week but she only needs 10 people for her next interview date. Guess what if you are on the bottom of the 100? There will easily be 10 guys above you who are competitive.
just my 2 cents