I was at the Flt Ops Regional Pilot Job fair in LAX on 09/24/11. So, I thought I would share my experience with everyone here & for the benefit of new aspirants.

There were a number of companies who had committed to be there but only 4 companies finally made it.

As per Flt Ops, approx 100 had registered, but only about 50-55 aspirants showed up.

I think that the LAX Job fair was also affected by Atlanta Job fair on the same date.

It was very relaxed, no long lines & everyone got plenty of oppertunity to talk to all the airlines & for as long as they wanted to. A lot of the guys got to talk to recruiters for multiple times.

Only Eagle & GoJet gave a formal presentation of 1 hr each & took a lot of questions & answers. They were not hurried at all & took the time to explain & clarify all the questions.

Skywest: Still sticking to their 1000/100 mins, No flexibility in mins, at least for now. Skywest guys said, they will talk to & possible interview people who are a little short of Mins. So, I guess that's improvement.

Airnet: As usual, 1200 TT, will look at & talk to people in the 1100 range, to possibly put them in SIC program.

GoJet: Needs to hire Hire approx 200 pilots in the next 6 months. Mins at 750/100 are their hard deck, as per their Insurance req's, at least for now. They are actively looking to fill the Nov 2011 & Dec 2011 class with 40 people each & they will interview & talk to people who are a little shy of minimums, but can commit to reach the mins in the next 30 days or so.
GoJet did some partial interviews on site same day & next day on Sunday, 09/25 & short listed more for interview later.

American Eagle: Has hired 500+ so far in 2011 & need another 200 for 2011 & another 700 for 2012. Mins at 500/50 & they are a hard deck. However, they also that Eagle will take a look at people very close to mins & if someone looks promising, they will give them a chance to complete the mins.

When Eagle was asked how do they expect to fill their classes in 2012, the recruiter smiled, paused & said, they don't know....... The question about reducing mins further was reffered to as "management decision..."

The recruiters for Skywest, American Eagle & Gojet, all had pretty much a common theme & sounded very flexible to certains things which most of the aspiring guys stress about a lot.

As far as what they are looking for in a Pilot, all the companies had pretty much the same response, First & MUST, a team player with a pleasant personality. They don't want a super pilot with rocket scientist knowledge & don't care about about a college degree. They just want someone current who knows basic flying & with basic instrument skills.

They all said, we will teach you how to fly our planes, just show up with a learning attitude......

Like long Gap in flying & not currently having a full time flying Job (as in my personal case), they all said, we are seeing a lot of applicants with 5 to 10 yrs gap in flying are now returning. All 4 companies said, they were interviewing & hiring such guys & not treating any differently.

Speeding tickets or other traffic voilations were reffered to as "10 in the last couple of yrs would be too much, a couple in the last few.... It is common for Humans to have a few of those..... "

DUI & other offences were referred to as an Issue for Canadian Clearance & media issues if anything were to happen down the road. If someone could get a Canadian pardon, they will look at it on a case by case basis.

Now, since this was 1st job fair, so I don't know if for the recruiters, the "salespeople for their respective airlines", this is normal, this is how they will sell their airline or is it a sign of new times.......

Thank you for the write up.

thanks for this write up!

Great write up, much appreciated!