Failed to get past initial selection
 

Hi all, I recently applied to SkyWest and got rejected just off the initial online app and I just wanted to get input from y'all. I'm totally baffled as to how when my colleagues with less time have gotten the interview and CJOs within the past two weeks. Here's a summary of my experience:

Large Pt 141 School Check Airman
Meets all the reqs for R-ATP
1800 Total Time, including 229XC (so I can't get an ATP and immediately bounce to Spirit)
1 Cert Checkride Fail - CFI SEL Flight
No Accidents/Incidents
No DUIs/speeding tickets etc

Can anyone provide insight as to why?? I want to make sure my app is better for next time...short of me making a mistake on my app. I can't review it at all so I don't know if I did.

Doesn't make sense to me, but I don't how OO may have changed their hiring preferences for FO's recently given that the shortage is now on the CA side.

I would go over the app with a fine-tooth comb and check for any errors, wrong box checked, numbers off by a decimal place, etc.

There is a natural tendency, when we are not invited for an interview, or not given a job offer, to feel we did something wrong, lacked something, didn't measure up. This is not always so.

Not everyone who applies gets an invite, every time. Not everyone who interviews gets a job offer. It may be that enough qualified applicants were already booked. It may be that a daily, weekly, or hiring phase cutoff was reached. It maybe that on a given day, the applicant met all the other criteria, but wasn't competitive.

Simply because you have enough time for the minimums doesn't mean you'll get called. Simply because others had less time and got hired, doesn't mean you will. There is no automatic process that says you're a warm body, so they will hire you, nor are they obligated.

While the hiring minimums are met, the only minimums that really matter are the competitive ones. That's how the applicants stack up on a given day, or at a particular moment. if you had a failed checkride and no one else applying that day or that hour did, perhaps you weren't competitive. Or perhaps you were, but they had enough qualified applicants. A few hours more or less means nothing.

Apply again. See what happens. Apply everywhere else.

Places put the brakes on at unexpected times, a bit like driving in traffic. Training backlogs and quotas, sim issues, whatever. I wouldn't sweat it too much. Regroup, apply once more.

I got invited for an interview yesterday, with even less qualifications than you.

I have 850hrs and a couple more checkride failures. I am eligible for the 1000 hr R-ATP.
I am an ERAU Alum, maybe that played a role, but otherwise I can't see why they would deny you when you're a great candidate

What is your education level? It doesn't really matter in this industry, but like the above post said, maybe you weren't competitive in your applicant pool because of it.

Double check me, but I think for the ATP any flight between two airports counts as cross country. You might be better than 229

Also, I think there’s increasingly a good argument to be made The Regional’s are not where you want to go early on. Just too stagnant for fo’s right now.

Yes you're right, two airports is XC, but for certification purposes, XC has to be at least 50nm away to count. Check out: https://www.boldmethod.com/learn-to-...y-flight-time/


As for the regional comment: All I know is: anything is better than sitting around in a piston burning holes in the sky. That turbine time is the most important number for airlines (other than total time).

Plus, 121 time is better than 135. And correct me if I'm wrong y'all, but the regionals have to be the best, and easiest, way (for piston guys) to jump into 121 ops.

So get 271 hours of time flying isotopes and lab samples.

https://www.airlinepilotcentral.com/...go/ameriflight


https://www.airlinepilotcentral.com/...st_diagnostics

It’ll take you about 5 months, counting training, and either Frontier or Spirit will hire you.

What’s your multi time? Also do you have a passport and FCC permit?

It’s nothing about you, SkyWest is just in absolute shambles currently. Someone I know interviewed in February, got the TBNT, and just two weeks SkyWest called and offered a May CRJ class date. To someone who did not get past the interview…..who knows what’s going on over there

You appear to be well qualified. The main sticking point would seem to be your relatively low amount of cross-country time. As John Burke noted, a company's hiring decisions can seem mysterious and sometimes there's no good reason why a qualified applicant gets turned down. Don't take it personally. There's a couple of ways to proceed from here:

(1) If you like your current job, stay there and reapply to Skywest again in a few months. This might also be a good time to consider where else you might want to work if Skywest isn't interested in hiring you. Apply everywhere you meet the minimums.

(2) If you want to build up your IFR and cross-country experience, consider working for a Part 135 operation for 6-12 months. I found that my Part 135 experience was great preparation for my later airline flying. It's never been a better time to get hired at an airline, but training is still challenging and will require a 100% effort. Every bit of instrument, cross-country, and multiengine experience will help.

Good luck.