SWA application process
 

Hi, all, just a quick question, I just applied southwest last night, from the website, it just seems odd that they didn’t even ask me flight time and work history details which usually takes long time to fill out. Just wonder how it’s the applying process like, did I do anything wrong here?

You also need to fill out an application here....

https://swa.pilotcredentials.com/

Are you Air Force?

thank you very much.

also make sure that you use the same email address for both sites

Space Force?

Full sentence with grammar good?

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Hey all, I am sure this has been answered but I cannot find it on here anywhere. 2 questions about the flight time section of the application:

• Do we keep Instructor and PIC time separate? It seems like it is giving me .5 credit per dual given flight hour
• In terms of recent flight experience, do they have anything they’re looking for? Like X number of hours in previous x number of years? I saw something saying 2 active years of flying in the past 5, which seems to indicate they are okay if you haven’t flown in the past year of two.

I know it’s not a time to get hired, but I am just trying to get into a good position with my application for when the window opens back up again.

Thank you!

What are the hiring mins for SWA?

I’d a minimum of 2 years from right now before the application window opens again.

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We won't be hiring any time soon, nobody will for years to come. When the industry starts turning around there will be lines of applicants waiting behind the lines of furlough recalls. By then the mins will change to reflect the average aplicant''s experience. Expect it to go up from what it was pre-Covid times.

Maybe the pilot asking the question is a long term planner...if your timeline is to get hired here in 2020 then your SOL...but Southwest will hire again. I remember when the AT deal happened, people were predicting 15 year upgrade and no hiring for years. Things will come back at some point.

Anyways, the mins haven't changed in quite some time other than to remove the 1000 PIC turbine requirement. The poster should really be asking what competitive mins will likely be...but here are the mins:

Experience: 2,500 hours total or 1,500 hours Turbine total. Additionally, a minimum of 1,000 hours in Turbine aircraft as the Pilot in Command* is preferred. Southwest considers only Pilot time in fixed-wing aircraft.

A huge thing for swa to get the interviewing is doing anything outside of flying for the company like recruiting, check airman (duh) Union, volunteer work etc etc everyone’s got hours, set yourself apart in anything else you can bring to the table

Learn another trade and don’t rely on airline employment in the near term.

Hang in there, you'll get here eventually
 

I would expect it to be a while before we hire again, maybe sometime next year. If this is where you want to be just keep at it and you'll get here eventually. Once you do I hope you share the feeling that it's the best job in the world. I certainly wouldn't want to be doing anything else or working for any other company. We're definitely in a crisis but we'll get through it. It's times like this that help you see what kind of airline you work for.

As far as minimums go they publish the current mins on the careers page or pilotcredentials. I think by the time we hire again most applicants will meet our current minimums. Part 121 turbine PIC time is always good, jet PIC time is good. Like someone said earlier it helps to have additional experience outside the cockpit; instructor, check airman, management, union, volunteer work, etc. Anything that sets you apart in a positive way. Keep in mind that SWA knows you can fly the jet, they want to know that you're our kind of person. Read up on the company's mission, purpose, values, etc. It also helps if you familiarize yourself with any current flight ops info you find (I'm sure it's available online).

Ignore the Debbie Downers, you'll get here soon and it's awesome!

If things go the way I'm thinking they will, by the time we hire there will be many 737 typed pilots, with college degrees, with recent 121 experience floating around. It's going to very competitive.

Depends on your definition of recent.

Quarterly financials is a good start.

Don’t forget to update your displacement preferences.

You forgot to mention that to hold ATL as a plug FO will take 10-14 years and upgrade in OAK will take 20-22 years... ;)

It must be very dark on your planet.

I wasn't.......'til I got hired ;)

Ok, maybe a bit darker than necessary, I give you that. But answer honestly, even if Southwest doesn't furlough a single pilot (possible), when do you think we will start hiring again? 2021? 2022? Now, what's the chance other majors won't furlough either? Not that much, in my opinion. Bottom line is, there will be pilots on the streets, most likely many. That will temporarily take care of the shortage. Do you think the minimum requirements won't be affected by this? All I wanted to say is that there's no point in asking what the requirements are now because they will most likely change before anyone starts hiring again. How much? Nobody knows because we can't predict how many people and for how long will be out of jobs.

There’s also a bit of a pool, not sure how many in it

Pool ? The most recent requisitions/announcements were cancelled due to "COVID" and emails sent to applicants to "re-apply when hiring resumes."

No one knows when the pendulum will begin to swing, but when it does it usually swings quickly. The real question is when.

The truth is he might be right.

But he also might be wrong.

So many wild cards in play. If any of us truly knew how this was going to play out, we’d invest our money in the winners and short the losers. We’d end up bazillionaires within the next few years.

Most of the economic experts are calling for this to be a worse recession than the 2008 financial crisis. But not all of them. Some are saying, like Trump, that the economy will come roaring back by the end of the year. Others are saying it’ll be as bad or worse than the Great Depression. Who knows?

There’s a famous quote often attributed to Mark Twain that’s kind of apropos here: “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”

i had a couple of friends that had class dates for June, so they need to reapply?

https://media1.giphy.com/media/xT9DP...wslq/giphy.gif


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No. Those who applied in the window that recently closed need to reapply since they decided to not interview from it. I am currently swimming in the pool and had a March class date. Then July. Now...???. There are several of us who got hired from the window last fall and never classed up. Not sure how many, but I don't think a lot. Hiring told us last month that there will be no new hire classes this year, but that our CJO's will not expire, which is a bit of a relief. So, now I patiently wait for things to turn around and hope for the best.

hope it’s soon. That’s a tough spot to be in.

So you’re saying there’s a chance?

No Roff, it’s a 20 year upgrade. It’s 10 years to be a plug FO in ATL. ;)

could be worse, could have resigned from your old job then class cancelled or got let go, I had two friends at two carriers that that had happened to.

When I next give advice to an aspiring pilot, it will be, "Don't quit your current job until the last second possible. Take vacation, call in sick, do whatever to stay 'employed' until you're as far through training as you can be."

Hope you make it here and sooner than later. Hope you're still employed someplace!

Had a friend leave here in Feb for Delta. 4 days from his checkride was sent home. Crazy industry we're in.

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Is that a furlough, firing, employment deferment? Any idea?

A paid but somewhat stressful vacation.

Well it looks like my hope has turned to despair. I just got a call from SWA hiring to let me know they are rescinding our CJO's and we will have to re-apply at a later dating when they start hiring again. This is in stark contrast to the multiple emails and webinars they have sent out to poolies in the past couple of months reassuring us our CJO's will never expire, and we will not be required to maintain currency. They went as far as convincing guys that if they need to find a non-flying gig to pay the bills for a while, they will have a job waiting for them when classes start up no matter what. I'm not sure what has changed, but to say I am disappointed is an understatement.

My buddy had his CJO cancelled today. I thought that wasn’t going to happen?

Same here. Originally told there would be a job waiting for us whenever classes started in the future, but that changed for everyone with a phone call today. Definitely a disappointment, but I know there are many guys out there on the street, or sweating furlough risk right now. I'm blessed with a good job at the moment, so trying to stay positive, but was really looking forward to joining the team. I wish everyone at SWA the best, and hope you and the airline all come through this well...and quickly!