awax

I'm not sure why you're so indignant about Oscar's response. The good ole boy network that brought us Friends of Fred and all the other nonsense was the result of "silver bullet" programs, nepotism, and "it's not who ya know, it's how ya blow who ya know".

Are you butthurt because Oscar is briefed a bit better than you anticipated and knows the good 'ole boy network is the path to organizational dysfunction?

HR will own the hiring process and UAL alone will be responsible for the duds. Now it's up to line captains to either mentor the ****birds and get em up to speed, or bounce 'em like a looter at a riot using probationary reports.

Itsajob

Getting hired at this airline is kind of like playing the lottery. For every person who is excited that their number was picked there will be many times that number who are angry that their number wasn’t. “It isn’t fair that his number was picked...... I’ve been buying tickets longer”. A magic bullet system or providing extra weight to an application due to a recommendation won’t work. There are simply too many of us to make that a possibility. Right now the company is in pretty good shape. I think that Oscar and crew have more of a realistic long range vision than the others we have had recently, lots of planes on order, and TK is operating at capacity while building on to handle even more training. I have no idea where the new pilots come from, but they all seem to consistently do well in training and get the job done on the line. I don’t see things changing. From an operational point of view what they are doing is working well. Employees being frustrated or upset because they can’t help a friend get an interview doesn’t really matter.

baseball

I am still seeing people get through the process that haven't earned it. No reason to see a 2100 hour pilot, never upgraded in the regionals, with pure civilian time, get hired on...… something to me is a miss when I see 17,000 Regional Captains and 4000 hour military evaluator pilots with 5 tours in Afghanistan/Iraq and 13 air medals not get an interview.

At the end of the day I don't get it, especially when other airlines do rely heavily on internal recommendations.

The people that brought us "phrends of pfred" do exist, they exist here at UAL in present day form, just called a different thing. As long as there are "associations" of different sorts helping their own, it is what is it. The NGPA comes to mind. OBAP comes to mind.

If we trust our Captains to give IOE, and then to mentor, and then to sign off on their probationary periods, we can trust them to issue a recommendation.


The HR hiring program at UAL is goofy. I think I prefer a sim ride and an interview by experienced line Captains and Check Airman. The Charlie's Angles HR hiring program we've got is about as strange as it gets.

Andy

Some of those with low time are likely ex-interns - just a guess on my part. And I also understand that we've started hiring Lufthansa Aviation Training program graduates. https://www.lufthansa-aviation-training-usa.com/#gref

United hires pilots with diverse backgrounds - high time, low time, old, young. I don't know the magic formula and don't have any additional insight on our hiring process.

I understand your thoughts. My opinion is that the Hogan assessment should be eliminated, but no one with the power to get rid of it would listen to me.

awax

I suppose the bold question is: What makes you feel entitled to provide input to HR, other than doing the job they're hiring for? If you are qualified, can you share a snapshot of experience in the applicant pool vs. washout rates for high time, low time, and mil experience?

I've seen extremely high hour former RJ pilots and mil bubbas with "lots" of experience hired here in the past few years. Anecdotally, UAL appress to be hiring from those pools, and more.

MiLa

When a low time pilot gets hired and people hear about it, it draws attention. I think we are trying to hire a diverse range of experience and background, but a majority still has a lot of flight time. The average age of new hires is still mid to late 30s and average flight time is just shy of 6000 hours. I personally think we are doing a good job.

757Driver

I don't. When there are literally thousands of highly qualified RJ and Military types out there, we have no business hiring these 750 hour wonder kids whose experience is non-existent.

Can't fathom why we are doing as it makes no sense to me. As for the Hogan....................................

FollowMe

Could it be that they are trying not to build a secondary bow wave of retirements? Seems like a logical plan given the drama surrounding the coming wave and the challenge it is presenting the carriers...

Itsajob

That’s a huge factor. This industry hires in cycles. In the past they hired the same cookie cutter type pilots. Today those people are retiring in huge waves. Heavy attrition is expensive and makes planning and staffing more difficult. It’s good for those of us already on the property. In about 5 years our attrition is going to really spike. 600+ retirements a year plus all of the training cycles that senior pilots leaving will generate is going to be a challenge for the training department.

Punkpilot48

Pretty sure United hasn’t hired anyone with 750 hours since before 2014. Pesky legal details and all that.