New hire at a ULCC next week, 0 turbine time about 1700 TT. All piston. Degree + non-flyer mil experience.

What's the vibes on hiring over the next 3-5 years or so? I still know guys who are getting offers from legacies at sub-1000 turbine time. Does this tend to be the exception, rather than the norm? Planning to apply (app is filled out just need to complete IOE before I submit). Just wondering what the latest vibes are for the medium term.

Yeah, yeah.. I missed the wave. Can't do anything about that, flying wasn't possible for me til 2020. Time is mostly on my side (just turned 29), but I do struggle with FOMO.

 

Yes, it’s the exception. Most people are experienced pilots; however, there is always a range of ages and experience levels in each class. I haven’t looked in a few months, but the average age was still over 35 with a commensurate amount of flying experience.

That doesn’t mean don’t apply—your personal experiences may trump what your hours lack.

 

I had similar resume and had gotten bites from DL and UA along with a bunch of my friends and acquaintances. 800 hours of turbine seemed to be the sweet spot. I would add that I also volunteered and hit multiple conventions hard. Networked a ton outside of that too. It’s definitely possible. That said, anything can happen. Try to affect what you can change and don’t sweat the stuff you can’t.

 

You're going to get chicken littles who are convinced furlough letters are going out tomorrow, people who chug the united next koolaid talking about a 35k seniority list and everything inbetween. Nobody knows. Submit your app ASAP and update it periodically, keep checking boxes on your resume and hope for the best. If and when United calls 1/2/5/10/15 years down the road evaluate the job based off the conditions and known variables then, not much sense worrying about it until then. Hiring isn't done by a long shot. Okay cool you won't retire with a single digit retirement number, who cares? Even if you get hired in 5 years you're going to be pretty much on an average new hire track. If you can't have a good QOL at ~40% on the seniority list or live comfortablely on WB FO lineholder pay I don't see how another 20% bump in seniority or WB CA pay is going to make you much happier.

 

How do you know if it’s under review? Do you get an email?

 

If you log into your app there'll be a little block of red text at the top saying "Your application is locked for review" or something to that effect...

 

I submitted mine back in Jan and it is not even locked.. you are lucky

 

Maybe when you applied. But I think that has all changed now. I've been to numerous job fairs over the past year speaking with United recruiters. At one convention, the recruitier said my resume looked great, but they just wanted to see 800 turbine on it. Several months later when I had 800 turbine, I went to another event and when I spoke to a recrutier there, I was asked "When do you upgrade?"

 

I know quite a few people who left to legacies with 750 turbine, unfortunately that is no longer the case though. I went to last job fair and United stated competitive is 1500 turbine or PIC turbine time. Was nice while it lasted and worked out for some people.

 

Just remember that those are still insanely low numbers to most people hired in the last 20 years. Anyone getting hired today at 1500, 3000, etc. are still winning the lottery from a luck standpoint, just at a lower payout.