XHooker

Duvie, welcome aboard. Despite all the complaining here, the reality is it's a great job if you aren't on the bottom of the list in an economic down cycle. I have no doubt you and your fellow half wingers are great and Bill Kennedy (I assume he's in charge of pilot hiring) is bringing in great people. I know it's all true because I see it on the line. Where I think you need to put the Kool Aid down is where you imply the quality of pilot hiring now is any different from other airlines or times when pilot hiring was driven more by pilots. Mechanics, controllers and dispatchers all have well defined jobs with specific parameters we all understand. Human resources, on the other hand, deals in more nebulous parameters. IMO, much of what they do is to justify their importance. They are looking for ways to narrow the field of candidates to make their job easier. Is forcing a good candidate to go to a job fair to accumulate points towards an interview productive? How accurate is a personality test when put against the observations of people who have seen someone for years in the real world? I helped (or at least didn't hurt) a lot of pilots hired at CAL back when pilots drove the hiring. The pilots I recommended ranged from "they're good enough for me to rec" to "walks on water." It was interesting to get feedback from my ACP on who performed best in the interview, because the interview board didn't rank the candidates in the order they should have been ranked. The reality is nothing replaces long term observation, yet that's what HR attempts to do in making the process numbers driven. We're trying to pick wide receivers by looking at their performance in the gauntlet drill at the combine while ignoring four years of their game tape.

duvie

XH,

Thanks for a great counterpoint. I understand the moderate skepticism of a new hire and successful candidate through the process. I agree with much of what you're saying, we all know plenty of guys and gals who may not do great in front of a board, but who are stand up employees/pilots who would be an asset to the company and pilot group. Conversely, I've got a good college buddy who made it through the process, and although I love drinking beer with the guy, he is not someone I'd like to see in the cockpit as my family and I shuffle toward 37E, 38B etc.

To say that the idea of HR is nebulous is spot on, however, to then conclude that it isn't valuable I think is incorrect. The "soft sciences" like economics and psychology are difficult to speak on, because often times there are so many causes for one effect, that incorrect conclusions (or public perception manipulation) is very easy to achieve. There is a lot of valuable information in the application of psychology to the modern work place, the most productive and innovative companies in the USA use it extensively (albeit they attempt to pass it off as nonchalant "employee driven workplaces") to their incredible success. Apple, google, in-n-out burger, chic-fil-a, etc. That said, there are plenty of HR departments that are comprised of completely ineffectual, unmotivated people who barely made it through college with a 2.0 in psychology. Just don't throw the baby (psychology/HR) out with the proverbial bathwater (Toby Flenderson).

Ultimately, United, like most legacies still weights the opinions of their line pilots more heavily than outsiders. The hogan is just a screening device, it doesn't select who gets the start the whole process itself.

If flight-ops was solely in charge of pilot hiring, things might be quite different. I was at a guard unit that had become such a nest of nepotism, that the good-old-boy club at the top had to be almost entirely removed before the unit could start passing ORIs again. The reason the good-old-boy club is so unhealthy for an organization is because most of us would rather see a good friend get hired at our airline than a guy we don't know, but who would ultimately be an asset for us. For better or worse, I know I'd probably help my buddy...

John Carr

I can't remember, but I'm pretty sure the email that comes says the HPI is the FIRST step in the selection process. No successful HPI, no F2F.

So it ACTUALLY does select who gets to start the process.

I know 2 guys, no job fairs, no meet and greets, no outside the majority demographic, whatever. Also, fewer, way fewer than the urban legend amount of average/required req letters.

duvie

The hogan didn't decide to select them for the assessment. Candidates are picked using a super secret formula/algorithm using a mix of TT, LOR, personal accolades, etc. just like always. Once they are selected for the process they are sent the email. Maybe we're splitting hairs, but it's an extra step, not the preliminary one...

Firsttimeflyer

It isn't much different then other places. American and virgin both send out a test as part of the initial application to ALL those that apply and if the applicant doesn't pass they get an immediate TBNT. United probably saves quite a bit of $$$ by not sending the test to everyone until the super computer selects them.

Rook

Awesome Awesome Analogy! At this point I'm just hoping for a free agent contract!

Aeronut2003

Did anyone else feel like they were contradicting themselves every other page of questions? The temptation to go back and change answers was crushing...

F16Driver

1. You hate people?......True. 2. You actually like some people?......False.

dada9898

My approach was "hate" (such a strong word) - NO was my answer. I certainly dislike or don't get along with some people though.

And I did go back and change a couple of answers.

I tried to stay away from words like hate, always, never, etc.

Aeronut2003

I did the same, I guess it worked. Got the interview invite like 4 hours later!