Madella0124

I’ve been in the pool for about a week and I can already tell this is going to be torture.

whalesurfer

Yes, there are some who’ve been swimming, or rather drowning for months. In the past we even had multi-year swimmers! Some of them had to re-interview because it had been so long since their initial interview.

Most of our line pilots, and maybe even our management pilots are ashamed of our ‘competitive’ hiring pool. In all likelihood the managers in charge of it have no say on how it should work. It’s all driven by Atlanta, none of it makes sense and no one truly understands the process. Most of us find it insulting to those who spend time and efforts trying to get hired.
It should be just like everywhere else - you either pass or you don’t. ...and our recommendations - you know, recommendations by pilots who’ll actually fly with the newhires - should really matter; they really don’t. Once hired they should use a ‘first in-first out’ pool system.

So on behalf of regular line pilots we apologize for this nonsensical treatment, for the fact many of you aren’t even sure whether your application is complete or not because you can’t log in to update it, that some people have interviewed months and months ago and still haven’t heard a yay or a nay, or the fact some of you have been swimming for months and months and have no idea how to proceed..

We are VERY short on pilots and there’s a ton of open time and JA flying. You’d think the company would approach the union and ask for help with pilot recruitment? After all, we all want this company to succeed!!!
Many of us have worked in such capacities in our past lives, many of us have tons of fantastic recommendations while others would be willing to help out in the selection process, sim evals, interviews, etc., etc. You know, the type of things other airlines regularly use their line pilots for.
Here? Not so much.
Very frustrating.

So please hang in there.
ALWAYS apply in the beginning of the year. Old apps aren’t good enough after the end of each year.
Just another weird obstacle our company will throw in your paths. Why? ..because they can. :-(

767pilot

I don't think our problem is a lack of recruitment, isn't it more a lack of training capacity?

CactusCrew

Very true.

That is what an airline might do. We work for a trucking company that was forced into flying aircraft by the competition. Never expect them to react to aviation problems like an airline would.

SlyS

In the interest of helping inform others waiting on “the call”...

I interviewed in early May and waited 7.5 weeks before getting any sort of communication from the company. In my case, it was a “Welcome to the Pool” email. After digesting lots of posts on this forum, here are a couple - possible - reasons for the wait: 1) Rumored HR turmoil/backlog. 2) I had applied for military retirement at the time of my interview, but I did not have approval and a firm date. About a week prior to getting the email, I contacted the company to update my estimated availability date with my approved timeline. I suspect they may have placed me on the back burner until they had this info.

Fifteen days of swimming and I received a CJO. Was offered a short-notice class, but somehow the updated availability date was lost in translation and the offered class was before the new date. End result, I was offered a class date approx. 2 mo out.

flyphisher

Madella, I was in the pool 2.5 years. Many were flushed but for some reason I wasn’t.

As stated I believe all of us on the property are revolted with the competitive pool. No other airline does this. All airlines that I know of put you in a pool hired and awaiting a class date. UPS once again being UPS.

The competitive pool is both offensive and frustrating to candidates that have worked, prepared, studied, taken time off their job, to have the chance of interviewing. Getting ready for an interview is both time consuming and nerve wracking.

To say essentially, you passed the interview, but we want to look at other candidates, is offensive. Hopefully the new management of HR pilot hiring will stop this practice. My guess is that it comes from ATL so I don’t have too much faith that things will change unless ATL want the change. We are in different times of pilot hiring. UPS desperately needs pilots. Which only hopes to go towards saying your time in the pool will hopefully be very short.

In the meantime I’d recommend internal recs, job fairs. Any way you can get your name in front of them without calling them directly on the phone.

We apologize in advance for this ongoing competitive pool practice. Good luck.

FrontSeat2

How about Fedex, DAL UAL first,,,then brown town job fairs....

Madella0124

Another job fair to get out of the pool? I’ve already spent time and money on a job fairs and the interview. How often are people updating their flight time while waiting in the pool?

CactusCrew

A job fair to get out of the pool does seem like overkill.

But that's probably just me

c17heavy

Job fair AFTER a successful interview? Seriously??? That defies common sense to the absolute nth degree.