Hey there all you XJ hopefuls!!!
Even though it's been many years since I sat waiting, I understand the agony of waiting to hear. I still remember the moment I got the thumbs-up letter. (it was a letter then)
Don't concern yourselves with the daily ebb and flow of rumors. Some of the stuff on here is fairly accurate and some of it isn't even close. The Towelie Guy seems to be fairly accurate most of the time.
Here's my observations from what has happened in the past and the current situation:
The number one reason calls are not going out quickly is the chaos that this sudden change of pace has caused for the training and planning depts. It has been a long time since the system has had to handle this number of bodies.. Take into account that very few saw this sudden surge coming and you get a sort of accordian effect. Fast and Slow...Fast and Slow... By that, I mean that they were told to move fast and get bodies in here, then the system reached capacity and then they had to sit back and regroup while crew planning dusted off the "big picture" and determined the number of upgrades neccessary to meet future needs. The 20 upgrades that resulted have limited the number of slots in early May for new hires, so the accordion is now moving slow and you guys are bunching up behind the next wave.
All of us are waiting impatiently for the "big announcement", and that only fuels the chaos. However, since the latest vacancy says that it is due to instructor needs that they are upgrading 20, I would be very optimistic sitting in your shoes. We have a quality training dept and the fact that they are not allowing themselves to be pushed beyond their ability to maintain that quality is in your best interest.
I guess the bottom line is "Hang In There" and avoid the negative rumors. All of us here remember sitting where you are and we're on your side. It's a great group of pilots and you will be welcome here. Good luck to all of you and hopefully we'll see you all soon.