AIR INC & Kit Darby, Disappointment

[Relic01]

Like the assistant chief pilot for ATA said:"They have more than 8000 resumes. They are sorted into three piles. The first pile are those who know the chief pilot, the second are those recommended by people in the company and air incs seminar attendees, last pile is everyone else(mail, fax, e-mail). Unfortunately, they have not reached the last pile yet. Which pile do you want to be in?

It is a known fact that the airlines don't necessarily hire the most qualified candidates, they hire people they like. Can I spend three days on the road with you?

We live in a capitalistic society where I can take my money and do whatever I please with it? Kit has a service and some people benefit for it. Honestly, I know over 20 pilots who got that first break after paying a fortune to meet face to face for five minutes with HR reps.

My example, I went to my first seminar in the summer of 2002 when I had only 300 hr TT and no multi. I wanted to see what the industry had to offer. A number of airlines including a few majors took my resume and surprisingly last year, while visiting a captain with one of those majors, I was surprised to see that he had my 300 hour resume still in his file. I asked for an updated resume and we laughed and talked about airplanes. Made sure to send a thank you note and I do stay in touch - direct line. Now, would I have had that opportunity some place else? Maybe, but it does exist now. I know a number of HR reps and senior pilots at a few major airlines. All the same people at these meetings.

Why would Southwest, JetBlue, AirTran, ATA, FedEx, UPS, and you name it waste their time if they weren't seeing a benefit? It has been proven that if I don't get what I want then it all bad. Grow up, if it's not suited for you, so be it but I will continue to go and when I do make it to a major, I will continue to go and volunteer my service helping others coming up with advise from my experiences. If we could all do it on our own, we would all be captains/ceo's at the highest paying airlines making max pay and working 25 hours a month. That's not the case so I have to make myself more marketable than the next guy, ...and that could be someone reading this. Senority, what a bitch.

 

[pilotyip]

nice post

Nice post relic, as I have said it is not for anyone to judge how you go about gettting your job.

 

[slinky]

I agree with relic

Relic01
I agree with relic. If you dont like air inc...good. If you do like them ....ok also. I will pay to meet a chief pilot or a HR kinda guy or gal. This makes sence to me. Airlines hire someone who is a good dude and is compatable with thier ideals. Noone wants to sit next to someone else for six hours who is an @ss. Face time is key in this world and it may suck but sometimes you have to buy facetime.

Lots of respect to all
slinky

 

[46Driver]

I agree with pilotyip, slinky, and relic - Air Inc is a service to get you face time and a chance. Much better to hand in your resume in person than it being just another fax or mail to the company. I went to Air Inc back in 2000 - handed in my resumes to ACA and ASA (while Eagle and a few others would not take them as I was not qualified by their standards). After speaking with the reps at the conference, I was offered interviews with the two above companies - so yes, I credit Air Inc with getting my job at ACA. Air Inc is still very popular with the military crowd.

 

[bobbysamd]

FAPA

I credit Air Inc with getting my job at ACA. Air Inc is still very popular with the military crowd.

Which was why Air, Inc.'s ancestor, FAPA, was founded. Lou Smith founded FAPA to give separating military pilots a path to the airlines. In about 1987, FAPA was in financial trouble. Along came Kit, who was running the place, and his pilot shortage contrivance. There soon were news stories about an impending pilot shortage, always quoting FAPA. Even reputable news organizations quoted FAPA without questioning its statistics. And, the rest was history. Kit, through the pilot shortage, bailed out FAPA. It didn't hurt that at the time there was a big pilot hiring boom.

Military pilots were always FAPA's/Air, Inc.'s interest, and theres no dispute that either has helped them. But for the pilot shortage sophistry, FAPA might have died, and to fatten a wallet by way of a half-truth is reprehensible.

 

[Hugh Jorgan]

Re: FAPA

But for the pilot shortage sophistry, FAPA might have died, and to fatten a wallet by way of a half-truth is reprehensible.

When I attended in 2002, I heard Kit say nothing to the effect of a pilot shortage. Quite the contrary, he was using the fact that there was NO shortage to his benefit, ie. "buy all my stuff because you need the edge". A rational person could look at his products and see which of those might benefit them and leave the other stuff behind. I saw no half, quarter, or even eighth-truths at the convention I attended. It was all about the HARD truth. There AREN'T nearly enough jobs out there for those looking. I agree making a buck off of lying is wrong. It's a shame that the truth of the matter is, as PT Barnum so accurately stated, suckers are born every minute. That axium holds true all around us and so long as it does, there will be people with products for the suckers to buy. I found value in the products I purchased from Kit, the most valuable being the opportunity to meet recruiters. To NOT attend a job fair just because you don't want to see the $155.00 go in Kit's pocket is silly. For those without jobs who elect not to attend...well, you really showed Kit, didn't you?

 

[slinky]

well spoke hugh

 

[Nindiri]

Hugh makes a good point: Air Inc offers numerous products and a pilot should select those that might help him. Whether it helps Kit or not is irrelevant as long as it helps the customer.

The best product for me was the resume service. Sure, I could learn to do my own resumes and cover letters, but why should I? I gave $150 to Air, and now I have a lifetime supply of professionally produced resumes specific to any company I might choose. All I have to do is proofread them and deliver them. Couldn't be easier.

The other product that worked for me was the interview prep. Again, I could have gone elsewhere for professional interview coaching, but why? The Air Inc prep was specific to airline interviews, and helped me avoid stupid job-costing mistakes.

 

[coex]

For those of you who are looking to get "face time" with the recruiters, how many of you would be interested in another Aviation Interviews Job fair? I set up the first one last summer and I look forward to having many more!
Last year it was $25 per person (this covered the cost of the convention center), this year I hope to do it even cheaper! It all depends upon how many people we can get through the door.
Last year we had ASA and ATA and around 75 pilots attended. Yes, I know this is "small" compared to some other job fairs, but most of the people who attended liked this because it gave them a lot more "face time" with the recruiters.
I'm not doing this to sell you books, or any other garbage. All I'm trying to do is help out my colleagues land a new job.
Here are a few pics from the job fair last summer
http://www.aviationinterviews.com/pilotjobfair/

Some of you might be wondering what happens to the money that is made by the web site.....
Most of it is given away in scholarships for aviation students
http://www.aviationinterviews.com/scholarship2003.php

I look forward to your comments and suggestions.

 

[Hugh Jorgan]

Great stuff! It's nice to see a little less snake oil and a little more pilots-trying-to-help-pilots.

What airlines attended?

 

[bobbysamd]

. . . . and perhaps a little straight talk

For those of you who are looking to get "face time" with the recruiters, how many of you would be interested in another Aviation Interviews Job fair . . . . Last year we had ASA and ATA and around 75 pilots attended. Yes, I know this is "small" compared to some other job fairs, but most of the people who attended liked this because it gave them a lot more "face time" with the recruiters.
I'm not doing this to sell you books, or any other garbage. All I'm trying to do is help out my colleagues land a new job . . . .

As long as the pilot recruiters are meeting with pilots in good faith, this is something I would support and probably attend if I were still in the job search.

 

[CorpFlyBoy67]

For those of you who are looking to get "face time" with the recruiters, how many of you would be interested in another Aviation Interviews Job fair? I set up the first one last summer and I look forward to having many more!
Last year it was $25 per person (this covered the cost of the convention center), this year I hope to do it even cheaper! It all depends upon how many people we can get through the door.
Last year we had ASA and ATA and around 75 pilots attended. Yes, I know this is "small" compared to some other job fairs, but most of the people who attended liked this because it gave them a lot more "face time" with the recruiters.
I'm not doing this to sell you books, or any other garbage. All I'm trying to do is help out my colleagues land a new job.
Here are a few pics from the job fair last summer
http://www.aviationinterviews.com/pilotjobfair/

Some of you might be wondering what happens to the money that is made by the web site.....
Most of it is given away in scholarships for aviation students
http://www.aviationinterviews.com/scholarship2003.php

I look forward to your comments and suggestions.

Mike,

That cost is more in line with how it should be. I commend you for helping fellow pilots in this way. Also, for giving scholarships to others...

Kit is just a snake oil salesman. Most job fairs the employers pay for a both there. Not sure how Kit works his - but he should not pay for his seminars off the backs of furloughed pilots.

As far as the comment by Nindiri - what interviews have you gotten off your resume that Air Inc produced for you? I had my resume done by them a few years ago and got nothing.

Then, I had my resume done by Kathy at The Write Resume and I landed a job right away. I don't believe in trying to "learn to write a resume". That is not my profession. I leave it to a true professional who does this as a career. I fly planes. I highly recommend anyone who wants to have their resume and cover letters done right to visit Kathy's website at www.awriteresume.com

She emails you a copy of your resume and cover letter and you can make all the changes you want yourself. No wait time involved cause you are doing it yourself.

As far as interview prep goes - I tried to get information from Air Inc about a company and I knew more than the person trying to help me on the phone. Do your research, follow the comments on this board and read any news that will help you make a decision. I would say that it is more valuable to do prep with people that are experts in each individual airline, then someone who knows nothing about any specific airline process. There are resources on this board and when I decide to go to the airlines (if I do) then I will use someone on this board.

Jeff

 

[Speedbird34]

Anyone know the name of the ATA chief pilot at the job fair. an excellent gentleman who gives the speeches about his many other airline interveiws. I got an application through him and a interveiw with Northwest airlink Pinnacle at Kit Darby job fair.
Lonnie Robinson is a great guy who represents OBAP (organisation of Black Airline Pilots ) in the USA and he has lots of pull in the industry and I would be happy to give him my resume.

 

[Ty Webb]

The problem with companies using the Air Inc. job fair is that when you make a de facto requirement to attend one of these things, it requires applicants pay "bahksheesh" to Kit, the airline job pimp.

As for the naive person who wondered why companies would attend this thing if they weren't interested in hiring applicants-

did you ever think that this might give them a chance to eyeball candidates who can help them "Diversify"?

Hmmmmmmn.

 

[Publishers]

Why

Why would a recruiter go even when they are not hiring.

Well, first of all let us start with the part that it costs them nothing to go at all.

Secondly, recruiters tend to flock together and like to visit each other. A free hotel, some free drinks, and a couple of days out of town, sounds good to me.

Third, well that is the part where Kit begs them to come. Many of the recruiters like to see a grown 737 senior captain grovel for their attention. OR buy their drinks.

Lastly, many of these recruiters are trying to find a better job themselves. In thh old AEPS jobfair days, more recruiting went on after it was over than during it. Plying a fellow recruiter with free drinks, especially ones that are Kits, well it does not get much better than that.

 

[Nindiri]

CorpFlyBoy67

Using the AirInc resume, I was invited to interviews at ASA, Comair, Airlink, and Commutair. I don't believe it was specifically because I used AirInc, but simply because the resume was professionally done. As you said, I don't want to take the time to become an expert resume writer when I can just let a professional do it for me. My choice of the AirInc service was simply because I was familiar with their work, but other resume services could have done as well.

 

[Ty Webb]

Re: Why

Geez, why don't we just cut out the middleman, bring the recruiters somewhere warm in the winter, ply them with complimentary schnocktails and have a big ol' time?

I've already got a job, but I would go just to have fun!

 

[TheGuat]

I'm an AirInc member, hopefully it will payoff with an RJ right seat.

 

[bobbysamd]

Rotsa ruck

I'm an AirInc member, hopefully it will payoff with an RJ right seat.

I hope it will, too, before Kit takes too much of your money.

In the meantime, if I were you I'd be thinking more about that first job out of flight training than that RJ seat. Kit doesn't provide much help to entry-level job-seekers.

 

[Ty Webb]

I'm an AirInc member, hopefully it will payoff with an RJ right seat.

You might be better off spending that money on a boob job.

If the flying thing doesn't work out for you, maybe the National Enquirer will buy you a 737 type rating in exchange for your "story'.