AIR INC & Kit Darby, Disappointment

[maineiac]

Never used Kit and never will. Went to college learned how to write a resume and cover letter. Flew as a CFI, Charter Pilot to get experiance. Was dependable at all my jobs. Studied and told the truth on interviews (What would your current employer say if we called him right now and told him you were here? He would ask how am I doing). And have never had aproblem getting an interview or a job. Even after getting furloughed. I guess I am old school.

 

[bobbysamd]

Disinformation

Kit Darby: ". . . early and mandatory age-60 retirements will create the need for 300-500 each year at each airline. So, even without growth, in three to five years new pilots will be needed just to maintain these airlines at the sizes they are now. And with any growth at all, the need for new pilots will come even sooner."

* * * *

Kit Darby: "For those fixated on the large number of furloughed pilots - nearly 10,000 at the end of 2003 - I remind you that the number of pilots who found new jobs over the past two years is over 11,000."

This last comment is particularly rich - something that furloughees were just waiting to hear.

It's the same load of crap that Kit has been disseminating since 1987. Once more, "forty-thousand pilots will be needed during the next ten years."

Kit's not the only one who is peddling the pilot shortage. Even academia is peddling it, to-wit, this letter by Dr. Harvey Birdseye of the aviation department at Lane Community College in Oregon.

I second Maineiac's comments. Learn to write a good cover letter and resume, and trust your abilities. Don't trust Kit and his lackeys to help you get the job you want.

 

[eaglefly]

Kit Darby's business is designed for one thing.

To make Kit Darby money.

Why does this surprise anyone.

He is in the "sales" business.

Everybody and anybody in that line of work has the same objective.

The advantage he has is the plentiful supply of hungry suckers that exist in greater numbers in a sluggish economy than in a healthy one.

In any case it will never change and he'll continue to do just fine.

His next "seminar" will be packed with saps holding checks.

 

[Hugh Jorgan]

resurrecting the dead horse...

All the bs and whining about false hopes, etc. If you are foolish enough to believe the snake-oil side to kit's product, then you will no doubt fail in more endeavors than just a career as an airline pilot.

If you are foolish enough to ignore all of the success stories people have related regarding attending such job fairs, then you will certainly not gain any sort of edge in the hiring competition and are also likely to fail in your job-hunting endeavor.

If you regularly heed the advice of those who have failed before you, you will likely also fail.

Read again whay PilotYIP writes. He's a recruiter for his company who attends these fairs and has said he has hired right from the fairs!!!

How any rational-thinking person could not see there is an opportunity to advance your hiring potential for the price of a good asian massage is madness to me.

 

[dlredline]

Re: resurrecting the dead horse...

. . . Read again whay PilotYIP writes. He's a recruiter for his company who attends these fairs and has said he has hired right from the fairs!!!

I guess this is what bothers me the most. Someone with a schedule conflict (family matters, job, etc.) and can't attend an AirInc conference is at an automatic disadvantage to someone who shells out $$ to Kit Darby. These employers who actively "hire" pilots at a job fair full of financial motive to it's organizer are perpetuating the problem of Kit's get-rich scheme at the expense of desperate pilots.

And I've yet to hear an explanation (not that I expect to) why in the world they would allow someone like Lonnie Robinson of USAirways (invited by Kit Darby himself) to walk the halls accepting resumes, dodging the hundreds of furloughees from the very airline he holds himself out to "represent". Many were insulted by his actions at a JOB fair.

I commend PilotYIP's effort to employ many of our own, though I respectfully disagree with his approach. And do I consider this "beating a dead horse"? Absolutely not! Not as long as Kit Darby continues to propagate misleading information to his clients who pay hundreds of $$ a year erroneously subsidizing the "pilot shortage" myth.

Red

 

[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?