Alaska Interview? Just Kidding!

[sf340flyer]

AK 73 Fo , I support you 100%. From the sounds of it everyone is upset because they can't get a siilver bullet. On a side note, I applied last fall, (with a silver bullet and internship), and I wasn't in the "new online" system. Does anyone else have this problem???

 

[whiff]

Off the subject kinda, but..for anyone over at Alaska how long is your reserve callout? thanks

 

[reepicheep]

"If you want to work here, you can find a way to get a bullet. If you are not willing to make friends / connections and get a bullet, then welcome to the bottom of the stack."
AK737FO

I respectfully disagree. Some good people are going to fall through the cracks with your system. FWIW, the guys from my network from the mid 80's all got hired at places like American and United. And, in 16+ years as a US Airways F/O not one captain that I've flown with who could be a potential Silver Bullet has resigned from US Airways and gone to Alaska. And correct me if I'm wrong but the Silver Bullet program is not for someone you met on the jumpseat or who you sort of remember from your last job or who you met at Starbucks at Sea-Tac, it has to be someone who has flown with you and known you over a sustained period of time. Or so my 2 Alaska acquaintances tell me.

No sour grapes here but at least acknowledge that it's a crapshoot. You either know someone there you've flown with or you don't. If Iwas an airline looking to cut costs, I'd probably do the same thing. Why pay dozens of HR people to comb through thousands of resumes when your own pilots can serve this function? There are whispers that this, in reality, is what jetBLue is doing, despite claims to the contrary from some of their pilots. And with their new system it appears Southwest will begin moving in this direction.

And I agree once you're in the door you still have to come up big and sell yourself. But at least you're in the door.

 

[Kool]

sf340flyer-

I also got my application in last fall with a Silver Bullet. What I learned is that the old apps are not automatically entered into the new system and you have to do it yourself. Those in flight ops/HR departments will work behind the scenes to attach the previously completed screening remarks, LOR's, etc.

The one piece of info I just can't seem to squeeze out of my contact is WHEN interviewing will start up again....

 

[mach none]

Our Silver Bullet system works and we will stick with it. That is not to say that some people will get interviews that do not know anyone here.

Your odds of getting the call go up to around 100% with a silver bullet. It took me about 1.5 years for my app. to surface. Once you get the call though, you have to get hired yourself. Lots of guys/gals don't get hired even though they have the silver bullet.
We have the best and most challenging flying anywhere and we need the best pilots. No arrogance, just pride.

Hang in there. This is a new system and like AK737FO stated, they are probably debugging the system right now and getting ready for future hiring. I would image we will see hiring resume late spring sometime.

 

[Fox2]

Gents:

Have the Silver Bullet and would like to get my app in. Yet, everytime I attempt to get the on-line app. I get "the page you are requesting has been moved, or is no longer available." Has the online app page been taken down since it went up last week?

Thanks

 

[dogg]

"We have the best and most challenging flying anywhere and we need the best pilots. No arrogance, just pride."

Mach, I think you drank the company line as well.....Let's see, you fly in the state of Alaska which has some of the most stable and predictable weather in the country and you fly up and down the west coast which with the exception of some fog has the best weather in the country..... For difficult and challenging flying you might want to try from the Great Lakes to the East coast ....Lets see, blizzards, thunderstorms, wicked icing, 5-700 mile long frontal systems, atc congestion beyond belief and on and on.....the silver bullet or whatever it is called is just friends gettin' friends a job period end of story...I think in other circles it is called networking........but one thing it is not about is the "best pilots"

And one more thing....I talked to a couple of Alaska pilot who are seriously in the know and they say that until Mgmnt can get new pay and benefit rules for new hires there will be no hiring. And according to them, that wont happen until you have a new contract sometime after 2005..............should be interesting to watch

 

[AK737FO]

Sorry, wrong answer...

[the silver bullet or whatever it is called is just friends gettin' friends a job period end of story...I think in other circles it is called networking........but one thing it is not about is the "best pilots"

Dogg,
The silver bullet will get you a phone call. The rest is up to you. I don't know what the official stats are, but I bet close to half don't make it through the sim, and even more are dropped after the Captain review board. Hardly "gettin friends a job".

It most certainly is about getting the best pilots. I say again, who is better to choose who we work with than the pilots out there doing the job each day?

If you think it is better to have a HR department calling the shots, or a psych test making the decisions then there are plenty of other airlines available to you - someday...

 

[dogg]

So AK, what I think some of us are trying to figure out is this...suppose a pilot has flown for another airline in the 737 for a few years. Obviously this pilot is competent and qualified. Now what you are saying is that because this pilot does not know an Alaska pilot that they are somehow not good enough to fly a 737 for Alaska. And if they take the time to fill out an online application, as requested by Alaska and meet and exceed the requirements as stated on the website(which makes no mention of a "silver bullet")that they will not be considered. Dude it does not make any sense. Why bother having a web site at all. If it is as you say then dont you think that the pilot doing the silver bullet would have to provide some password or something along those lines. And if it is as Mach says that they are just working the bugs out of the system, what a bunch of jerks. So a couple of thousand very qualified pilots sit down and spend a couple of hours filling out an aplication for a job that they are very qualified for, thinking that they may receive a call for an interview and the truth is that they are just guinea pigs for an online "good old boys network". Makes a person question the honesty and the integrity of the folks that you work for plain and simple.........

 

[iluvetops]

Dogg

well said

 

[FlyBoeingJets]

Re: Sorry, wrong answer...

[B
Dogg,
The silver bullet will get you a phone call. The rest is up to you. I don't know what the official stats are, but I bet close to half don't make it through the sim, and even more are dropped after the Captain review board. Hardly "gettin friends a job".

It most certainly is about getting the best pilots. I say again, who is better to choose who we work with than the pilots out there doing the job each day?

If you think it is better to have a HR department calling the shots, or a psych test making the decisions then there are plenty of other airlines available to you - someday... [/B]

AK737FO,

I agree that recommendations are MUCH better than the stupid psych test or other half baked attempts by some HR departments.

And I agree recs are really important. You want people to come on board who want to keep the airline a great place to work. You want them to feel like they shouldn't let their friends down. It keeps training costs down instead of hiring to replace those that leave for other jobs.

But I have to disagree that it brings on the "Best" pilots or even tries to do that. What it does is ensure no marginal or jerk pilots are hired. BTW, airlines don't want the best skill wise, they want the best employees (attitude) that have the appropriate skill level and competence.

If Alaska is like other airlines they will interview, and turn down, a percentage of recommended pilots and hire some who were not recommended.

 

[sf340flyer]

A couple of things, just because you have a 737 type and a couple of thousand hours in it, DOESN'T MAKE YOU A GOOD PILOT. A type doesn't make a pilot. We could state that mid-west flying is harder than west coast. I've done my flying(3,500) in the mid west. Yes there are t-storms, icing, and 700 mile fronts, but the real question is HAVE YOU DONE ANY ALASKA flying?? I think Alaska is the hardest state to fly into, with Mountains, icing, t-sorms in the summer, and frigid temps in the winter. Yes the traffic isn't as much as the east coast, but in AK if you are off course you are into a mountain.

AK has a GREAT company culture. They wan't you to fit in. The silver bullet program is a way for the employees to tell the company who would fit into the "Alaskan Spirit"

 

[FlyBoeingJets]

Also,

I'm not trying to bag on the "Best" pilot assertion. I'm sure Alaska requires very skilled aviators and has some of the best.

However, I wouldn't assume the only way to find a great pilot is by asking an Alaska pilot. There just might be some they don't know about.

 

[trainerjet]

"We have the best and most challenging flying anywhere and we need the best pilots. No arrogance, just pride."

Mach, I think you drank the company line as well.....Let's see, you fly in the state of Alaska which has some of the most stable and predictable weather in the country and you fly up and down the west coast which with the exception of some fog has the best weather in the country..... For difficult and challenging flying you might want to try from the Great Lakes to the East coast ....Lets see, blizzards, thunderstorms, wicked icing, 5-700 mile long frontal systems, atc congestion beyond belief and on and on.....the silver bullet or whatever it is called is just friends gettin' friends a job period end of story...I think in other circles it is called networking........but one thing it is not about is the "best pilots"

This entire post is so full of misinformation that I wouldn't even know where to start. Alaska weather stable and predictable? Go to Dutch Harbor, check out the weather conditions, fly on to Adak, then return to Dutch Harbor, and see what the weather conditions are there now. Stable and predictable? RIGHT. Fog and ice? Try the Pacific Northwest for that. Congestion...how about SFO and LAX for starters. Challenges? How about the approaches into places like DUT, JNU, KTN, etc.

What it boils down to is you haven't a clue about Alaska Airlines or their operation. You wouldn't fit in, you don't like the way they select their pilots (primarily because it leaves you out of the picture), you won't be working there, so why do you care what they do or how they do it?

 

[de727ups]

And another thing...

UPS uses the same system as Alaska in reference to needing a pilot recommendation to get the interview. So does America West, based on recent threads here. I think Fedex does, too. The question is....what major airline doesn't use... Wait, let me rephrase that. What major airline that might be hiring in the next five years doesn't use the silver bullet method? (this is a sincere question)

Point being, you can whine all you want about how wrong the system is but, in the end, you have to play the game by the rules that currently exisit....otherwise don't play.

Oh...and this best pilot stuff is all crap. Everyone knows freight dawgs are the best pilots....