Anyone hear from Skywest?

[Sky-doggie]

Socal pilot~

You are so right! I too went to the LAX job fair, spent $450 on a suit studied my ass off for the written, and even passed it and got the letter" you will be interviewed" "See you in SLC" havent heard sh!t....

But..hey you never know...I needed a suit...got a lot of my documentation together... etc. So if they call they call if they don't somebody else will get to hire me.

Seems that this industry thrives on luck, rumor, and timing and While I'm really hoping to hear something. I won't blow my brains out waitinfg for Skywest to figure out what they want.

I'm glad if I had to be stuck I'm stuck where I'm at where I make a hell of a lot more money than a first year FO at Skywest and probably more than a Sencond year FO at Skywest,. Maybe even more than somebody in the CRJ.

The industry will turn around, So in the meantime enjoy what you have in life and that you are probably home every night, because someday we will all be doing just fine and have more hours and things to bitch about than we can even imagine right now!

 

[othello]

If you were SkyWest who would you interview some cfi whom attened an "open house" and passed a couple basic knowlage writtens that has 1300 TT and 130ME. Or someone with 2500 TT 1100 ME and 121 experince, that faxed a resume this AM? not a hard question from were I am sitting.

don't give up you'll get you chance it's a tough industry to brake into these days.
p.s.
SkyWest is NOT the only ones hiring

 

[skypine69]

I had the occasion to talk to Camielle this evening on a flight and asked her what the interview situation is at the moment. She told me that they are interviewing people with 3-5000 hours with jet time in there. She said that they have exhausted the competitive applicants from the job fairs and are going to off the street applicants. They are getting about 20 applicants per day right now with many of them UAL and others on furlough who are willing to resign thier number. She is interviewing 8 people per day with about a 50% pass rate. I know there are new hire jet classes and brasilia classes but I cant remember the details of now many pilots and how many classes. I do know that the most senior Brasilia capt in the company (number 2 overall) got junior manned to fly tonite because we are short weedwhacker pilots. Anywayssss.....hope that helps and if you are trying keep trying and one of the best things you can do is get to know a skkywest pilot and get a letter from them.

 

[jim'ne cricket]

Apparently they overstated, when we were told during the fairs that those that attended the fairs would have priority over those off the street no matter the experience. The rational explained during the fair is that employee knew and recommended us. Oh well, so sad. They should have seen this coming (I did), and not given such a hopeful statement. Oh well, again. Good luck.

 

[socalpilot]

othello I don't agree with your statement.

"If you were SkyWest who would you interview some cfi whom attened an "open house" and passed a couple basic knowlage writtens that has 1300 TT and 130ME. Or someone with 2500 TT 1100 ME and 121 experince, that faxed a resume this AM? "

Just because a person has 3000+ hours doesn't make them the best candidate. I have flown with a few captains with lots of flight time and they can't even track a course. One guy told me that he had even been offered an interview by SkyWest and that guy scared the sh!t out of me. Lots of time doesn't make you a good pilot and I think the emphasis is too much on flight time and not enough on the total experience of the candidate. There is a lot of talent out there that doesn't have a ton of hours but they are very competent pilots. If it was my airline I would hire for attitude and train for proficency. I may not have a lot of time but I have completed two 121 training programs with no problems. I'm current a qualified 121 and your telling me that I'm not a good candidate because I don't have 3000+ hours.

 

[othello]

I am not saying what I wrote is the right thing to do or that I agree with it, but that is how this whole industry is. Those flolks with all of that time still have to pass the interview. Attitude and all that stuff you mentioned is required, they don't just hand them a job.

Try this one say SkyWest's has 15 people in new hire class 13 are comming over from other carriers and two are comming from instructing. You tell me whom is going to struggle to keep up and most likely need the extra sim time at the companys expence?

A year and a half ago is all you needed was 1000TT 100ME and a pulse and you would get 4-5 interview calls. Times have changed?

keep your head up, your time will come!

 

[Socalplt]

To Socalpilot:

To help you understand what is going on with the interviews I'll offer some of my insight (for what it's worth).

1. SkyWest does not, and has not trained to proficiency. They expect you to come here and have very little problem in getting through the training in the normal time. If needed you'll get an extra sim session or an extra 10-15 hours of IOE, but if you're not up to speed then you will be shown the door. Same thing with upgrades pass or you're fired. I would imagine that someone with 2, 3 or 4000 + hours with the majority of it multi engine turbine in a crew environment is going to have an easier time than someone with 1000 hours. Even if they have problems in the sim, they certainly have more line/practical EXPERIENCE were it counts.

2. When you attended the career fairs I doubt the company had any intention of hiring into the jet at that time. As I've said before, when SkyWest previously had hired into the jet all the people had significant turbine experience. I would bet that most of the interviews at this time are for the jet and they're still looking for the turbine time. As far as the company saying one thing and doing another, things change and I bet everyone here at an airline can point to situations where their company has said one thing and done another. As far as the money you spent on the career fair it's just part of the game. I'm sure that you and I, and many of the others will spend many thousands more in our quest for that dream job.

3. With only 1200-1300 hours that is extermely low time in todays market. I was hired 2 1/2 years ago and out of a class of thirty the average times were around 2000 hrs / 600 multi. Only a few had times as low as 1200 hours. I believe Andy stated average times for a new hire class about a year ago were 2600 hours / 1000 hours multi. I've flown with many captains here that were hired during the early to mid 90's that thought they were lucky to get a job with 3000-4000+ hours. That was to sit right seat in a Metro years when upgrades ran 5-7 years.

4. If you really want a job here, keep building experience, keep updating, get letters of recommendation from as many SkyWest pilots as you can, and be persistent. Additionally, check the attitude, I'll bet that 3000 hour captain that can't track a course can handle the situation better when the sh$t hits the fan than you can.

 

[socalpilot]

Thanks for your opinion but I'm still not convinced that these people make better candidates. I'm very happy with my current job although I have always wanted to work for SkyWest. They were the top of my list of regionals to work for and the door was shut right after I met the minimums. So I went down my list and hired on with another airline ended up being furloughed because of 9/11 and found another job in april of this year. All I want is my chance to interview and if I get rejected so be it. I think that all of the people that attended the job fairs and passed should at least be offered the chance to interview before those off the street. Then let the sim ride and interview determine if these candidates are SkyWest material or not. It's just my opinion but I believe there is too much emphasis on total time. It's not total time but quality of time that defines a persons skill. Don't take my posts the wrong way. I'm just trying to express my opinion that total time is not the key ingredient. Anyway, I'm just happy to have a job in this market but I do think I deserve a chance to interview.

 

[AGB]

I AGREE

I WAS LUCKY ENOUGH TO GET AN INTERVIEW
FROM THE JOB FAIR AND WAS LUCKY TO GET THE
JOB, BUT I BELIEVE YOU MAKE YOUR OWN LUCK, I
TOTALLY AGREE WITH SOCALPILOT, I MAY HAVE
LESS TT THAN MY ENTIRE CLASS, AND NO 121 OR
EVEN TURBINE TIME, BUT I KNOW I CAN STUDY
WITH THE BEST OF THEM!
I WOULD BE A LITTLE UPSET IF I NEVER GOT THE INTERVIEW AFTER WHAT WAS SAID AT THE JOB FAIR...I TOOK IT AS THE TRUTH, I HAVE FRIENDS IN THE CFI MARKET THAT ARE STILL
WAITING FOR AN INTERVIEW THAT I KNOW WOULD
BE GREAT ADDITIONS TO THE COMPANY AND TAKE
THE INTERVIEW MUCH MORE SERIOUS AND DO BETTER
THAN THE 2000 TT, 121 YADA YADA PILOTS THAT
BLEW THE INTERVIEW THE DAY I WAS THERE! BUT
THAT IS THE WAY IT GOES AND I GUESS YOU HAVE TO
TAKE IT ALL WITH A GRAIN OF SALT, BUT AS FOR
WHO I THINK WILL TAKE THE LEAST TRAINING AND
EXTRA SIM TIME ETC...HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH
IF THEY WERE AN INSTRUCTOR OR A PREVIOUS 121
PILOT BUT WHAT THEY HAVE IN THEIR HEART AND MIND!
THANKS JP

 

[Sky-doggie]

Agreed!

I too agree with you guys. It is my opinion that if you took the time to go the job fairs and believe me you HAD to have a letter of recommendation to even get in the door you should be interviewed at least. That is all I want. Whether or not I get the job depends on Me and Me alone.

I think that there are a lot of us that Instruct that have a hell of a lot of knowledge to offer a regional airline. And I'm only speaking from where I work but we have a brand new fleet of multiengine trainers equipped with the latest avionics/gps packages that take quite a bit of training to use. I have personally done airline interview preps with guys who have flown for 121 carriers who cannot shoot an ILS any better than some of my multiengine instrument students, and had to get training, to use our simulator, and wanted me a lowly MEI/CFII to grill them on IFR procedures and charts before they went off to an interview. And I only have about 700 hours multiengine...1700 TT. I even interviewed several individuals who flew corporate, and for airlines, who needed jobs and they could not hack instructing and were not hired? I thought these guys were airline pilots who know everything!

I'll bet about 95% of the people who use this site if they jumped into one of our trainers would need some form of training to use our Garmin or King GPS to shoot GPS approaches, hold etc.

The point I'm trying to make is that TT does not mean everything. What ultimatly is going to decide whether someone is going to get through airline training is the individuals attitude and desire, followed by the proper training. In todays market It seems that those who got hired with about the same times I probably have a few years ago and maybe got furloughed or whatever want to claim that we Instructors don't deserve to get airline jobs yet and thats BS!

I'm sorry for all the guys out of work but I've worked real hard to get where I'm at and I'm sick of guys who say that Instructors don't know anything. I know that I'll get out of instructing someday and into the left seat of an airliner and it does not bother me to wait around while the market settles down. But I guarantee that when I do get an interview with Skywest I will blow a lot of 121 guys out of the water when it comes to the sim, etc. So see you there!