You have to understand we are a bottom feeder. You wear a pager, you are on 30 minute call outs, you fly to strange places in the middle of the night, you de-ice airplanes all the time, and YIP is IFR almost all winter with icing conditions. During hiring booms nobody applies here unless they can not find a job someplace else. During these times our turnover is high.
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All of this may well be true, but it then points to the fact that your company is offering a compensation package which is inadequate to retain people given the working conditions. I realize that they have obviously found a balance which (at least for the time) allows them to maintain an influx of replacements is the current environment, but I must question the quality of the product you are providing in the "good times." Obviously it's fairly easy to get highly capable pilots right now, but I don't think there is any way you can honestly claim you have as safe an operation when times are good and what you have is a captain who "can not find a job someplace else" paired with a "500 CFI". If both attracting and retaining talented individuals isn't a high priority, then there is no way the company can be a "premier company."
It's oxymoronic to state in your first sentence that it is a bottom feeder, then shortly thereafter that it is a "premier company" and talk about how well your evaluations have gone. First, we all know that both FAA and third party evaluations are (to a large extent) window dressing. You can have all your i's dotted and t's crossed, but still not have a quality operation based on the people you have working "in the trenches." I'll grant that with those kinds of turnover numbers, your training department should certainly be proficient - but having that much turnover cannot be good for the continuity of the operation.
I know the argument is "we can't afford to pay more." If you are truly producing a premium product (particularly in the corporate charter world), you should be able to command some sort of premium price for it. Part of the cost of producing that product would be to offer a compensation package which is adequate to attract and retain employees. If you are failing to do so, then something is wrong. I understand a certain amount of turnover, but that's out of hand.
Back to the topic at hand, I too am disappointed that they aren't holding to the ATP standard for hiring at a 121 carrier. If that causes you some inconvenience in your hiring process, well that's unfortunate for you. I (like many others), believe that it is more appropriate for new pilots to gain initial experience somewhere other than in the right seat of a 121 airline. Yes, there are certainly those who can pass the ATP check ride at 300 hours, but simply the ability to maintain altitude on your steep turns and fly an approach well does not an experienced pilot make. The public rightly expects when they board an airliner that they are getting well qualified, experienced pilots. In fact, they've been getting cheated.
It seems to me that your company (and most others) wants to ever keep cheapening the product they sell, while claiming it's as good as it ever was. It isn't, and claiming it is doesn't change that fact.
If the current trend continues, there will come a time (it may already be here) when the best people (which is what the career has historically attracted) won't bother to go into it anymore, and virtually all of those available will be those who can't find a job in another career field, and there won't be enough of them. Then all of the airlines will then decry the lack of applicants and push for MPL. Then they will cheapen that up, until people won't even want to make the investment for a guaranteed job at 300 hours (it won't be worth it). What will they do then? Lobby the government to draft people to fly for them?
The current trend at the airlines amounts to nothing less than burning the furniture to keep the house warm. You have succeeded in getting labor ever cheaper, but it truly is a case of be careful what you wish for - because in the long run you are undercutting one of the key elements you need for your business to operate successfully.
Raising the minimum hours required to work at a 121 carrier is only one small part of what needs to take place to put things right in this industry. However it is a step in the right direction in that it at least attempts to force the airlines to hire pilots with more experience. It's certainly not a perfect solution, but again the airlines have made it quite clear they'd be content with a fresh commercial pilot in the left seat and a private pilot riding as an apprentice in the right seat (forgive me a bit of hyperbole). A limit has to be set somewhere, and the carriers have made it abundantly clear they are not willing to do so voluntarily.
PS - There's a button on the right side of your keyboard, often marked "Enter" or "Return." Judicious use of it allows you to create what we call "paragraphs" to separate different lines of thought. They make the written word easier to read and comprehend - you might want to look into using them in the future on lengthy posts (again, forgive me for being an @$$ - I just couldn't pass that one up).
