Does attending a job fair increase your chances of getting hired?

[JohnnyDrama]

Do any of you at the major level attend job fairs to recruit pilots?

If any of you are on 'hiring teams' or have any actual insight, do attending these events in this day and age actually help? I know that is a broad question, but major's like Southwest, Delta, United ect don't actually need to recruit pilots this way with the thousands of online apps they receive during a hiring window. Therefore is Flight Ops who hosts these events paying or otherwise enticing said airlines to attend, or do the airlines actually prefer to attend looking for candidates? Im trying my best to further my career, but wondering if it actually increases the chances of a future interview.

Thanks for your feedback!

 

[FlyinGuy]

Who knows if it helps. The question is are you going to spend the time and money to go after a job. It is very tough in avation right now, so it may not help but it cannot hurt.

 

[JohnnyDrama]

Yeah those are my exact thoughts too, and the reason I attend, it just makes me curious if it actually DOES help. One of those things we'll never know i suppose, unless someone on this board is on the other side of the table at these events and can verify! Or i guess if anyone else can attest to getting an interview specifically because of one.

 

[LearLove]

I'd say it can help getting an interview but not the job.

Like a recommendation can help you get to the interview but once your called in it is up to you to make the interview and get the job.

 

[scoreboardII]

Get you the job? No.

But the odds of getting a job by not going and not prepping and not knowing everything there is to know approaches zero.

I "wasted" about two weeks of time going to interview preps, job fairs, etc. It wasn't a waste. Information is good, more is better, the experience in meeting the folks you may go into an interview with is priceless..

 

[General Lee]

There are plenty of "good" pilots out there, but the key to this industry is "who you know." If you can afford to go to a job fair and meet people including recruiters and other pilots that eventually could help you out, do it. You just never know who might be able to help you land that job you always wanted.


Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[tailwindz]

It depends on who you are. What do you look like? Act like? How do you carry yourself? Ect..............................................

It can also hurt you for the same reasons.

It allows companies to legally discriminate in ways that they can not legally do once they offer an interview. Its a very thin line and a slippery slope, but it is what it is.

 

[JohnnyDrama]

General and Tailwindz,
Thanks for your responses, you guys make excellent points. I suppose my thread title was too vague. If I could reword it I would ask if anyone on here IS a member of the hiring team and get their responses as well. Non the less you guys all made good points here, and Ill keep going to these events when my schedule permits. Just wonder how much im "missing out" if im unable to attend, but I guess its a crap shoot!

 

[BentOver]

I've never been to one but I'm always curious who's attending.... When I see airlines like Delta, SWA etc. Who are not hiring, it makes me wonder what's up... what kind of deals are there between the airline and the "agency". Is there a requirement to attend for the airline?

I think attending a job fair with overseas carriers attending is a great idea. Especially since they are the one's who are hiring.

 

[RedDogC130]

I got a job at World Airways from going to a job fair. They interviewed me that night. So yes, you can get a job from a job fair.

 

[Ky.BrownBourbn]

I was previously on the Interview team elsewhere, it is possible to get a job there BUT if you think going to one to get a job at the big boys is going to happen you are sadly mistaken. They offer booths to the majors to get the people in the door, depending on the job fair, all company's are offered a booth because the job fair provider is in the business to get YOU to spend your money for training services, Whether it's Type ratings, Sim Training, ATP's, Military conversions, etc. It's a business PERIOD! I know guys who went to some who won type RATINGS, or training but those are usually offered in trade for a booth at the event. there are a lot of things that go on behind the scenes at these things BUT if you think you are going to one, stand in line with 300-500 other people and stand out enough to get a job, I think you are sadly misinformed. Of course, Kit Darby would tell you otherwise! (rumor has it he had a extremely high end italian sports car from everybody who paid him for his "Job Fairs".) With the EEOC involvement for any company that does any kind of DOD (Defense Department) work (Charters), the playing field has to be level and not sure if getting hired and/or an interview at one of these now would help at all. I know this changed in the last few years by what I've heard from HR people at current employer.

Now with that being said, I think their are other services there that can benefit individuals, ie. Resume services, Back Ground checks, Interview Prep, Aeromedical Advice and Training Services. I highly recommend having a background check done before applying anywhere, You may be surprised what comes up (even at your current employer)! I use to have the contact numbers for all of these type people but have been out of the loop for some time. Maybe search it on the internet or look at the attendees of these events. You can find valuable information on these web boards if you dig through all the BS! Make sure to use AVIATION company(s), What the general public gets done in a background check or Interview and what Aviation Professionals get asked or checked are entirely two different things!

Good Luck,
KBB

 

[densoo]

do attending these events in this day and age actually help?

Does buying a lottery ticket help win you the lottery? Someone has to win. Why not you! You can be certain the chances are zero if you don't buy one.

Went to my first and only job fair in the '90s. A mob of people with lines everywhere after the booths opened. It was hopeless. I nearly left. Rumor was Delta's renowned retired chief pilot would be there. Can't even remember his name. What are the chances that as I got to the front of that line he walked up to the booth--in slow motion it seemed. I went into my practiced self sell. He asked when I was available (months away, military), and he wrote the date on my resumé and initialed it. In the pile it went. No way it'll make a difference but at least I tried.

Got called for an interview within a week of that date on my resumé. You never know. Don't spend all your money on the process, but the more folks you rub elbows with, the better your chances.

PS, at the interview I was shot down like a your mama joke.

 

[ASA_DFW]

The Flt Ops event in Vegas is in conjunction with OBAP. They are the "hosting company." That is why there are companies who are not hiring attending the job fair. The airlines are in town for the OBAP conference.

Attending a job fair does increase your chances of getting hired. You can apply online and hope for the best or you can attend the event and talk to the recruiter who makes the decision on who gets an interview. Who do you think has a better chance at getting a phone call? Make sure you come prepared. Think of the time spent with the recruiter as a "mini interview." Know what you are talking about and come to the event with a POSITIVE attitude. At the event, make sure you network with everybody who is attending. They might be your competition but they could help you in the future.

I got my job at Delta by attending an event. I talked to the recruiter Saturday and was called for an interview the following Thursday. I know other people who attended that were called as well.

 

[The Boss]

I would be more likely to believe in and support a job fair if it were FREE. Most other career fields that hold job fairs are free to go to and the event is paid for by the employers. While I know that there are some job offers that are a direct result of someone going to a job fair, I just can't bring myself to enrich some Kit Darby type looking to make money off a bunch of poor SOBs looking for a job.

I honestly don't know the answer to this, but was the China job fair free, or did you have to pay to get in the door?

 

[Jim Smyth]

Back in November of 1991 Midway Airlines went out of Business. Southwest held a job fair at Midway Airport for anyone wishing to go in early 1992. I went and so did about half the people that worked for Midway Airlines. I didn't get hired there because of this job fair but I networked with people I knew both at Midway and also at Southwest. I took down names followed by Thank You letters and phone calls. Friends of friends is a beautiful thing.

What the job fair showed me at the time is that I was way out of the interview game because I was comfortable working for Midway Airlines for 6 years. I went back home, read books on interviewing, bought a new suit, practiced interviewing at home (it does work) and was in the second class of Midway Pilots hired at Southwest. I started with Southwest in May of 1992. I truly believe if I didn't go to that job fair the odds of me getting hired was a lot slimmer or if I did get hired it would have been at the back of the pack rather than at the front.

Best of luck in your job search............

 

[Patriot328]

I got hired at a major with no internal recs by going to a job fair. Lucky and unusual? Yep, but wouldn't have been called if I didn't go.

 

[LoveGun]

I went to an airinc job fair once. It was a pretty depressing experience. Picture a Holiday Inn conference room filled with a crowd of greedy, under-educated, white guys wearing cheap JC Penny's suits -- do you want to be a part of that? Everyone there thinks they found the secret to easy money. The number of bad haircuts is truly frightening.

 

[LiveFreeorDie]

It helped me

I talked to a SWA rep at a job fair and found out I wasn't counting all of my military time correctly. I also got an interview shortly after chatting with the nice ladies from the People Dept. So who knows if I would have gotten hired with out that, but it helped.

I would warn you though that the people there may not give you the best info. Their job is to make you excited enough about aviation to spend money on their job fair, not to get you hired. So take the seminars with a grain of salt.

I did enjoy talking to the people their and to the different reps from the different airlines. Also for a guy coming out of the AF with zero civil aviation or airline experience, it was eye opening.

 

[igneousy2]

At a major, Unless you have something exceptional about you (i.e. you are Sully, you have 4 lunar landings, etc.) the only way TO get an interview at a major airline is to either have a solid internal or meet a recruiter at a job fair. Every major airline is considering THOUSANDS of resumes for hundreds of positions (if that) You have to make yourself stand out and meeting the right person at a job fair could be key.


During the 18 months that I was actively going to job fairs (probably about 6) I got interviewed by Alaska, Delta, and Southwest.

I had had met the minimums and had my apps in to all of them for a long time with not even a nibble. It wasn't until I started attending job fairs that the interview invites started coming in.

Good luck.

 

[squall line]

Observations/Thoughts

White males attending WIA and OBAP. I heard a ton of guys were recently at WIA.