Getting a Fed Ex interview

[Menace]

I'm looking for advice on what I can do to increase my chances of getting an interview. I applied on-line almost two years ago. I have updated almost monthly. I have over 2000 hours of 121 PIC time. I have two type ratings. I'm a line-check airman at my current airline. My total time is just shy of 4000 hours. I have no violations. I'm not on furlough. I also have 3 recommendations and a bachelor's degree.

The only things I can think of that I may be lacking is total time and jet time.

Does anyone have any tips of what else I could do to get a call?
Thanks

-Menace

 

[FedExPup]

Have you attended a job fair of any sort to try and talk to the recruiters personally? I'm in about your same boat myself (TT, Training capt time etc) and don't know of much else to do except the above (which I have), and keep bugging your LOR contacts to keep checking with the regional chiefs making sure to remain assertive but not crossing the line into aggressive yourself. Hope for the best. I try to keep the perspective of attentive and patient persistence and faith in myself and the system. I've been told to consider also pursueing employment with a company that flys something FedEx flys. I'm working on that consistently, but of course we all know that the job market is somewhat tough right now.

Anyone else got any ideas? Any help/insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[zulua320]

Jumpseat up to Memphis and get one of your buds to introduce you to his Asst Chief Pilot. That seems to have gotten a couple of guys in my interview group out of the doldrums.

Z

 

[Fitzy]

My buddy just got hired.He just broke 1000 turbine Pic. He was a civilian regional captain,turboprop. He grew up in Memphis and had 3 senior captains walk him into the Chief Pilots office,were they talked about hunting and southern bbq.The rest is history--good luck

 

[C-5 MEM]

I have over 1600 PIC Turbine time and have many LOR from my unit. I have been told that competative hours are upto 5000-6000 hours since so many laid off pilots. I have a bud who is going to introduce me to the Asst. Chief Pilot.

 

[Tomnsolo]

Menace,

Go see them at an aeps or air inc. fair.

Best o luck

 

[F18-FDX]

Menace-

All of the above are great suggestions. Something else one or more of your buds here can do for you even before trying to make it to an AirFair or be introduced to an ACP/CP, is have one of them (or more) walk in to the pilot recruitment office and "check" on your application with either Kim Daniels or John Ryder. However, before they go in they should call or e-mail to make sure it is convenient, because the office is and has been swamped lately. This does 2 things, first it brings your name up, and second it confirms that everything is ok on your app. I walked in for a buddy and it turned out that his commercial didn't show on his profile, the ATP was there but not the comm. Maybe he forgot it, I don't know. But I thought...so...if he has an ATP he has a commercial, but none of these folks that work in the office are pilots, they have constant contact w/pilots, but if there's something that's not quite right on the app, you may not get a call and not know that something is missing, or wrong. Therefore it is obviously important to keep updating as you are, but it couldn't hurt to have a friend just make sure everything is "in order." Keep the press on all fronts, this is the only place to work and if you continue to do what you are doing and try the suggestions above, it WILL happen.

 

[Menace]

Thanks to all who replied. I have not attended any conferences yet, but I do plan to very soon. I think I will call my friends and see if they can check on my app. That sounds like a good idea.
I've been patient so far and I definitely don't want to seem overly aggressive, but I don't want to sit back and wait forever too.

Another question.... Is FedEx interviewing furloughed pilots? I've heard that they aren't. I know that they ask the question on the app. By the way, I'm not furloughed, just curious.

-Menace

 

[flyingdog]

What about of taking a part job as a handler w/Fedex and apply from inside!?!?!?

 

[inline]

FedEx is a branch of the United States Marines. If you're young enough, join the Marines, Navy or Air force and fly. Then apply to FedEx, you'll have greatly increased your chances of an interview.

 

[C-17->Majors]

Time out...

Lots of FedEx pilots have gotten their foot in the door by throwing boxes at their local hub or airport, working as a courier, accepting packages behind the desk at a customer service center, etc. Those little FotoMat FedEx service centers are all over the country. We have facilities at nearly any descent sized airport with scheduled commercial service.

A bunch of the ramp workers are at FedEx because it is one of the few part-time jobs with benefits. Many are contract employees during the day and work at FedEx at night for health insurance. Not a bad idea for furloughed airline folks is it? After six months and with the minimum qualifications you can get an interview. Of course that doesn't necessarily get you the job.

A senior pilot currently doing management duties told me the other night that we now have 13,000 applications on file. Unless you know someone much more senior than me, you statistically have little chance of getting a call. However, I do know one way to get an interview...internally.

No, this is not how I got my foot in the door, but if the tiny town in Oklahoma where I was last stationed had a single FedEx worker there, I would have fought for their job.

According to the grape vine, hiring will likely continue. Our big retirements start in just a few years.

Keep the faith.

 

[flyingdog]

Very well said C-17->Majors. If you want something you have to do what you have to do. Plus being a pilot beats working for living so doing some hard working for a change doesn't hurt anybody. But some of us were born NOBLE pilots and that kind of work is too low for our gentle hands.

 

[Menace]

Getting foot in door

I would gladly throw boxes around for a while if it could help me get an interview. The only problem is that I would have to quit my current commuter airline job to do it. It seems that would be shooting myself in the foot for the obvious reasons. It would be quite a gamble.

13000 apps is an awful lot of 'em. Although I know a female pilot that put her app in back in March and she has a class date in August already. She only has about 800 more hours than I do. She's a great pilot and a great person, so I don't think she was unqualified, it's just extremely frustrating because I've had mine in for so long. Oh well, what can more can I say. Thanks for all the input.

-Menace