Is this a good thing from SWA?

[Capn Butthead]

I interviewed last week at Southwest and they started calling references today. Has anyone else received any reference calls and does anyone know if this is a good or bad thing?

I hope it is a good thing (at least that is what my fortune cookie told me yesterday)..any ideas?

Also, has anyone heard when the decision boards will be for early december interviews?

Sorry for all of the questions (and bad grammer just got off of a 14 hour duty day), but i am really excited about what is happening at SWA. After going through the interview i can see that SWA is truly an amazing company. There is something about the company and the people that is awesome. I am still amazed about the way the company works (including the 18 minute turn full in and out).

Thanks again for dealing with the rambling and the excitement.........

 

[JetDude]

It's a great thing!! And don't underestimate the power of the fortune cookie. I've carried 2 fortunes around since I applied and got both the interview and HIRED! I started training Dec 13th. Good Luck!

 

[SWA/FO]

I'm glad for you jet dude, now you can stop dancing and start fliping switches!!!

 

[saabcaptain]

Having your references called is a very positive sign and increases your chances quite a bit. There is still a chance you may not get the job, but your odds went up quite a bit! Congrats!

 

[chase]

Having references called is always good....as others have said it isn't the final word by any means but it would indicate you did OK at the interview. However, the other factors come into play at this point at the decision board...flight experience, LORs, LOI results, background/reference checks, PIC time, etc. I'm told the board looks at all of these factors & others and makes cuts off the list of the folks who got through the PD interviewing....roughly another 25% of folks or more can get eliminated at this point.

Nothing official but general numbers have been about 25% of folks are eliminated at the interview & another 25% are eliminated at the DB for various reasons. A rough % of 40-60% of folks have been selected in the recent past (18 months)...in the not so distant past this number was as small as 10% so things have changed quite a bit for the better. Despite all of this though SWA continually looks at folks who have been turned down in the past without prejudice thereby allowing them multiple opportunities to apply....in fact SWA has even hired folks in the past who were eliminated in an early part of the training (IOE) & hired them back in subsequent years after they got more training....not many airlines have that type of understanding & respect for someone who is willing to go through this process of applying again.

Good luck & I hope things go well for you at the DB, if not please consider SWA in the future...we'll still need plenty of good pilots in the YEARS to come. Cheers,

 

[kelbill]

Congrats, so far. I did know a guy or two who had reference calls but didn't get hired, but you are on track to say the least. As for the 18 minute turn, what do you mean? We fly 20 minute turns, and with all the carry on baggage nowadays, full in and full out in 20 minutes usually only works in Texas, where the folks know what to expect.

Hasta, and good luck to all the other motivated folks out there wanting to join the team.

 

[Capn Butthead]

Thanks for the replys and the words of encouragement. I hope that this is the final steps in a long road of work to get on at Southwest. I will keep my fingers crossed and keep the fortune cookie in my pocket.

Thanks for the info again chase and everyone else.

Also they did the 18 minute turn at LIT. I worked the ramp and gate for a while and it is absolutely amazing that it can even be done in 20 minutes. The crews (ground and flight) do an amazing job.

 

[chase]

Sometimes to make up time aircraft are turned in less than 20 minutes.....SWA use to use 10 minutes but they could push from the gate with folks standing...FAA got into our shorts with that & the result were some violations before SWA changed that procedure & that had the most impact on extending times from the original 10 min turns to the standard of 20...now we are in the 25-28 minute range I believe...the goal is to speed that up somewhat...bigger overhead bins in the 700 that allow more carry-on helps somewhat but the biggest help is having passengers who are trained to get on & off quickly...not everyone is like Texas pax but we're getting there hopefully as folks get use to our system....the holiday season though has many non-normal pax who will slow the process down due to no fault of their own, they just aren't "trained" yet!!! Help your fellow pax out & we can shave some more time off of the turns & make more money!!!

One of the considerations besides safety on why the "lounge seating" went away is that studies showed it slowed the boarding process down....people paused 20-30 secs each to wonder if they wanted to sit in the lounge seats or somewhere else...now that choice (delay) isn't there (we still have a few that have the lounge seating but they are being swapped out) ....this caused a backup & slowdown in loading...the new arrangements of putting the seats on each side offset slightly (they're not directly accross from each other) is for safety reasons but also allows for folks to get into their seats without hindering folks opposite of them also...speedier boarding again....things are thought through on how the bottom line is impacted...that bottom line is always money but time is money for Southwest.

 

[Bobo135R]

Jan DB

I interviewed yesterday, and we were told all November and December interviewees would meet a January decision board. Good Luck to all!

 

[HarleyGuy]

Chase- if I could get clarification: folks say getting your references called basically means you passed your interview (BTW- mine have been getting called), but does that include the LOI? Your previous post said LOI results go to the DB. Could you tube the LOI and still get your references called? Or do reference calls mean you passed the LOI too?

Thanks!

HG

 

[Wallygator]

Good Question HG.

 

[chase]

Harley Guy,

I've thought of this question also and don't have a precise answer...heck, most of my answers are imprecise!!!! It would only be speculation on whether phone calls are still made even with a failed LOI....my understanding is the LOI folks & the HR/flight ops interview team don't exchange info on folks until all the data is shared at the decision board. That way there is no slanting of the deck toward or away from folks. At some point this info all comes together however & I suspect it is at the DB. For that reason I suspect phone calls to references are made based upon one's performance at the interview with the HR/flt ops folks. Again, merely because references are called doesn't guarantee a job or that you scored the absolutely highest on your interview...there are folks who are great pilots/persons but for some reason they didn't do well or weren't selected for having background checks done. We lose a lot of great folks because of one bad day in the batting cage or something odd happens. The other folks who are fortunate enough to get a thumbs up & have their references called aren't all 5 star peformers either....there are various shades of gray that one can pass the interview with & those subjective calls are what the interviewers document for the DB to see. Again, it isn't an exact science but it is infiinitely fair in my opinion as 5 different SWA folks (3 interviewers, 2 LOI folks) , many folks who have great experience in choosing good folks in the past....again, never been there, don't want to be there & was greatful they looked the other way when I went through many years ago.

Again none of this is under one's control or input...go to the interview, have fun, enjoy yourself & do your best...the cards will fall where they fall. Good luck...don't know if I confused you or not, again my "answer" is speculation at best, hollow rumor at worse......

 

[Freddie Spencer]

Chase,

Do you still massage the times, to show OTP for blocks in/out (with other words, do you fudge the airframe times)?

 

[Pig]

For what it's worth, as far as reference calls going out, I'm pretty sure that decision is based on LOI results as well as interview results. But I also believe Chase is right on about LOI'ers and interviewers not sharing info in their eval's.

After my morning interview, the last interviewer said they would have their discussions about all the morning interviewees while we were at lunch, before we even did the LOI. Later I was told that was when your interview results are finalized. (From my time at Higher Power 2.5 yrs ago when the SWA rep's came they said you got a recommend, recommend with reservations, or a do not recommend out of the interview.) Then the morning interviewees went to the training center for the LOI's, and the morning LOI'ers went to the HQ building for their interviews. Each result is independent of the other, and they are finalized soon after completing each seperate event. No apparent sharing of notes as Chase explains.

But I've also been told from friends at SWA they wouldn't call ref's if they aren't going to take you anyway based on the LOI, since it's about an hour of a pilots time. (In my case a captain-fairly expensive) I have heard of people getting ref's called but still rejected, but they have been due to references, sometimes references other than those known by the applicant, that were negative.

I have also heard of 2 people that found out somehow that they were rejected specifically for the LOI, and I do not believe they had references called, although I don't know for sure. I'll try to find out and post what info I get.

But I think reference calls mean at least a "recommend with reservations" out of the interview (if that is still how they rate interviewees), and some sort of passing grade on the LOI. (Don't know if it's more detailed than simply pass/fail)