Job Opening, Air Wisconsin CRJ First Officers

[CX880]

The day I interviewed at AWAC there were 6 other people there. My resume was the least impressive of the bunch. The others had more experience, some had previous 121 and jet experience to my none. 2 of us were hired...one with the 121 experience and me. The other 4 got the dreaded rejection letter in spite of being far more qualified than I was. All they were looking for was attitude and very little else. The technical portion was almost non-existant. All they're asking themselves in the interview is "would I enjoy flying a 4-day trip or an entire month with this guy?" Not much else...A good attitude, personality and honesty.

The guy who hired me told me that one answer is what got me the job. They always ask you some sort of moral question where they make you choose between selling out a crew member or breaking a reg to protect em (and no, it's not the canned question about catching your captain drinking too close to show time)...I told him flat out that I would break the reg and protect the crew member. As I said it, I just knew I blew the interview right then...He later told me that he appreciated the honesty and the nobody had ever answered it honestly...they would make up some bs answer that he knew they wouldn't really do in real life. The question I thought would hang me actually got me the job...You just never know what the other guy's thinking, or what they wanna hear, so be personable and be honest, and let everything else take care of itself...the worst thing that can happen is you're in the same spot you are now...If you go in thinking and projecting that you have no shot, then you probably don't.

Use your lack of experience to your advantage by saying you don't know any different, and they can mold you into the pilot they want you to be rather than constantly questioning them by saying, "well at my last airline, we did..." Sometimes they'd rather have someone like that. It's not like they're hiring with the intent of the newhire needing to be thrust into the left seat in 6 mos...They know that whoever they hire will likely be in the right seat for 3-5 years at best, so they don't necessarily have to have Chuck Yeager who's ready to take command of the aircraft in a short amount of time. They can overlook a lack of experience in favor of the "good guy" knowing that you'll have several years of experience in the right seat before you're asked to be "the man." If we were growing like gangbusters and tripling in size in a year, maybe they'd need to hold out for the experienced people...but we're not, so they can hire the good attitude and mentor him for years in the right seat. Just walk in with your head held high and worry about what you can control, and not what you think they want to see...

Nice try sir. You should be ashamed trying to skew the applicant pool. Who would ever tell their interviewers that they would break regs? That's an automatic failure at most other places. Everyone knows the interview is a game they're tyring to find out the guy with the best attitude.

 

[rtmcfi]

Nice try sir. You should be ashamed trying to skew the applicant pool. Who would ever tell their interviewers that they would break regs? That's an automatic failure at most other places. Everyone knows the interview is a game they're tyring to find out the guy with the best attitude.

At hojets they are looking for the guy that will back-stab and sell-out their co-workers. He isn't talking about a hojets interview. I can see how you would be confused.....

 

[Lynxman]

Nice try sir. You should be ashamed trying to skew the applicant pool. Who would ever tell their interviewers that they would break regs? That's an automatic failure at most other places. Everyone knows the interview is a game they're tyring to find out the guy with the best attitude.

You should be ashamed for working at GJ.

 

[bknight_c50]

Well honestly how do you feel about the company I have 2 friends there now, but I haven't talked to them in ages and they both seemed to like it.

Some good, some bad...

The good:

Good contract, pay, rigs, and benefits.

Great group of people to work with...as with anywhere you'll run across some d-bags, but they're few and far between. I rarely dread going to work based on who I'm working with...most are very personable, knowledgeable, and a lotta fun...

Great training department. You learn something with every training event, and it never feels like somebody's out to get ya or setting you up to fail. You don't feel like you're "under the gun" or that your job's in jeopardy. Oral's feel more like a discussion than a test...Sims feel like a place to teach rather than a "place to weed out."

While there are many management decisions that I question or disagree with regarding staffing needs, schedules, and their audacity to even think about asking us to take paycuts...etc...They do seem to be very hands off in regards to the actual decisions we make in an airplane. I've never been questioned about delaying a flight to make sure there are no legality issues, or writing up a maintenence issue, or pressured to fly an airplane when I questioned the safety of flight. I've refused planes with broken APU's in the heat of the summer bouncing around between CLT and other cities in the south, and I've taken upscheduled meal breaks on long, delayed days which have delayed flights even more, and I've never heard a thing about it.

The bad:

We're short-handed and have been for the last year or so. Reserve captains (me) are getting the ******************** beat out of us, yet they're still offering TOWOP and running us even more short. I fly EVERY reserve day, and they still have to jr-man to cover sick calls and mis-commutes that should be covered by reserves.

Our busiest hubs, PHL and LGA (for now) get backed up and run delay programs at the first sign of a cloud, which makes the days drag out sometimes to hours longer than we are scheduled for, and we're scheduled for long days as it is because we're short staffed.

The schedules aren't efficient. There's lots of "airport appreciation time" where you find yourself sitting in a crew room for hours wasting your time instead to flying an airplane and getting paid for it. Many trips start at the crack of dawn followed by a long overnight somewhere in the middle which gives you a late showtime on the last day where you finish at midnight the last day, so there's even more wasted time at the hotel, and it doubly sucks for commuters who have to get in the night before a trip and can't get home til the morning after it's over and have to pay for hotel rooms on either end.

No movement at all...I've moved up 2 spots in 15 months, so I'm still on reserve with no end in sight...and as mentioned before, they're beating the ******************** out of the reserves..

Everyone's a little nervous about what will happen in 2015 when our US Airways contract is over...Since I've been here, we've had no luck in finding any flying and we are well aware that the demand for 50-seat RJ's is waning, so we see the writing on the wall if we aren't successful in finding other contracts or retaining what we have beyond 2015...

Those are the high and low points...I'm sure there's more, and maybe some of my colleagues will chime in with more. I DO like working here, but I'm not drinking the Kool-Aid and saying that it's all sunshine and gumdrops either, because there are a lot of warts too...

As regionals go, I'm glad I'm at this one. I wouldn't want to be at any of the others...and in a time where there's no movement in the industry and options are limited to the point where we're all out of options to go elsewhere, this is a place I'm happy to be "stuck" at for a few more years if that's what it takes. I really can't complain all that loudly. I would recommend coming here to anyone who's looking to break into the industry. It could be a lot worse...

 

[bknight_c50]

Nice try sir. You should be ashamed trying to skew the applicant pool. Who would ever tell their interviewers that they would break regs? That's an automatic failure at most other places. Everyone knows the interview is a game they're tyring to find out the guy with the best attitude.

That's what happened...believe it or not...but I couldn't give a rat's A$$ what a go-jetter thinks anyway...Not trying to win friends among a group of scumbags...

 

[CX880]

lol lol you have a bad attitude sir, how you ever made in an airline interview is amazing. breaking regs and all. Be honest, will you break other regs so that your CA may like you?

 

[Hobit]

bknight's post was similar to my experience with respect to the interview. I was current in the CRJ-200 when I interviewed and only got two technical questions. The rest was a personality test. Luckily for me, I was so tired from cramming the night before I just relaxed and was myself.

The interviewer told me that times were not that important after a certain point, what ever the 'point' is.

The interviewer asked why I would want to leave my old company. I told him: contract issues, pay, corporate culture, and location. I had specifics with each which proved that I really DID want to be at AWAC. After my quick speal the interviewer told me that he too used to work at my old company, so again...be honest.

The one question that sticks in my head was: 'What do you think the function/importance of the Flight Attendant is?' I responded about the Air france A340 that slid off the runway in canada and burned. No one was lost in that accident. blah,blah,blah but I meant it and it came across well.

The whole thing was relaxed for me, the nugget I recommended said his interview was confrontational. I guess it either depends on your attitude or the interviewers. I can't really say.

I think AWAC is a good company with problems like anywhere else that I have worked, just their own little flavor.

Every time I needed help from a manager I got some help. Scheduling is...well, Scheduling, some great, some liars, some rude ones. The ORF base manager was nothing but superb. If you are doing the right thing he will back you up. He went to bat for me numerous times and offered help anytime you needed it. I've only heard one person say anything negative and that was the CAPT that I bid around because he was so miserable to work with.

The training,when I went through it, wasn't as in depth at the time because they were used to having pilots with 121 time/experience. It was decent and was what we needed but not as indepth as I was used to. It was in the process of being changed for lower time folks so YMMV.

Again just keep a great attitude, study, and do your best. They kicked out several folks in my class, one with lots of time at Indy Air, one furlough CRJ guy from comair, and a part 135 pilot. The first two were for attitude, plain and simple. The 135 pilot I guess was having trouble. Again, all attitude with them. Another lied about legal problems and was lead out crying on or about the third day. Sad in that his career took a leap back, but funny to watch all the big eyes staring at the commotion.

I enjoyed my time there. Even with the arbitration going on at the time it was a better corporate culture than my old airline during contract negotiations.

Definitely a good place to go to start a career.

 

[DAS at 10/250]

Some good, some bad...

The good:

Good contract, pay, rigs, and benefits.

Great group of people to work with...as with anywhere you'll run across some d-bags, but they're few and far between. I rarely dread going to work based on who I'm working with...most are very personable, knowledgeable, and a lotta fun...

Great training department. You learn something with every training event, and it never feels like somebody's out to get ya or setting you up to fail. You don't feel like you're "under the gun" or that your job's in jeopardy. Oral's feel more like a discussion than a test...Sims feel like a place to teach rather than a "place to weed out."

While there are many management decisions that I question or disagree with regarding staffing needs, schedules, and their audacity to even think about asking us to take paycuts...etc...They do seem to be very hands off in regards to the actual decisions we make in an airplane. I've never been questioned about delaying a flight to make sure there are no legality issues, or writing up a maintenence issue, or pressured to fly an airplane when I questioned the safety of flight. I've refused planes with broken APU's in the heat of the summer bouncing around between CLT and other cities in the south, and I've taken upscheduled meal breaks on long, delayed days which have delayed flights even more, and I've never heard a thing about it.

The bad:

We're short-handed and have been for the last year or so. Reserve captains (me) are getting the ******************** beat out of us, yet they're still offering TOWOP and running us even more short. I fly EVERY reserve day, and they still have to jr-man to cover sick calls and mis-commutes that should be covered by reserves.

Our busiest hubs, PHL and LGA (for now) get backed up and run delay programs at the first sign of a cloud, which makes the days drag out sometimes to hours longer than we are scheduled for, and we're scheduled for long days as it is because we're short staffed.

The schedules aren't efficient. There's lots of "airport appreciation time" where you find yourself sitting in a crew room for hours wasting your time instead to flying an airplane and getting paid for it. Many trips start at the crack of dawn followed by a long overnight somewhere in the middle which gives you a late showtime on the last day where you finish at midnight the last day, so there's even more wasted time at the hotel, and it doubly sucks for commuters who have to get in the night before a trip and can't get home til the morning after it's over and have to pay for hotel rooms on either end.

No movement at all...I've moved up 2 spots in 15 months, so I'm still on reserve with no end in sight...and as mentioned before, they're beating the ******************** out of the reserves..

Everyone's a little nervous about what will happen in 2015 when our US Airways contract is over...Since I've been here, we've had no luck in finding any flying and we are well aware that the demand for 50-seat RJ's is waning, so we see the writing on the wall if we aren't successful in finding other contracts or retaining what we have beyond 2015...

Those are the high and low points...I'm sure there's more, and maybe some of my colleagues will chime in with more. I DO like working here, but I'm not drinking the Kool-Aid and saying that it's all sunshine and gumdrops either, because there are a lot of warts too...

As regionals go, I'm glad I'm at this one. I wouldn't want to be at any of the others...and in a time where there's no movement in the industry and options are limited to the point where we're all out of options to go elsewhere, this is a place I'm happy to be "stuck" at for a few more years if that's what it takes. I really can't complain all that loudly. I would recommend coming here to anyone who's looking to break into the industry. It could be a lot worse...

With your rigs, what would be an average first year pay?

 

[sayrejm]

That's what happened...believe it or not...but I couldn't give a rat's A$$ what a go-jetter thinks anyway...Not trying to win friends among a group of scumbags...

Hojets offered me an interview... they did it by email, too lazy to call I guess. I never responded to the email.... wouldnt even think of working there. id rather sit on the beach and wait for my recall. But, I can see why in some cases some guys have no choice.

 

[CesnaCaptn]

Hojets offered me an interview... they did it by email, too lazy to call I guess. I never responded to the email.... wouldnt even think of working there. id rather sit on the beach and wait for my recall. But, I can see why in some cases some guys have no choice.

How did "Hojets" get your email address, or learn about your qualifications to offer you an interview?