LCAL hiring mins?

[BRA]

No degree was definatly the reason they said no. I had friends who were involved in hiring, two of which were my former chief pilots. Looking back? I don't look back, only forward.

I think I remember reading years ago that SWA said no too after you interviewed? Was that due to the degree too? I am not saying you are wrong....but we have all met people that bust check rides or upgrade and blame it on everything else when in reality everyone listening knows that it was the applicant that was weak or didn't prepare.

Are you positive that you interview well?

 

[SOVT]

Nope....I signed up to get ready to finish with Utah Valley University and my wife, who HAD ulcerative colitis, colon ruptured in two places one fine evening. That was a rush to an NYC hospital for the next 3 months and in and out of the hosipital for the next year....WHICH sunk us with medical debt....college out. At this point Im close to digging out from that storm, but honestly, Im pushing 40 and I have 10,000 hours with something like 7000 jet PIC......Im honestly not that motivated as my record (anyone can call my Chief Pilot on my dime) and experience speaks for itself. Im just not ready to throw myself in debt again after the last fiasco to jump through a hoop that may or may not be necessary. Just my opinion. Id suggest anyone who is able to go and finish their degree. Just dont know if its for me anymore.

ps- this reads pretty pitiful.....lol, that wasnt my intent. Just making conversation.

Life can throw some terrible stuff at you sometimes. We went thru furloughs, miscarriages, premature births...

But the hard truth is, that in most cases, during the hiring process they do not care how good a pilot you are, good pilots are a dime a dozen. I wont get into the argument as to the appropriateness of HR requiring a college degree because they make the qualification decisions and nothing we do or say on the internet will make any difference. If I were you and a major was my goal I would start plugging away at the degree.

I wouldn't worry about being close to 40, I hired on at 51 and have had a pretty good run here. I'm at peace with the realization that I will never check out in the left seat but thats ok. I just try to be the best FO that I can and have a great time on layovers

Good luck to you, hope everything works out.

 

[CheapFlyer]

experience speaks for itself. Im just not ready to throw myself in debt again after the last fiasco to jump through a hoop that may or may not be necessary.

Sounds like life threw you a ******************** sandwich, but you are surviving. There are guys at UAL that were hired in 2007-08 without a college degree. Don't count yourself out as you will eventually get an interview. Your lack of checking the box may not disqualify you but you WILL lose potential seniority. The competition will be tough, but you will one day explain your story to the interview group.

 

[whatitdoing?]

Getting hired is completely different than getting the interview. You will not get hired if you don't have a degree. When the next hiring wave happens this fall or early next year, the competition will be very fierce. I can get anyone an interview....after that, it's up to you and your qualifications.

 

[whymeworry?]

Nope....I signed up to get ready to finish with Utah Valley University and my wife, who HAD ulcerative colitis, colon ruptured in two places one fine evening. That was a rush to an NYC hospital for the next 3 months and in and out of the hosipital for the next year....WHICH sunk us with medical debt....college out. At this point Im close to digging out from that storm, but honestly, Im pushing 40 and I have 10,000 hours with something like 7000 jet PIC......Im honestly not that motivated as my record (anyone can call my Chief Pilot on my dime) and experience speaks for itself. Im just not ready to throw myself in debt again after the last fiasco to jump through a hoop that may or may not be necessary. Just my opinion. Id suggest anyone who is able to go and finish their degree. Just dont know if its for me anymore.

ps- this reads pretty pitiful.....lol, that wasnt my intent. Just making conversation.

Sorry to hear about your situation. I respect your discipline to stay out of debt. There have indeed been guys hired without a degree since 2005 but they were in some special category, ie, sons/ daughters, OBAP, etc.

With your experience, a degree is nothing more than a box check/ door opener. It certainly won't make you a better employee or pilot. But not having one could mean the difference between getting hired at the beginning of the boom vs, at the end... or even getting hired at all. I would recommend you at least start with small bites at getting that degree completed. You already have 50-60% done with your licenses if you find a school that will convert that into college credit.

If you avoid the degree altogether and get stuck at the regionals, a start-up, or some 3rd-tier non-sched, you'll have missed a huge opportunity to get more out of this career for the same amount of work. Let's face it, we all do the same job, fly airplanes; but the majors (Legacies) have more mature contracts and own the route network, so the pilot's there generally have a better career trajectory over the longer term.

You don't need it to be a good pilot, but finish the degree to get that better pilot job. It's ok to accept a small amount of debt to meet that goal.

 

[Snaab]

Thanks for all the info related to possible hiring! Hopefully something is around the corner. Anyone have a tighter idea of time frame to begin to hire?

Appreciate it.

 

[Mr Hat]

I think I remember reading years ago that SWA said no too after you interviewed? Was that due to the degree too? I am not saying you are wrong....but we have all met people that bust check rides or upgrade and blame it on everything else when in reality everyone listening knows that it was the applicant that was weak or didn't prepare.

Are you positive that you interview well?

I walked out of that interview KNOWING I got the job, when I didn't it hit hard......until like 20 of my friends went and interviewed (All good guys and fun, Southwest type folk) and ALL got turned down while the military people got hired. Then they stopped hiring for a year and they started hiring everyone from my company who went for an interview. With all due respect, I'm not losing sleep over not getting selected at Southwest. We all know that they go through these cycles and that many of their pilots got it on the second or third interview. I've never busted a check ride and I get along with almost everyone. Why didn't I get Southwest? I have no idea, and I had a lot of time to think about it....I am very aware that it may very well have been something I did...But I can't put a finger on it so maybe I'm just not a good fit, or I wasn't a good fit for that day. Regardless, as I said, I'm not living in the past. My time will come when it comes. Worrying about how much seniority I'm losing at any given time is like worrying about how much money I'm not winning in Vegas on a daily basis. It will be what it will be and thats that. Besides, it looks like I have an Ace or two hiding up my sleeve this time around, so we will see how it pans out.



PS- Rollins is a blow hard dork. If your going to follow punk rock, pick a better role model

 

[Furloughed80]

Thanks for all the info related to possible hiring! Hopefully something is around the corner. Anyone have a tighter idea of time frame to begin to hire?

Appreciate it.

It appears they are running very small classes of UAL furloughed pilots through the summer. My guess is they will be through the UAL list by the end of this summer. LCAL has 96 pilots retiring in 2013; and the retirements continue non stop for the next 2 decades for both LCAL and LUAL. Guessing, I would say hiring should start this Fall. There should be a system bid out this summer with a more accurate time frame.

 

[BRA]

I've never understood why they bring people in for an interview just to tell them no because "not enough PIC time" or "no degree" or "all you have is CFI time". I know it happens, it's just such a waste of everyones time. I walked out of an interview years ago knowing I got it too just to get the no thanks letter in the mail 3 weeks later.

Have you ever seen the picture of Rollins now with gray hair with the quote under it that reads something like: "Punk isn't dead, it just goes to bed at a more reasonable hour"

I thought that was good.

 

[Mr Hat]

I've never understood why they bring people in for an interview just to tell them no because "not enough PIC time" or "no degree" or "all you have is CFI time". I know it happens, it's just such a waste of everyones time. I walked out of an interview years ago knowing I got it too just to get the no thanks letter in the mail 3 weeks later.

Have you ever seen the picture of Rollins now with gray hair with the quote under it that reads something like: "Punk isn't dead, it just goes to bed at a more reasonable hour"

I thought that was good.

Yeah its funny. A friend of mine met him once while playing in another band and said he was that guy who walked into every conversation without invitation and tried to dominate it. After watching his spoken word stuff, it makes sense. Jello does it better.

Back to aviation. Southwest didnt turn me down for the lack of degree. They told me theyd rather see me building experience than in a classroom.
I will tell you this, back then when I did the interview, I was the youngest guy there with the least amount of flight time and experience. So who knows. Still waitin for Southwest interview number 2.
Right now though, UAL/CAL is my number one.