Please help, what should I do?

[cougarblue]

Background: regional captain 4000ish pic, check airman
Goal: United, Delta, Alaska, Hawaiian, FedEx

Do I take a job somewhere else (somewhere much better) in the meantime to pad the resume and take a >50% pay cut? Or do I stay and wait for somewhere I want to be long term to call? (Even though I don't have any really good contacts anywhere). It is tough to want to leave now that life is great and money is ok

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated

-cougar blue

 

[KarmaPolice]

There was a 4 year JetBlue FO in my class at Delta who chose the stepping stone route. He seemed happy with his decision.

My guess is the JetBlue line on his resume got him the "in" at Delta. They love hiring guys away from their competitors.

It will be a paycut, but it will get you one step closer, and give you a better chance when the hiring starts at the places you (and everyone else) wants to be.

 

[The Drizzle]

You'll likely not regret having your current regional in your rearview.

 

[HowardBorden]

Stay where you are at until you get an offer from a company that is one you could see yourself retiring from. Keep the check airman gig, it speaks loudly about your potential to a future employer.

 

[cougarblue]

Stay where you are at until you get an offer from a company that is one you could see yourself retiring from. Keep the check airman gig, it speaks loudly about your potential to a future employer.

Thanks everyone for the responses. Howardborden, This is definitely the easier route. I wonder if hiring practices have changed moving forward. What do you think? I Guess I put guys at a LCC in a different league than me, so I assume that Delta/United would do the same. Also I feel there is not much else I can do here at Pinnacle to make me more marketable. Pinnacle does have a streamline interview thing with Delta that would take several years (if at all) to fruition.

 

[GogglesPisano]

Here's my take:

1) It is extremely painful from a financial standpoint to start over twice. First-year pay at Delta next year will be $68/hr. That's a lot better than some legacies and a lot better than it has been historically. It's easily feasible for most people to tighten their belt for 12 months, since second-year pay in 2015 will be $97/hr on the lowest paid equipment. But to start out at (insert LCC, non-sked ...) and then do the same thing a year or two later can be devastating unless your significant other has a good income or you are single and don't have any baggage.

2) Does "mainline/widebody" SIC time -- even 500 hrs -- set you apart from the rest of the RJ drivers? Hard to say. It's not published anywhere. We all have to rely on hearsay and urban legend. I went from a near-defunct FlyI to World to Delta. Did that long-haul international experience and MD11 type make a difference in the "process"? Hard to say. Most of my class did not have to make that "detour" and went from A to B. Take that for what it's worth.

In summary. I would suggest staying put. Go to an "intermediate" airline only if you consider it a "hang your hat" destination and not a resume-enhancer. A much more affordable elixir is to network and to attend job fairs. And to network. The farther I traveled in my job search, the more I realized that a good contact at a dream job is worth far more than a type-rating.

And did I mention networking?

And try Dogfish IPA. This helped with the creation of this post.

 

[tankerhead]

Dogfish ninety minute IPA. The sixty minute stuff is for amateurs.

 

[igneousy2]

Here's my take:

1) It is extremely painful from a financial standpoint to start over twice. First-year pay at Delta next year will be $68/hr. That's a lot better than some legacies and a lot better than it has been historically. It's easily feasible for most people to tighten their belt for 12 months, since second-year pay in 2015 will be $97/hr on the lowest paid equipment. But to start out at (insert LCC, non-sked ...) and then do the same thing a year or two later can be devastating unless your significant other has a good income or you are single and don't have any baggage.

2) Does "mainline/widebody" SIC time -- even 500 hrs -- set you apart from the rest of the RJ drivers? Hard to say. It's not published anywhere. We all have to rely on hearsay and urban legend. I went from a near-defunct FlyI to World to Delta. Did that long-haul international experience and MD11 type make a difference in the "process"? Hard to say. Most of my class did not have to make that "detour" and went from A to B. Take that for what it's worth.

In summary. I would suggest staying put. Go to an "intermediate" airline only if you consider it a "hang your hat" destination and not a resume-enhancer. A much more affordable elixir is to network and to attend job fairs. And to network. The farther I traveled in my job search, the more I realized that a good contact at a dream job is worth far more than a type-rating.

And did I mention networking?

And try Dogfish IPA. This helped with the creation of this post.

Good advice.

I would go where I would rather be long term. If you are okay being a checkairman at Pinnacle the rest of your career...then stay. If the thought of that makes you cringe, then I would be out of there. This is an industry where you would be lucky to even get an INTERVIEW at one of your top picks you listed let alone the job.

As far as your check airman gig...right now everything is based on a computer score, you got the box checked - points tallied, doesn't really matter that much going forward. Besides, if you go to JetBlue, it wouldn't be unheard of if you got tapped to do some training or some special project since you got the "check airman" badge at your previous gig. That would look even better...Pinnacle Check Airman...moved to JetBlue worked on some special projects/gave ground instruction at JetBlue.

I don't think that being at JetBlue gives you much/if any advantage at any of the carriers you mentioned, but if things don't go as you planned, JetBlue would not be a horrible place to be "stuck".

Another thing i've been hearing from friends doing hiring at Alaska and Hawaiian is the volunteer check box is huge lately for some reason (I bet there was an article in some HR magazine or something and now everybody is doing it) Make sure you got some solid volunteer credentials.

Good luck.

 

[propjob27]

This is not advice. This is just what I did, which I'll admit was in circumstances not nearly as bad as things are now (circa 2000).

Was at Lakes. Hated it. Quit after 6 months for Skywest.
Was at Skywest for 4 years. Hated it. Quit for ATA.
Was furloughed and on unemployment for 6 months and then was hired at CAL.
Liked CAL but quit anyway and went to FedEx just because they paid more. Still here 7 years later.

So you're going to get all kinds of advice. I'm clearly a guy who didnt give a second thought to quitting a gig (providing I was already hired at the next one). I regret none of it. But, had things gone wrong, which they certainly could have, then I may feel different.

I'd say quit the commuter and give it a shot.

 

[SAABaroowski]

If you think PCL will be around in 10 years, I think you might be in for a rude awakening, Go JBlue, which has a much brighter future and continue searching for that dream Job, who knows, you may not want to leave JBlue. You may never get hired at a legacy either. I would leave PCL ASAP IMO......