Pool info
For some historical perspective, SWA hasn't really operated a "pool" in the past. The situation that has occurred this time with over 300 folks (to begin with) who were selected was not intentional on the part of SWA IMHO. Up untill 911 SWA was hiring at a fairly good clip that would've moved most of the folks who had been hired into classes within a 6 month period based upon the amount of hiring SWA was doing during the 6 months leading up to 911. Everything came to a screeching halt & the pool was formed.
While SWA has had folks "in the pipeline" awaiting for a class, SWA doesn't usually interview folks to just have a "pool" of bodies to choose from. While I can't speak for SWA or the PD it is apparant to many folks having large numbers of persons waiting around for classes that may or may not begin is rather difficult for everyone involved. For folks to have gone through the process, been selected & then have to wait for such long periods of time has taught everyone a steady process of interview, selection & new hire is the way to go. At some point SWA will return to that I would suspect & allow folks to lead more normal lives while awaiting for a class within a reasonable amount of time.
I say all of this but still couldn't predict a reasonable good guess on when interviews would start again. While I would hope they would begin some time later 4qtr, in reality it will probably be sometime 1st half of '04 but that is only a guess. Many variables could change all of this one way or the other.
Looking for a job these days includes throwing a net much wider than SWA. One still needs to put food on the table. There are many great airlines out there which provide reasonable wages & allow you to build valuable experience which makes one a more viable candidate for SWA or any other airline that you may wish to gravitate to. Staying current is #1. Achieving all the minimum requirements of your desired airline.
I've stated the variables facing the company in the past & they still exist when it comes to speeding up new classes. Calls to new hires won't occur much outside of 2-3 weeks from the start date so if there are May classes scheduled I wouldn't expect to hear any news on it for at least 10 days to 2 weeks (assuming a new class would start the first Monday in May).
Probably didn't add much light to the subject, just some worthless ramblings. Look for some interesting info at this week's quarterly announcements...we have announced early delivery of aircraft at these events in the past...if it happens again the signs would obviously be positive but that info is kept very close hold, for obvious reasons.
