SWA acceptance rate?

[SWA/FO]

Would you have gone?

You could have gotten to hang more with your bud....CaptainMark

Sure, I would have. It would have been fly for Fed Ex or keep flying freight on a pager, tough choice. Capt.Mark and I would be drinking buddies.

 

[Tomct]

We had 70-80 Captains go get their type when they announced DFW closing. I believe that they ALL got the call, but only 5-7 were hired. That is pretty JACKED UP!!

 

[JTrain]

Actually, I forgot. Was that during the period when most legacy Chief Pilots were opening with the line, "Congratulations, you all just won the lottery. You'll make XX million dollars in a career here at 'legacy' Airlines, the last job you'll ever have." Now before anyone gets too huffy, at my SWA new hire class, one of the ground instructors said something to the effect of "Welcome to the last job you'll ever have." And made me reach for wood to knock on so fast my head spun. Talk about tempting fate.

quote]


firstthird - that is some neat perspective. I remember an Air Line Pilot Careers magazine article from early 2001 which quoted Bob Kudwa, who was some sort of VP Flight Ops at American Airlines. Kudwa described American as "the millionaire machine" and waxed on about how if you come here as a pilot, you will retire a millionaire.

 

[VAPOR]

yeah

We had 70-80 Captains go get their type when they announced DFW closing. I believe that they ALL got the call, but only 5-7 were hired. That is pretty JACKED UP!!

That is one rough hiring system. A whole lotta guys (& ladies) go out and get a $7k+ type with a 4-6 week wait after an interview to find out that they don't have a job there. Why can't they tell you sooner? (SWA/FO?)

 

[firstthird]

Disclaimer, I have NO inside knowledge, just what I've pieced together from this board and having gone throught the process once. The 4-6 week wait after the interview is part of the system, not ideal but that is the way the People department runs it.

The way I understand it, you interview with 3 different people, plus the LOI (line oriented interview, basically the FEDEX CRM trainer deal). All in one day.
Now, once you are done and go home, the interviewers all get together and you go into one of 3 stacks (I think).

1. did great on all interviews, hire.
2. did pretty good, maybe 1 had some qualms, maybe hire.
3. didn't do that great, do not hire, reapply in a year.

Now, the 2nd group is the one that causes most of the delay. Every package goes to the hiring board which is composed of a chief pilot from each base and some People department people. As long as group 1's background checks were good and nobody from group 3 has Herb on the line saying to hire him (who knows?), they presumably spend the lion's share of the meeting on the group 2 guys. Start going through all the Letters of Recommendation, talking to the Chief Pilots, etc.

So, from this not-in-the-know pilot's perspective, the 4-6 weeks is a long time to wait, but the alternative would be to lump everyone from group 2 into group 3 and call it a day. Not really fair. Why not lump then all into group 1? Probably because we think our culture is important enough to take more time/money to get the new hires right. Not saying it is perfect or that good people don't get missed or that jerks don't get hired, just as good as our guys think they can make it. They did add the LOI in the last 3 years.

My 4-6 week wait was from my interview date of 10Sep01 until I found out I got hired on 20Nov01. So, actually my wait was closer to 10 weeks but at least there was nothing big going on with the airlines or military making me doubt my decision to get out or anything. A little suspenseful, but worth it.

Short version. The company could probably let 80% or more of the guys who interview know if they got hired within a few days or a week, but it would probably entail lowering the odds for everyone by kicking anyone who is in the middle to the do not hire stack. I'm not sure where my application was, but I sure wouldn't take that bet. Hey mister, you can find out now but have a lower chance of getting hired or wait 8 weeks and have a better chance, your choice? Deal or No Deal.

 

[SWA/FO]

That is the process. Some guys have to wait longer then 4- 6 weeks to get called for the interview. The Company is very careful in who they hire. You have to SHINE on your interview. Competition is tough. Its all in what you show them... I highly recommend an interview prep.... not to "can" answers but to have someone you don't know listen to your stories.

 

[VAPOR]

1. did great on all interviews, hire.
2. did pretty good, maybe 1 had some qualms, maybe hire.
3. didn't do that great, do not hire, reapply in a year.

Where's the LUV in making the group 3 people wait 4-6 weeks to find out they can reapply in another year?

 

[firstthird]

Maybe I wasn't clear. All 3 groups go to the decision board. I just suspect that group 3 gets a "anyone got anything to say for these guys? No? okay, moving on" whereas group one gets a "these guys did great on the interview, anyone have any problem with them? no? moving on." They still get a shot at the decision board, either way, just it is the group 2 guys that get a shot whereas they might not have had one interview day only.

To be clear, the way I understand the process, EVERYONE has to go to the decision board even if you interviewed the best in the last 3 years or the worst in the last 3 years. The decision board has to review your package, I just think it is the marginal guys that are get most of the attention.

That is why everyone has to wait, I'm sure in the past people have gotten moved from group 3 to 1 or 1 to 3, either by great great letters of rec, or by really bad and multiple black listing type letters. So, nobody skips the board and everyone waits.

 

[Whataburger]

I was told by someone in Dallas that all interviewee's paperwork goes to the board. There are the A's, B's, and C's. The A's did so well in the interview/LOI that their refs would not be called and they are hired with little or no time spent on them at the DB. The C's are reviewed briefly but were unsat on interview day and would be sent a letter. Then, like most of us, there are the B's. This is where the time is spent in the DB. Your paperwork, history, app, LORs, interviews, and LOI's are discussed. Then you will have your rec's called. The B's seem to be mostly on the line of hire/not hire. After talking to a few references and looking at your entire package, a decision is made. The wait, mine was one month from interview, is excrutiating. However, when good news comes it is well worth it.