SWA letters of "Thanks but no thanks, see ya next year.

[Skyboy722]

NEDude,
You beat me to it. Very well said.

 

[miles otoole]

It is a shame that HR departments are now running the show when it comes to absolute hiring decisions. It used to be they provided general guidelines on hiring-now it's a science as there are college majors and entire career paths in HR. To many of them, finding the "right fit" supercedes whether or not a person is a current scab.

Nice to know there are EAL scabs being hired at WN while generally "great guys" are shown the door. Much of what an HR type is concerned with is the wealth of experience someone brings to the table, not how he was able to secure it. I wonder if it ever crossed anyone's mind in the PD why some dude changed his last name(maybe starts with "Pat...."?) Maybe they thought he took his husbands name.

 

[amfteamster]

I know have last three people who have bought their "type" just to push their resume further up the interview, get that interview and regretfully did not prevail.

Pat yourselves on the back SWA interviewers. The process worked flawlessly with at least two of those guys.

 

[G100driver]

G100,

Hazing? Please explain. CR

This was a metphore. It is hard to change what other people have experienced. Therefore in their minds this was/is correct. Not at all unlike the expirences many people had as pledges in franternities or as plebs in the Academy's.

Obviously SWA is great place. I have several good friends there who I know are great guys. I think the differnce between the whole SWA 737 type and paying for your ratings (PVT, COM, ect) is that I cannot do a whole lot with a 737 type. Not many people are too interested in a guy with a type and zero time. It could be argued that some outfits shy away from guys that have 737 type as they fear training you and have you leave. When you have your ATP you become employable to many outfits that are willing to train you in their aircraft.

The 737 type, while much cheaper than many type ratings, is still a $6000 gamble. I am sure there are many people out their going further into debt to pursue there dream at a now 20% chance of getting hired at SWA. An FE written last time I checked was about the cost of going out to dinner.

 

[G100driver]

With respect to PFT, you are correct. SWA is not a PFT outfit in the true definition of the word.

Last time we hired however, we hired the person 1st, type ratings second. Find the right person, train him. Airplanes are expensive, put training into the budget. If you are a for profit entity, then charge what it cost to provide a product. Do not ask your empoyees to cover the cost of business.

If I interviewed people and told them that they would have to write a check to FSI to get the job I would be called every name in the book. SWA does it, and they are called geniouses????

Heck, we even pay more for the first 15 years!!!!!!

BTW, please do not take this as me trying to start an online brawl.

 

[OffHot]

Miles who in the People Dept at SWA hires pilots? Last I looked it was our DB, consisting of Pilots who did the hiring. At SWA you meet and interview with 1 HR person. Matter of fact when I interviewed, the non-pilot wasn't even an HR person. Everyone else is a pilot. Our modified interview procedures, to include the LOI, was developed by a pilot. The PD are the administrators of the process, they do not have a vote.

 

[capt. megadeth]

I think a majority of the pilot group is fine with the requirement for employment.

CR

Sure it's "fine" if you get hired. 2nd year pay pays for the type.


By the way, my moocher comments were in no way shape or form anti-military, they were anti-crack head 24 year old able bodied baby machine getting a welfare check every month.

 

[FurloughedAgain]

You don't have to BUY a Boeing 737 type-rating.

You could go get a job with another airline that flies the 737, earn a type-rating the ol' fashioned way, and then fly the airplane for a few thousand hours.

If that was a requirement for hiring at SWA -- i'd agree. It would NOT, then be PFT.

However ... Southwest allows people to go spend their money to purchase a qualification - intial training - that is traditionally paid for by the employer.

Southwest will not hire (and most likely will not interview) a pilot who does NOT have that qualification. That sounds like PFT to me - at least for the folks who pay for the type.

So - to me - if SWA said, "hey guys, in order to interview here you need a 737 type and 1000 hrs in type." i'd say that would be just fine. (how many people, after all, would go buy 1000 hrs in a 737?)

Really dont have a dog in this hunt. Not applying at SWA any time in the near future. Just thought it would be fun to interject yet another opinion to the flightinfo fray. (you know what they say about opinions..)

 

[Yank McCobb]

Honestly, who cares? The pilots currently working at SWA don't care. The management at SWA doesn't care. The thousands and thousands of prospective pilots and applicants at SWA don't care.

It seems the only ones who DO care are those who claim they aren't interested in applying (so again, who cares) or those who have been turned down and feel somehow unjustly treated.

So, if you are so against SWA's policies and interview process, don't apply. No one will care.

 

[MarylandONE]

The SWA interview process is begining to feel and look like UAL's back in the heyday...

We don't hire women just because they are a women. We hire good people and pilots.