Think SkyBus is the only one to blame?

[xjlifer]

Having flown for a second tier company for a while prior to being hired by United, the answer was clear to me. A lot (and I can't emphasize that enough) of the pilots who were rejected by the majors had checkered pasts. Those that didn't have checkered pasts eventually moved on to the majors. Sure, there were a few who stayed by choice. A very few.

As for your coworker who was sent out the door, it's clear that both you and he didn't know the ground rules for an interview at United (and every other major; it's just that United gets the bad rap for calling guys on this). The first hurdle was correct logbooks. You may not like it, but that's the way the game is played. I spent a week with my calculator and logbooks before every interview that I had. And logbooks are just the start of an interview prep.

A startup will always find qualified pilots. Quality pilots is another story.

Hmm...I was sure it was ...um...other things.

 

[Dizel8]

With the amount of people UAL interviewed, even if the success rate was 50%, that still leaves a lot of people who got a free ride to DEN.

Being turned down by UAL seem almost more like a rite of passage than a black eye!

 

[Andy]

Hmm...I was sure it was ...um...other things.

Trust me; United's former hiring process was far from infallible. ... I was able to slip through the cracks.

 

[xjlifer]

Yea I was referring to the whole ....it ain't who you are it is what you are stuff.

 

[Andy]

Yea I was referring to the whole ....it ain't who you are it is what you are stuff.

I've been very lucky in airline interviews ... 4 for 4. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out every detail of what the company was looking for and making sure that I could fit into their profile of what they were looking for.

In all of the interviews, the interviewer was able to find a 'problem' spot (college grades, speeding tickets, etc) in my past, which they played on to get a reaction from me. I took full responsibility for whatever the 'problem' was and they quickly moved on.

For my United interview, it was late spring 2000; I knew that the pilots were preparing for a 'summer of love.' I also knew that I would have one HR and one pilot interviewer. I chose to wear my ALPA pin on my lapel; I figured that if I were to be shot down, it would be the HR person. As it turned out, there were two pilots and one HR person ... one pilot was training to interview candidates. It turned out that the HR woman's husband had been a pilot at the original Frontier, so she was pilot friendly.
The technical portion of the interview went fine; I spent some bucks on a prep course and everything they spoon fed me was spot on.
I was very flat in the interview; stiff as cardboard; and did not expect to be hired. When the pilot interviewer walked me to the elevator after the interview, I apologized for having no personality during the interview. He didn't say anything, but thanked me and shook my hand right before I stepped onto the elevator.
I fully expected to be rejected by United. I don't know what aspect of the interview put me over the top, but somehow I got hired.

I think that a pilot should spend a lot more time prepping for an interview than for a checkride - it's that important.