Throwing Boxes For FedEx!!

[acarpe3448]

I have been throwing boxes for a while and I have a question for anyone else who has done this. I am doing this for the 12 months that is required for an interview. My question is this though! If Fedex has an application window in the next month or so, there is nothing that is keeping me from applying in that window is there? I mean, you can not bid out of your section for 6 months, and are not getting the preferential interview for 12 months, but there is no problem with just applying and interviewing the normal way is there? They wont hold it against me that I have 6 months on and am applying for the job. I hope there is not a problem, my back is killing me, it is the hardest work I have ever done. But if it gets me the interview, well it is worth every ton of boxes I lift.

 

[cl-65link]

The question is, will Fedex interview you at all, being furloughed from another airline(DAL?). Good luck to you.

 

[RockyMnt1]

Keep throwing 'em

First of all, welcome to the FedEx family!!

As one who has invested just about a quarter century of my life in this company, let me pass
on how your post comes across to me.

I completly understand the the rigors of the job
that you currently have. Believe it or not,
everyone in the whole company is under similar strain. Nobody can fault you for trying to get into a job that you really want. That is both in
your and the company's best interest From where I sit, it appears that you only took the box throwing job as a more direct route to crewmember position with little reguard for the needs of FedEx. Are you on furlough from another airline?? Would you dump the FedEx job without a moment's notice if another airline called? This thought can be tempered somewhat if your current job performance is way above expectations, you are taking the time to learn learning additional skills that would benefit you and FedEx, and you are taking the time to learn about the business from the ground floor. I just don't see how that could happen in a little over 6 months on the job.

You are too focused on getting to the cockpit with out the experience of exactly understanding how your paycheck is generated. Experienced pilots are a dime a dozen these days. Experienced pilots that understand the business from the ground floor, the experience to demonstrate that knowledge, a genuine interest in the company (not just a means to an end), now that is a unique individual.

Exercise patience and take advantage of the perferred interviews and make yourself a unique outstanding candidate or get in there with the masses where it is obvious that you are only here for the flying opertunity. You get to make the choice.

 

[Ty Webb]

I can tell you that this Fedex pilot's attitude is exactly what you will find at the coveted interview. Apparently, the attitude of the Flight Ops people hasn;t changed since the early Nineties, when I too worked my tail off on the ramp for Fedex.

This clown sees you as a rampie who wants a flying job through the back door, not a hard-working pilot who was willing to bust his hump on the ramp for a year in order to "earn a job".

Believe it or not, he (and they) would rather hire someone off the street than off of their own ramp, regardless of what crap they say.

I worked for Fedex part-time as a second job, when my wife was pregnant with our son. I didn't meet the minimums, and never applied for a transfer, but I watched closely the attempt of another guy, who was qualified. We'll call him C.G.

C.G. had been a Captain for Great Lakes. He also had been a Learjet Part 135 Captain. Between the two jobs, he certainly exceeded all of their minimum requirements by several thousand hours of kerosene burning.

He was always very pleasant, a hard worker, and a dedicated employee. At the end of his year in the station, he applied for a postion in FLight Ops (FE). He showed up for the interview with a handful of LOR's from Fedex pilots. he had put in a year of hard work chucking boxes, and had a recommendation from his Ramp Manager.

They said, "Well, your stuff looks good. Why don't you re-apply in a year, and we'll see how you're doing". Mind you, he was also trying to stay current, which meant working two jobs for another year.

Disgusted as hell, he left shortly thereafter and went to Midway, and eventually on to NWA, where he is to this day. Funny thing is, both of whom were quite happy to hire him without throwing a single box.

Moral of the story- Fedex pilots probably don;t see you as a pilot willing to work harder to get on board, they see you as a ramper who is trying to get in the cockpit ahead of their squadron buddies.

They say they promote from within, but it is really just a bad joke, at least it was then. I would run, not walk, to the nearest flying opportunity, and cut your losses.

Again, that is just my opinion, but that crock of crap posted by the last guy claiming to be a fedex pilot basically confirms what I was saying . . . . he'd rather hire some guy off the street than you, sad to say. After all, the "Company" has invested hundreds of dollars trainin you on the ramp . . . . . . what a pompous @ss.

 

[KATL8R26L]

box's

Why work in a postion that is not what you want in the first place .


When you think less of your self then people in general think less of what you do,


Go find a flying job.

 

[acarpe3448]

Well I must say that I was quite shocked and pissed at some of the responses I have seen. I will take just a second to respond to some of them to see if it changes your opinion. First of all someone said that I am not really taking an interest in learning about the company and trying to build some experience that might benefit it. Well first off, the first thing I did was find out about the tuition payment benefit. Then I went to around seven or eight differnet sections to find out exactly what kind of educational background would suit them the best. My first goal is to one day fly for Fedex, a close second is to build a career with Fedex on the business or operations side of things. I have already been working on my MBA, and after spending a great amount of time talking with section leaders, team leaders, hub managers, operational control, corporate flight operations, finance department, international operations department, customer service department etc. I have moved my MBA studies towards an emphasis on finance. I have meet numerous times with Paul Meyer, the Manager/Chief PIlot of Coporate Aviation at Fedex and told him that I was very interested in a career with Fedex. I was told that nearly without exception Fedex Coporate Ops recruits new pilots for the Lear 45s out of the Hub Operations. They still tend to recruit for the Challenger positions from the outside but I was told that they would hire someone with the experience from the inside if presented with the right applicant. I have met with James Piper the DC-10 Manager Air Operations Division Flight Training about a position as a professional flight instructor and have just sent in the paper work that he has sent me. I show up to work around an hour and a half early to just walk the hub operations sort facility. I am treating it like a giant aircraft sytem. I am working on learning the ins and outs of every section trying to figure out just how all the departments blend together to function. As I make my way around each section I am trying to meet any Hub Operations Managers and learn exactly what they do, and how things could be improved. When I sitting around and have some extra time I am on the Fed Ex computer trying to learn all that I can about the Corporate Communications Systems (it is very confusing compared to Delta's). In summary, I am totally emmersing myslef in Fedex Operations, Management, Work Ethics, History, Corporate Vision, Financial Performance etc..In addition to all of these things, I can offer Fedex over 8000 hours of flight time, 4500 hours of PIC, 3000 hours of turbine PIC, 5000 hours of turbine, 4300 hours of Part 121 and hundreds of hours on the Boeing 727 which happens to be a big part of the Cargo Fleet. So I like to think that I am not just one of those guys that thinks he can just show up throw a few tons of packages a night and try to get the easy back door interview like you suggest. I'll also let you know that when the next window opens I will be submitting my application online just like everyone else. As far as suggesting why dont I just go out and get a flying job. Well there just is not that much opportunity right now. I have resumes out at every FBO, and Charter Service in the Memphis Area. My wife has her business here so picking up and moving just is not an option for us. To stay current I am renting the 172s and BE76s, getting some sim time and keeping my nose in the FARs and the aim. I think that someone suggested that by throwing boxes at Fedex that I am looking down at myself, that it makes me somekind of lower life form than the major airline pilot that i was until May of last year. On the contrary, I am very proud of working for Fedex, I am proud to learn from those who have been there longer than me, and every person I know looks up the fact that I am working hard to support my family and my son's future. In closing, someone suggested that I may just drop Fedex and run to Delta when they call me back. Not true. I will be glad to turn in my resignation as soon as Fedex offers me a job. I will not miss any sleep at night because of my decesion. In closing, by blood is changing colors from red and blue, to Orange and Purple. I am proud to be a part of Fedex, and I for one am very sure of my future, whenever that may be.

 

[RockyMnt1]

If you don't want to hear the answer...

don't ask the question.

The start of this thread asked a question and for an opinion with very little additional info.

You got some answers. Sorry if you don't like the responses, but why didn't you include the info in your second post in the first??

Sounds like you are on the right track to me. Keep going and good luck.

 

[acarpe3448]

RockyMnt1

You have a real attitude don't you. They say you can learn a lot about a person just from talking to them. Well it is easy to see that you are not a pilot for Fedex, that you are probably bitter because you have never been able to get a call for an interview yourself, and you are probably hiding behind one of those mid level magager positions with an inflated ego thinking you are much more important than your average box thrower like myself. As for getting responses from my post, you are wrong, I want them all and I value them all. What I do not want is for some bitter old man like yourself telling me that I have no chance on a future with Fedex and accusing me of trying to back door my way into an interview with Fedex. I have put in all the years gaining my aviation experience, I have put in my time getting my college degrees, and I am now adjusting to the new realities of aviation and trying to do anything to better position myself should an opportunity present itself. As far as working so hard on the ramp, well every time I hear my five year old son ask me "Daddy when you get your job back can I go look in the cockpit again." I know that it is worth it.o matter what i have to do.

 

[RockyMnt1]

The attitude

Do you feel better now??

I must have really struck a nerve.
Did it ever occur to you that my response was a compliment to you and all that you are doing to further your career within FedEx based on the more detailed info contained in your second post??

"Sounds like you are on the right track to me. Keep going and good luck."

As in keep on doing what you are doing and good things will come. I never said that you didn't have a chance to get a crewmember position here or at having a future here. Read the posts again.

The next time you post a question or ask for advice, please be sure to also post all the constraints that go along with that post so that we all know if and in what manner we should respond.

Now who really has an attitude here???

 

[dogg]

acarpe... the plain facts are this(regardless of all the sunshine that has been blown up your arse by flt ops), 12% get hired from the ramp position historically and fully half of those simply are waiting for hiring to begin as they have already been given the nod...you might be one of the lucky 12 or you might not. You can be sure of one thing though, your year as a ramper and all the glowing letters that you will have collected will not factor in to their decision.. it will simply be wether they like you at that moment in the interview plain and simple. It is a big gamble, but it is only one year and if you don,t get the nod you will at least know more people when you try again from the outside.

 

[FoxHunter]

Just a few comments on throwing boxes or not. Yes, you can say you want no part of it, just get hired direct as a pilot. Just fill in the application place it on the stack of 10,000+ and you may get a call, you interview, may get selected, placed in a pool and eventually get hired. If you throw boxes for a year, you will get the interview, may get hired, and I believe get a class date before anyone in the pool.

I've flown with a number of highly qualified individuals, with military backgrounds, that were hired after throwing boxes. Now if you served in the Air Force, Navy, or Marines, and were a Squadron Mate of a person, or persons with some influence you probably do not have to consider throwing boxes.

Just some examples of the background of the people I've flown with in recent years, last trip my F/O was retired AF, flew 707s, G3s, worked for ATLAS, quit as a 747 Captain. Two days ago took a sim ck and the F/O was AF Acad., flew heavys active, and B1s in the Guard. Another trip was with a retired Marine that was the CO of a AV8 Squadron during Gulf War 1. Another individual, retired Navy, A7, F18, had been the XO of an aircraft carrier. Another was the Deputy Wing Commander of a F15 Wing. Another was a Thunderbird, Another was a Blue Angel.

I guess what I'm trying to say is I'm glad I'm looking at things from the inside. You have to have the right person going to bat for you and a measure of good luck to get the interview and hired. If you don't have outstanding qualifications, and more outstanding contacts pushing for you on the inside throwing boxes is probably one of the best ways to have a good chance of getting hired.

 

[acarpe3448]

Well Im appreciate the kind things that some of you are telling me, but I also value any of the negative things also. Had a really hard night at work last night, I think the # was 430,000 or something like that. We are slinging a whole lot more mail than in the past few weeks. Also there seems to be a lot more Non Con than lately. I bet my line did 175 cans last night, and a full 30% or more were heavy heavy car parts etc. I hope things are looking up. I am doing all the networking that I can possibly do, and have all my LOR's lined up and a number of people in the training department ready to do their part. But until my chance comes I will continue to throw the boxes, learn all I can about Fedex and work on making a career at Fedex, It is an awsome place to be, I love it. Thanks for all the response please keep them coming, especially those of you online now, or new hires with the company. My brain is about to melt from studying the Interview CD, I must have at least 3000 vocabulary words and I get so frustrated doing the mind melt problems, (If A is not B and C might be a part of A, and some of the B's are included in the A's, well what does that tell you about the D's) you know what I mean.

 

[busdrver]

Going the professional instructor route has its pro's, as well.

There have been some changes in how they will work you onto the line after a few years of service in training and there may be potential hiring in the MD-11 school house. (Not a rumour-just a guess). Probably a better chance of hiring there than in the DC-10 dept. But again, that's just my opinon.

Best of luck in whatever you do. Don't know how you could go wrong with your attitude.

 

[TonyC]

The original questions...

If Fedex has an application window in the next month or so, there is nothing that is keeping me from applying in that window is there? I mean, you can not bid out of your section for 6 months, and are not getting the preferential interview for 12 months, but there is no problem with just applying and interviewing the normal way is there?

I can't say for certain, because I don't know how it was worded when the job was last "open," but I believe the minimum time in the job requirement (minimum 1 year, more in some jobs) MUST be met before they'll even accept an application. In my case, the posting was open for 7 days, and my 1 year was set to expire on the 4th day. If it had been the 8th day, I would have had to wait another month.

Check the posting (JCATS) and follow it to the letter. The sour response from the "25-year" man is NOT typical of the pilots you will deal with - - there are OBVIOUSLY some sour grapes staining his seat. I don't know anything about a dismal 12% success rate - - of the guys that interviewed with me, only the guy that doctored his logbook was sent back to his courier job.

You'll have a HR rep on the interview panel to ensure fairness, and you'll have the GFT process on your side if you feel you were unfairly denied a job offer. Don't believe the horror stories you've heard. The aforementioned logbook massuese has a horror story he tells, too.

Two tips:

1) Your current manager is your best friend - - HE not only rates you, he writes a recommendation letter for you. Your attitude and eagerness to excel MUST be obvious to him. You'll look much better if you have the night off so you can hand-deliver your package with a fresh smile and a flowery recommendation from your current boss. Your manager controls both.

2) Recency of experience is heavily weighted.

Good luck