Employment seminars

[El Ocho]

Anyone have a list of all the available pilot job fairs? Obviously I'm familiar with AirInc, but have come across a number of other options over time.

I need to start going to these, and in typical pilot fashion I want to now go to each and every one that I can make it to.

Additionally, for those that have been to them, a debrief about what to expect, and thoughts about their effectiveness would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Shamus]

Climb to 350 always throws one with Aeroservice in KMIA. About once every three months. I went to one a year or two ago. Only 121 companies, most of the guys there were furloughed, but that was a while ago. Eitherway, I wasn't too impressed, but they dangle a carrot infront of you by giving one type rating away in a raffle. That's all I've got.

 

[b757driver]

Be Careful What You Wish For!

Here's something Uncle Kit won't be talking about in his Air Inc seminars! :laugh:

By the way, haven't you heard, there's a pilot shortage....

The glory days are over

BY BARRY SCHIFF (From AOPA Pilot, June 2006.)
Barry Schiff retired from TWA in 1998 after a 34-year career with the airline.
[SIZE=+2]I have been agonizing over the topic of this column for a few years, not knowing if I should publicly air my personal thoughts. Not to do so, I finally concluded, would be intellectually dishonest. So at the risk of attracting flak, here goes.

I was hired as a pilot by Trans World Airlines in 1964. This was during the glamour years that began after World War II. Airline salaries were rising, working conditions improved with every contract renewal, and airline pilots earned approval and respect from every quarter. On international flights, airline pilots were treated like royalty.

No one working for Pan American World Airways or TWA during this period could possibly have anticipated the demise of their airlines. These were cultural icons of the twentieth century. At one time, TWA's logo was the second most recognizable in the world (Coca-Cola's was the first).

The death knell for this era sounded on October 24, 1978, when President Jimmy Carter signed the Airline Deregulation Act. The merits and demerits of deregulation aside, the long-term result for pilots was etched in stone. There would be an erosion of wages, working conditions, pensions, and job security.
Things got worse after the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Because of the need for additional security, airline pilots are locked in their cockpits behind bulletproof doors and suffer the indignity of coordinating trips to the lavatory with flight attendants.

The glory years are gone.

I could not have been prouder when my son Brian was hired by TWA in 1989. Although conditions had declined since the airlines were deregulated, being an airline pilot was still a great job. He upgraded to captain on the Boeing 727 11 years later. Although thrilled to be in the left seat of a jetliner for a major carrier, he worked harder and earned a smaller salary than I did many years previously.

TWA was assimilated by American Airlines in 2001. During the next two years Brian went from left seat to right seat to the street. He had been furloughed and eventually found a job flying Learjets for a Part 135 operator. He now flies as captain of a Canadair Regional Jet for a commuter carrier.

Like thousands of others who have been furloughed from the majors, he has no idea when he will be recalled. Considering that American is reducing its need for pilots by contractual increases in pilot productivity and outsourcing many of its shorter, thinner routes to commuter carriers, it could be many years before Brian again sees an American Airlines' flight deck. Another of my sons, Paul, began to satisfy his desire to become an airline pilot in 2000 when he was hired by Trans States Airline, a company that operated TWExpress, US Airways Express, and AmericanConnection. Paul bounced between all three and discovered after 9/11 that he was not making headway in accruing seniority.

After four domicile changes, he opted to leave Trans States and obtain a more promising position with United Express. He worked there for three years, during which he had as many changes in domicile, and discovered that the most he had earned after six years as a commuter pilot was less than $30,000 per year. He again foresaw little potential for a career like I had and with great mental anguish opted to change professions.

Paul recently started a pet-supply company , gets to spend every night in his own bed, and has an opportunity to develop a social life. As an airline pilot gone from home 21 days a month, he had little opportunity to meet someone with whom he might like to share a future. When he did meet someone, he had neither the time nor the money for dating.

Paul says, "It is relatively easy to get a job with a commuter carrier, but not because these carriers are losing pilots to the majors; they are not. The attrition rate at the regional level is high because so many pilots reach their limits of endurance and quit. They find it too difficult to live on starvation wages [especially those with families]. There usually was nothing left in my wallet after shelling out for commuting and crash-pad expenses."

Although these are anecdotal experiences, my frank and personal discussions with numerous other airline pilots corroborate my feelings about the state of the airline industry. I can no longer encourage aspiring airline pilots without first ensuring that they understand the treacherous and daunting journeys typically required to reach for such lofty goals.

Do not misunderstand. Coping with the challenges of weather, communing with nature in a way that only pilots can appreciate, and maneuvering a sophisticated aircraft from one place on Earth to another remains a stimulating and gratifying endeavor (although I think it was more fun with less automation). It is the price one must pay to get there that is so discouraging.

I frequently am asked for advice about becoming an airline pilot. The best advice I can offer those determined to endure the rigorous hardships often required is to simultaneously develop a sideline vocation that can be used in case of emergency. A pilot should never get into a position that is totally dependent on income from an airline.

Does the end justify the means? Does becoming a captain for a major airline justify all that must be endured to get there? Perhaps, but surviving long enough to get there is the problem.[/SIZE]

 

[atpcliff]

Hi!

Everything changes, and the pilot hiring situation now is different than it was in the '60s. There is now a pilot shortage, and it will get worse, which is why you can go to India and start as a capt making $108k off the street. The shortage isn't as bad as the '60s when NWOrient hired guys with 0 hours.

The hiring situation was probably the 2nd worse in 2001. Any year prior to about 1930 was way worse for pilot hiring than 2001, especially all years prior to 1910 (of course, I'm assuming that there were no airplanes/spacecraft on earth prior to 1900, which could turn out to be an incorrect assumption).

Barry is comparing today (actually, he is probably comparing a couple of years ago) with the '60s, which was and will probably always be the best hiring situation for pilots of all time in our universe.

I would highly recommenda flying career to anyone starting out today. The sky's the limit!

cliff
LRD

 

[LearLove]

my exp with interview help/seminars:

1. 1998 air inc seminar and phone interview prep for COex interview (about 400 bucks):

didn't get the job

2. AUG 1999- interviewed with Allegheny - preped by getting gouge off the internet (the only site was willflyforfood at the time) and talking to friends who had interviewed there within the previous year. Got sim profile from a someone who had interviewed that May and practiced using MS flight sim. Didn't spend one dime except for the drive from Philly to MDT for the interview.

Got the job

3. Feb 2001 - interviewed with Airtran, didn't prep or do anything at all, went in cold to the sim and panel interview.

Got the job (decided to stay where I was to upgrade and wait for Major, this was pre 9/11)

4. Jan 2004 - Carb Sun interview - after being downgraded at Allegheny Carib sun offered me an interview for a street capt slot. Went in cold like airtran above.

Got the job (decided to stay at ALG as the day they offered me the job was the day they announced the PDT-ALG merger so at the time I wanted to see where that would bring me.

5. Jan 2006 - interviewed with Jetblue - pulled out the stops went the Emcoast in CLT. C-141/fedex guy went around the room (of about 15 guys)asking TMAAT questions. Spent like 500 all together with room and stuff. Studied like crazy, thought it was my big chance to make up for not taking airtran 5 years prior.

Didn't get the job

 

[flypixs]

LearLove,

I guess you are still with Piedmont? Where are you based these days, and did you finally upgrade?

 

[LearLove]

I bid to Mid-atlantic in june2004 and wound up j4j at republic after the dust setteled.

 

[BenderGonzales]

That Barry Schiff column should be chiseled into stone and featured prominently above the door of every flight-school and regional airline "academy" in the nation.

 

[ken]

What about the Aviationinterviews.com job fair? Are they better than Air Inc.?

 

[learflyer]

Unless I missed it, it doesn't state that he was ever furloughed in the article (only his son(s)). He STILL was able to have a solid 34 yr career.