Southwest Questions

[amelia]

My DH is looking at applying to Soutwest. I have a couple quick questions about it (questions that I can think of right now at least )

I guess for starters, are they even hiring right now or are the only people going through training right now the one's that have been sitting in the pool for a while?

How hard is it to get on there? I've always heard that they interview a lot of people at once, but then only a few will get the job....is that true?

Do you need to know people who work there to get the job? Or will he be ok b/c he doesn't think he know's anyone there.

DH doesn't have his 737 type yet, but he only has to get it if he gets the job right??

Is there any word on a Denver base? They are huge here and I'm surprised there is no base here yet. Any idea if that would that be a Sr. base??

Hum......those are the only questions I can think of right now.

If he gets an interview, I'm sure he'd love any tips from your SO's.

[Captwife]

Originally Posted by amelia

My DH is looking at applying to Soutwest. I have a couple quick questions about it (questions that I can think of right now at least )

I guess for starters, are they even hiring right now or are the only people going through training right now the one's that have been sitting in the pool for a while?

I think the pool is being depleted, if not depleted, so apply.

How hard is it to get on there? I've always heard that they interview a lot of people at once, but then only a few will get the job....is that true?

Depends. They look at PIC hrs alot...a numbers thing.

Do you need to know people who work there to get the job? Or will he be ok b/c he doesn't think he know's anyone there.

I think you need letters of recommendation from swa plts. He probably knows someone and just doesn't know that he does. Was he prior military or commercial? You can always get a plt list to see if you know someone.

DH doesn't have his 737 type yet, but he only has to get it if he gets the job right??

Right, can get it after hired.

Is there any word on a Denver base? They are huge here and I'm surprised there is no base here yet. Any idea if that would that be a Sr. base??

Rumor is maybe 2010...rumor though. Don't think it would be too SR, DAL and HOU have that job!!

Hum......those are the only questions I can think of right now.

If he gets an interview, I'm sure he'd love any tips from your SO's.

Hope this helps.

[rgphib]

Originally Posted by amelia

My DH is looking at applying to Soutwest. I have a couple quick questions about it (questions that I can think of right now at least )

I guess for starters, are they even hiring right now or are the only people going through training right now the one's that have been sitting in the pool for a while?

Right now they are training from the pool. The pool is almost drained though. They did interview in July and are interviewing in August...I haven't heard of anything after that yet.

How hard is it to get on there? I've always heard that they interview a lot of people at once, but then only a few will get the job....is that true?

DH had his application in there for years.....he finally started updating it after every trip starting in January of 2007. He got the email the end of March from a May interview. DH did not have the type. As for who they hire from each interview day.....its one of those things no one can figure out. Each interview day is about 16 guys (I am not sure how many now...they changed it to a 1/2 day interview instead of a whole day). When DH interviewed they took 12/16 guys. There were days they took 2/16 and days they took nobody. They have a DB (decision board) once a month where they review all the pilots that interviewed that month. They interviewed over 1600 pilots last year and hired less than 400.

Do you need to know people who work there to get the job? Or will he be ok b/c he doesn't think he know's anyone there.

Knowing people does help but it is not necessary. The reason it helps to know people is because the company posts a list of everyone interview that month. The pilots can then go and write an online recommendation up until the decision board date. DH even had some of his friends go and drop his name to their chief pilots before the DB (the CP are the ones on the DB so it helps to have a name dropped before since they are looking at tons of people that day).

DH doesn't have his 737 type yet, but he only has to get it if he gets the job right??

That is correct. My DH did not have the type when he interviewed. It is harder to get an interview without the type, especially now since there are so many people on the street that already have 737 types. DH said that right now that only 10% of the people they are interviewing do not have the type. Once you get hired you have 6 months to get the type. The day DH interviewed, I think only a couple of people didn't have the type. In DH new hire class, he might be the only one who didn't have the type.

Is there any word on a Denver base? They are huge here and I'm surprised there is no base here yet. Any idea if that would that be a Sr. base??

Not any time soon....we have heard rumblings of maybe a couple of years from now...but those are only rumors. They just openned Vegas as a base in October and Vegas was the city that they operated the most flights out of and it wasn't even a base until last year!

Hum......those are the only questions I can think of right now.

If he gets an interview, I'm sure he'd love any tips from your SO's.

Tips....if he gets an inteview, have him read the book NUTS! It is great! It gives the whole history of Southwest....I read it after DH got hired and I was so impressed.

When he applies, make sure he updates his application all the time. Make sure he flies and doesn't drop trips often. We have a really good friend who would be a perfect fit for Southwest. He got the type and interviewed a few years ago....he had his external references called (DH was one of his references) and didn't get hired. He had dropped a lot of trips that year. Southwest wants to see you fly and not drop stuff. Some people do an interview prep before the interview...DH didn't. You can find alot of good interview gouge out their on various websites.

Good luck!

[amelia]

Thanks for the answers and tips. At DH's old airline (ACA/Independence Air) there is a website all the former employee's keep an updated list of where they are today. I think there are a bunch at Southwest now and at least he can e-mail them off that site. Hopefully he know's some of those people and maybe those people will be willing to put in a good word for DH?!?!

I guess we'll just see what happens. Thanks for the tip about not dropping trips. Thankfully he is not one to drop many trips since he is the only one that works (I stay home with the kids).

[rgphib]

ExpressJet does the same....there is a guy at Southwest who keeps it up to date and then emails everyone to let them know who is interview and when. DH ended up contacting a few people on the list that he flew with and got in touch with some people he interned with at UAL that now work at Southwest. I think it was the first time I actually saw him networking. He always hated having to ask people for help, but finally decided if he wanted to work for Southwest, he was going to have to suck it up! LOL!

I'm sure your DH knows a bunch of people at Southwest. If they are anything like the Express guys, they really want to help their "brothers/sisters (as they call them)" get on with Southwest.

[SWAFOWIFE]

Absolutely APPLY! They increased the number of pilots that they are going to hire so the pool will be depleted. My DH applied once and was interviewed in 1/07 and I think he the same amount of guys interviewing 12-16, they hired 2 out of Dh's group. DH was in shock that he even got the interview after applying the first time much less hired. My DH did not have his 737 type when he interviewed but as soon as he got the call he scrambled to get in the next class because your seniority number does not get assigned until you fax in your type rating. Dh went to a place out in Nevada that was a pretty good deal...I think 5-6K..I would have to verify that with DH. Dh had one guy that he flew with at Chautauqua that put in a good word for him but that was it. As far as a DEN base, DH has talked about that..joking that DEN is beautiful and that would be a base he would consider living at but he still can't shake being close to the ocean. Best of Luck

[rgphib]

LOL Shannon! DH says the same thing about being near the ocean.

Amelia- My DH did his type at FTI out in Denver. It cost a little of 5k with everything (hotel). He did it as an accelerated program, I think he did it in like 5 days. He had to do alot of at home computer based training. As soon as he got the call on Friday night, he tried to call to get in as soon as he could because as Shannon says, you don't get your spot in the "pool" until they have your type.

Brendan had a few Skywest guys in his newhire class. I'll have to ask him the names.