Aurora8

I'm just wondering if any of you have had any interviewer/recruiter conversations lately that sound like they are a little less desperate than they were earlier in the year?

Rob12345

Not in the last few weeks that I have been interviewing, but some are having problems because they can only handle so many new hires a month.
We are also going to be coming to the low months by the time most new hires are gonna get out of training, so maybe a less pressure on recruiting departments at the moment.
It's always been an up/down industry, if you wanta make a move, make it when you can..... Timing is everything.

nemich

West coast? I heard Compass been picky lately...

TimetoClimb

Why it's prudent to remove the word "shortage" from your vernacular.

RemoveB4Flight

Not sure I understand. Are you insinuating there is no pilot shortage? There used to be a lot of not believers but the way things have been in the last year (regionals falling over each other begging for pilots to work for them when they hit 1500 hours and constantly one upping each other on compensation to try to attract new hires) I honestly didn't think there were too many left that would try to say there isn't a shortage of pilots.
I see in another of your posts that you are approaching 1500 hours this January and have "regionals knocking at your door". Not sure if you're aware, but that was not typical for regionals until lately when they started having difficulty finding applicants.

TimetoClimb

I guess I'm lucky there's so much hiring going on.
I just think classes of 100 at skywest or 30-50 at most the regionals month after month is not consistent with the notion of a labor "shortage". It's a marketing tactic by the industry in collusion with the media to ensure a steady supply. While the pool may more limited than in generations past, it seems to me it is by no means drying up. Maybe my opinion will change when I get to 121 and see for myself.or Maybe 80 a month at skywest for several years is just a drop in the bucket? I think 40k was the threshold for new cfi and part 135 entrants , bucketlisters and people returning to the industry.

Seems to be majors hiring ramps up, attrition ramps up and then we get all crazy about a shortage of regional pilots but that ramps up and they come out of the woodwork. The RAA presentation I saw did say only 60 percent of hiring goals were met, so I could be way off kilter, or they could be fudging numbers to further the case of repealing the 1500hr rule.

I was sugessting mention of.the word "shortage" is highly charged and does not serve the piloting profession so to speak

RemoveB4Flight

The ones from 135 and seasoned flight instructors finally deciding to make the leap to 121 will be a crutch but regional hiring won't be able to sustain the hiring they are doing right now. The numbers from the FAA prove it..there are less pilots getting certificates than what the demand is at 121.
Shortage doesn't mean there aren't any. But the standards have been lowered. 5 years ago at 1500 hours you would have been on a list of applicants with far more on their resume than you. Today 1450-1500 hours is the norm for a new hire unless you're jumping from regional to regional.
Like you said though your prospective will change when you join the 121 world.

TimetoClimb

I'm slightly playing devil's advocate here , because I'm naturally skeptical.
I haven't seen the data on new commercial certificates but I thought it was 5-6k/yr( granted some of those are foreigners training here maybe 35%?). How much more is the demand. Isn't it like 4k/yr?

(Editted my above post as well)

RemoveB4Flight

All certificate data is public on the FAA website. Though the problem isn't how many commercial certificates have been issued this year.
The problem is the pay has been so low for so long that it killed a lot of interest in aviation careers in the US. The number of people going into aviation has been low for years..where as it should be increasing every year.
Basically it's a pay shortage created a pilot shortage.

VIRotate

Word on the grapevine is we are going back to hiring 40 a month. Lot of guys leaving for the majors this fall/winter.