Aquaticus

I would do as many career fairs as I could in that situation with some interview prep beforehand. You are absolutely hireable but need to brush up on some networking to make it happen. Get your internals to drag you in front of a chief pilot even if it is just to critique the resume and explain the process. Any interaction could be the one that does the trick. Get your friends to reach out to anyone they know over here.

A lot of guys in your situation would bite the bullet and run through a regional to check the 121 box, recency of training box, and a little jet time. I don't think that is necessary but it would expedite things. It would suck from a quality of life / pay stance but I would guess that your phone would ring within 6 months. It might not be United straight away but it will probably be somewhere worth hanging your hat. Another option would be the LCC's and they would hire you in a heartbeat right now. I came from one and it was easier and a more professional training environment than most regionals. JetBlue hires a lot of piston guys from Cape Air, charter guys, and people that have been out of the industry awhile so they have experience shoe horning the 121 world into pilots seeing it for the first time. They would be light years ahead of any regional. Best of luck.

Broncofan

Nothing wrong with getting letters of rec through a parent. I think he knows all the things you just said.

ReadyRsv

I had no jet PIC. Lots of turbine. Was any of the time MIL? Were you rotary wing?

ysslah

Just out of curiosity (because I heard a few different theories about this), how many recommendations did people who were called in 2016 and 17 have? How many were internal vs. external? Thanks.

armypilot

I was an Army rotary wing guy (Kiowa Warrior) and transitioned to the King Air in 2011 and flew all the ugly grey King Air’s with all the antennas and everything else sticking off of em.

rightside02

I had 4 letters of rec from Internal and 2 offline . Worked as a recruiter previous airline so got lots of time to talk shop with various recruiters . I asked about letters at United , I've heard of guys having 15 internal etc. Not living in a hub, nor flying for an express carrier I just flat out didn't know that many guys . Therefor only have 4 internals . Family etc .

He laughed and said sure they can help but the over all package/resume is looked at . Which I had plenty of others to fill any voids in areas I may be lacking. The recruiter told me some people look into these letters a bit too much.

Clearly can't hurt , I just giving hope to those like me who didn't have 300 United friends to write letters for .

ReadyRsv

I met a guy in the jumpseat with a very similar background here... I wish I had his name. I had lots of jet SIC but all my PIC was in a T-Prop, and it wasn't in combat. I'd try to get to a meet and greet and as was previously said in this thread, I'll reiterate, try and get into a chief pilot's office.

We haven't interviewed anyone not coming from a flow program in months, so don't be discouraged. Update your app monthly and get it checked out by someone as well. Good luck!

John Carr

I belive not that BK said at a job fair that after a certain number of recs it doesn’t matter, single digit number I thought.

But I thought the average was in the low double digits.

Also that the recs speak more to your character/integrity/personality than flying, etc.

ysslah

Thanks guys. I heard something like “after 5 it doesn’t help you”. But someone recently told me “10 is the magic number”. I just wanted to see the validity of either hypothesis.

robthree

I have heard both of those things. What I have never heard is that there is a number that is so large that it hurts you. I had two internals, plus a CP, and a bunch of externals.

A CP rec is worth more than all the others.

Fill in all the blanks on the application. Don't give any points away.