The Air Canada OTS thread

[tallyho]

The reduction in class sizes is mostly due to the continuing MAX return to service delay. AC was confident it would be back this year but as that now looks nigh on impossible they have slowed the hiring considerably. Maybe Transat is a factor but not yet. As someone said its quite a long time until those guys will be AC pilots.

[skyhighh]

in that case, it may be a good idea to bring the "pool" back instead of letting pilots in limbo for months at a time. I have quite a few friends that have done interview in the last 4 months and still don't know if it's a PFO or not.

[Oxi]

It's all how you score, they probably didn't do as well

[21cdnflyer]

Are guys not following up?

[Daniel Cooper]

What would they do differently if they were told they were in the pool though?
Telling people they are in the pool is a nightmare from an HR standpoint. In the past people were placed in the pool and thought it meant they were hired and they just had to wait for a start date. Then a couple of years later they were told to apply again. I guess some were pissed they just wasted 2 years of their career instead of advancing it.
It can be gut wrenching waiting to hear if you got hired but being in the pool isn't hired either. AC could reduce all 737 pilots tomorrow and hiring would stop for a long time.

[Ironman2909]

No reduction in sight on the MAX.... don't know who comes up with ideas like that. Once the RTS is completed, the MAX is going to be one the safest plane to fly (watch the marketing) after all the overwatch over it's recert. If you think AC will pay for any of it's maintenance for the next few decades.....CR will have made a deal with Boeing and the MAX is going to be a money printing machine.

The RTS is going to take all the training spots in the sim and the planes for line-indoc for quite some time. I would say at least til' next summer if not more.... You don't necessarily want to train guys on the ''bus'' and then restart parking them at the end of next year.

Not suprised by the slow down of candidates on PIT courses.....training system is already maxed out.....and Christmas vacation is lurking ahead. Don't forget that it's been a really busy summer at the YYZ training center. Usually summer is slow at the training building in YYZ. The company needs to give a breether to the instructors.

[Transition9er2]

Anymore calls go out today for the Oct 21 class?

T

[skyhighh]

What would they do differently if they were told they were in the pool though?
Telling people they are in the pool is a nightmare from an HR standpoint. In the past people were placed in the pool and thought it meant they were hired and they just had to wait for a start date. Then a couple of years later they were told to apply again. I guess some were pissed they just wasted 2 years of their career instead of advancing it.
It can be gut wrenching waiting to hear if you got hired but being in the pool isn't hired either. AC could reduce all 737 pilots tomorrow and hiring would stop for a long time.

Fair enough but why doing so many interviews if candidates end up in the pool for a year or two? That's just a waste of resources from an HR standpoint. I guess it could be because we never really know what will happen in the future (there was supposed to be a class of 50 every 3 weeks and now it got reduced to 10-15 pilots every 3 weeks). But I don't know, I feel that somewhere someone is messing up and leaving the candidates in limbo isn't fair. Waiting for 3-4 months to then receive a PFO letter when they could have moved somewhere else and start their seniority earlier...I'm sure we can do better for these guys and girls.

[Victory]

If they could be somewhere else starting their seniority do it. Never put your career on hold waiting for HR. They are notoriously heartless. The one exception I guess would be Express. You couldn't accept a position there if you were maybe in the pool at AC because that would kick you out of it.

[Daniel Cooper]

Are people actually being PFO'd after 4 months of waiting or is hearing nothing for that long tantamount to being told you're in the pool?

[altiplano]

Fair enough but why doing so many interviews if candidates end up in the pool for a year or two? That's just a waste of resources from an HR standpoint. I guess it could be because we never really know what will happen in the future (there was supposed to be a class of 50 every 3 weeks and now it got reduced to 10-15 pilots every 3 weeks). But I don't know, I feel that somewhere someone is messing up and leaving the candidates in limbo isn't fair. Waiting for 3-4 months to then receive a PFO letter when they could have moved somewhere else and start their seniority earlier...I'm sure we can do better for these guys and girls.

Waiting 3 or 4 months on a job offer isn't that long. Aren't PFOs typically going out earlier than that anyway?

Aside from that, anyone waiting on an answer and not taking other opportunities is making a mistake. There is no sure thing in this business.

It's like wanting to work at Delta and turning down Unitedv while you wait... that's crazy. You take the first one that comes, and then you leave if a better opportunity presents.

"Supposed to be" - they've hired hundreds this year. Numbers that have never been seen in the past, maybe somebody has a count? I'm just guessing maybe 350 so far and more still to come over the next couple months.

And this is during a time of an unprecedented fleet grounding with associated training problems and stoppages. There are 225 open positions waiting to fill and train on the 737, but you can't hire for a fleet that isn't flying. When it gets ungrounded and past the initial reentry to service, I expect that will pick up a lot of those that haven't heard. Perhaps in the new year/spring we will see some big courses roll in. There are 26 737 deliveries scheduled for 2020 all were planned before summer, plus the backlog that didn't make it this year... 50 airplanes total. I think we had around 20 on the property when the grounding occurred. There may be some slowdown, but they will want to get them as quickly as they can crew them.

[21cdnflyer]

Waiting 3-4 months is extremely long.

My question is, why is no one following up with HR? If they tell you 6-8 to weeks and you haven’t heard at 10 weeks, I would shoot an email to see what the deal is no?

Cdn

[Inverted2]

Waiting 3-4 months is extremely long.

Down south they tell you the news one week after the interview.

My question is, why is no one following up with HR? If they tell you 6-8 to weeks and you haven’t heard at 10 weeks, I would shoot an email to see what the deal is no?

Cdn

I think most are afraid to piss off the HR ladies by asking. Get them at a bad time they might just fire you off a PFO out of spite.

[Transition9er2]

I wrote HR as well as some buddies who haven’t heard for some time. The response was “sorry for not getting back to you with a final decision. Your file is still being reviewed by the hiring board, we hope to have a final decision for you shortly.”

I imagine the HR group is busy, but contacting them doesn’t help... we’re in for a long wait.

T.

[bearitus]

I guess no one is getting put in a pool waiting for a ground school once they pass the interview and medical? It's stressful not knowing if you failed the interview or they just don't have a slot open yet. I have been waiting for over a month and from what I hear from others I won't get a response anytime soon.

[CaptainKirk]

Waiting 3-4 months is extremely long.

Down south they tell you the news one week after the interview.

My question is, why is no one following up with HR? If they tell you 6-8 to weeks and you haven’t heard at 10 weeks, I would shoot an email to see what the deal is no?

Cdn

I think most are afraid to piss off the HR ladies by asking. Get them at a bad time they might just fire you off a PFO out of spite.

What? Fire you out of spite? That’s not how it works in a big company. HR would have to put down reasons. If for whatever reason someone claimed wrongful hiring practices you can refer back to those reason. Which are not based on race, sex, marital status etc. Many people go into the decision of hiring a person. Not just one HR person. Btw you also assumed they were ladies. AC also has several male HR persons that conduct interviews.

['97 Tercel]

I dont think they meant firing someone...they said 'fire you off a PFO'...

[parallel60]

I wouldn't recommend emailing HR. Heard from a friend years ago that they emailed HR after 8 weeks of no response asking what the status of their interview was and they received a mailed PFO letter dated the exact date they sent the email. Coincidence? maybe. Worth the risk, definitely NOT in my opinion.

Responses they would offer if you emailed/called them...

1.We have not made a decision at this moment.
2. No response with a PFO being sent shortly after.
3. "Oh, well since you have asked, yes indeed we will hire you now. Thanks for emailing us letting us know that you are still interested because up until now we weren't sure if you were still interested. Your course is in 2 weeks. Welcome aboard!"

Response 3 was a joke.

[speedah]

They’re not monsters. An email is completely fine, they are not going to pfo you because you followed up. That’s some next level stupidity

[parallel60]

Speedah,
You are correct, I don't think they are like that at all, just stating a situation that actually happened. The person could have already been in the PFO pile and that just reminded HR to pass on the PFO now instead of waiting... I'm curious what people are hoping to get out of an email? I suppose if they have another offer on the table and need to decide ASAP it would make sense to email HR. I have heard in the past(8-10 yrs ago) it was known that messaging HR about your status could lead to an early PFO. Sounds like those days are in the past.