Chief Pilot asked another airline to delay hiring me due to shortage?

[Col. Panic]

The more appropriate conversation would be 'what the hell did you do to make 8 guys quit at the same time??"

2018 saw the hiring gates at the regionals wide open. I can’t speak for management at other companies but my own policy was to keep our pilots moving forward regardless of their own career agendas. 703s are transitory positions for most, I get it, just throw me a bone and help keep me in the loop when you plan to leave so I can have a stream of replacements coming in. No hard feelings over honesty.

I was actually part of a mass exodus at my first instructing job. A good 80% of the staff all put in our notice the same morning without anyone having pre-planned it that way. It was just all of us moving on with tragic timing for the school.

Maybe if your company just operated some Boeing products out of YYZ, you wouldn’t have seen such turnover!

[lownslow]

Maybe if your company just operated some Boeing products out of YYZ, you wouldn’t have seen such turnover!

The nerve, eh? Many people make a satisfying career out of flying twin turboprops or floats or whatever but the responsible non-AC/WestJet company knows that the majority of their flying staff will be transient no matter what they do. I even had pushback on offering significant raises, I assume because pilots were scared they’d have a harder time convincing themselves to leave. Wish I could have kept the difference for myself.

[cncpc]

There is a tort called "interference with economic relations", or something similar. It comes to mind, but not sure as I don't know the whole story.

[co-joe]

I've heard of this happenening to various people at various airlines in the past. Chief pilot talks to HR at prospective new company and asks them to delay or even not hire a pilot because they are short and can't afford to lose them, and the other airlne agrees to CPs request. I'm concerned this is happening to me now. Has this happened to anyone here? How do you deal with it?

Thanks.

The CP at my last 703 did that to a guy while I was there. Dirtiest move I have ever seen. Literally F d the kid over after a good number of years of being a solid guy. I never heard how badly it effected him but it was at least a 6 month setback.

[C-GGGQ]

I cannot prove it happened to me, but I’ll always be suspicious that an interview that went really well and that I was told was “a sure thing with an internal reference” came back as a PFO. Luck of the draw or did they call my CP (they never asked for references) and did he sink me to slow the hemmorage? We’ll never know for sure.

[rigpiggy]

Get a buddy at xyz to call from company phone for a reference check and record it. Yes I record all calls of any significance

[0000001]

I once did some recruiting work for an airline. We met with flight colleges and smaller operators to discuss their training and procedures and provided suggestions how to make their procedures more "705" so the graduates would have an easier time integrating into an airline once they got there. There was at least one agreement with a flight school where pilots wouldn't be considered for a ground school unless they had served 2 years as a flight instructor. I guess the idea was to not drain the talent pool while providing the airline with candidates trained to a known standard. I'm not sure if they still have this agreement but it sounded extremely fishy at the time. I left the recruitment team after finding that out.

[Bede]

There is a tort called "interference with economic relations", or something similar. It comes to mind, but not sure as I don't know the whole story.

I thought about that too but one of the elements is that there needs to be some illegal activity.

[oldncold]

5yrs ago , was sittin in a cp office having a coffee on a maintenance operational matter, his office phone rings so i patiently await my turn . its the cp of a regional asking about another pilot. this pilot had worked 4 years 5 freeze your nuts off winters from the ramp to king air capt good pilot n decent human being inso much as one can be at -42 in jan . the regioinal cp asks any issues. cp 703 says he was late last week // but failed to mention to the regional cp there was a snowstorm that was shutting down the hiways . got pfo letter following week. needless to say 0 respect for that cp. that thru the kid under the bus .

[digits_]

Really makes you wonder how bad a pilot could possibly be if he has been employed by the same employer for 4 years... After a certain timeframe an airline really shouldn't care about references anymore.

[photofly]

After a certain timeframe an airline really shouldn't care about references anymore.

+1

If a guy's been in the same job for 4 years and the only thing a boss can think to say about him is "he was late once last week" then that says more about the boss than the employee.

[702pipeliner]

Hearing more often now a days with the big pull happening in the 705s guys are getting sewered left and right. Even guys who worked hard getting sewered because they chose not to take a captain seat to guys who broke their back for a company but the company has chosen not to give references.

Interesting times

[cncpc]

There is a tort called "interference with economic relations", or something similar. It comes to mind, but not sure as I don't know the whole story.

I thought about that too but one of the elements is that there needs to be some illegal activity.

I'm not sure where you came up with that. The conduct needs to be "tortious", but not illegal. Fraud is the only crime/tort that bears the same name, although any victim of a crime also has civil law recourse. Criminal assault can also be the basis of a civil claim, for example.

I expect it makes some difference as to whether this arrangement was only in respect of the OP, or was simply a broad agreement between the two carriers

[lownslow]

I kind of think a lot of people are sewering themselves in interviews too, but if you can blame someone else it saves the trouble of having to improve AND you get a fun victim story to tell.

[oakmoss1889]

I kind of think a lot of people are sewering themselves in interviews too, but if you can blame someone else it saves the trouble of having to improve AND you get a fun victim story to tell.

Heard first hand account of a pilot at "company A" get hired at "company B". Pilot tells CP of company A he is resigning. Next thing he knows he gets a call back from company B saying they are postponing his groundschool date at the request of CP, because CP called company B and said they "couldnt afford to lose him now".

Also if they tanked the interview why would they make it to the refference stage?

[digits_]

I kind of think a lot of people are sewering themselves in interviews too, but if you can blame someone else it saves the trouble of having to improve AND you get a fun victim story to tell.

Heard first hand account of a pilot at "company A" get hired at "company B". Pilot tells CP of company A he is resigning. Next thing he knows he gets a call back from company B saying they are postponing his groundschool date at the request of CP, because CP called company B and said they "couldnt afford to lose him now".

Also if they tanked the interview why would they make it to the refference stage?

I would take month of unpaid vacation before going along with a scheme like that. You'd also likely qualify for EI if the delay is longer than 2 weeks.

[C-GGGQ]

I kind of think a lot of people are sewering themselves in interviews too, but if you can blame someone else it saves the trouble of having to improve AND you get a fun victim story to tell.

Heard first hand account of a pilot at "company A" get hired at "company B". Pilot tells CP of company A he is resigning. Next thing he knows he gets a call back from company B saying they are postponing his groundschool date at the request of CP, because CP called company B and said they "couldnt afford to lose him now".

Also if they tanked the interview why would they make it to the refference stage?

I would take month of unpaid vacation before going along with a scheme like that. You'd also likely qualify for EI if the delay is longer than 2 weeks.

Exactly. Job offers are coming quick these days. I literally quit my job and took off to the Philippines with my wife for 40 days. I have two interviews and two conditional offers lined up already

[lownslow]

I didn’t say it never happened and if you read the thread you would have seen the part where I admitted to being complicit in this.

Also if they tanked the interview why would they make it to the refference stage?

This part is a lot sloppier than most people think, especially when the hiring machine is running wide open. Many companies farm out their reference calls and I hate it. These subcontractors seem to work at their own pace and I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re given a call list before interviews even happen in the hopes that they’ll check references and report back before the decision to hire is made. The worst case I heard was a candidate being removed from a groundschool as it was happening due to a bad reference.

[photofly]

You're not some piece of cattle

Cough cough.

Bang on your stall with a hoof when you're ready to give me the next belly laugh.

[digits_]

You're not some piece of cattle

Cough cough.

Bang on your stall with a hoof when you're ready to give me the next belly laugh.

Let me rewrite it: You can choose to not be a piece of cattle.

[Bede]

I'm not sure where you came up with that. The conduct needs to be "tortious", but not illegal. Fraud is the only crime/tort that bears the same name, although any victim of a crime also has civil law recourse. Criminal assault can also be the basis of a civil claim, for example.

I think you're confusing criminal with illegal. They are similar, but not synonymous.

The tort of intentional interference with economic relations has three elements:

The defendant must have intended to injure the plaintiff’s economic interests.
The interference must have been by illegal or unlawful means.
The plaintiff must have suffered economic harm or loss as a result.

https://www.osler.com/en/resources/regu ... a%20result.