WestJet Mainline/Encore Hiring pool

[loopa]

Fingers crossed! 8-10 out of 70 some odd of us will be very happy this week or next.

[NickyNick]

What's the hiring minimums now? The 1500 hrs Total Time on website should be updated, 3900 hrs Total Time with 2500 PIC BE20 doesn't get a call.

[manyratings]

You got that right Loopa. Ive been in the mainline hiring pool for 9 months now and am sure hoping Aug is the call i get. Otherwise my time is getting shorter and shorter. I guess October classes may be my last shot. Taking 4 or 5 out of the 21 in the mainline pool means the odds are not great. Here is to hoping

[DropTanks]

You got that right Loopa. Ive been in the mainline hiring pool for 9 months now and am sure hoping Aug is the call i get. Otherwise my time is getting shorter and shorter. I guess October classes may be my last shot. Taking 4 or 5 out of the 21 in the mainline pool means the odds are not great. Here is to hoping

Don't sweat it too much. DaveP said their goal was to use up everyone in the mainline pool and that was before the additional courses were planned. You'll be at mainline in no time I'm sure.

Good luck to all!

[Prop-to-Jet]

Btw, there is currently 60 pilots in the pool for Encore. 10 Ground school per month, you do the math, but they don't necessarily pick the people in order that they made it. They try to mix people from different backgrounds for each courses, so it doesn't mean you'll start in 6 months if you get picked now, it may be a lot earlier, or later.

[loopa]

You got that right Loopa. Ive been in the mainline hiring pool for 9 months now and am sure hoping Aug is the call i get. Otherwise my time is getting shorter and shorter. I guess October classes may be my last shot. Taking 4 or 5 out of the 21 in the mainline pool means the odds are not great. Here is to hoping

Fingers crossed for you buddy! I've been in the pool (encore) coming up on 7 months. I am in touch with a few others that have also been waiting the same time frame.

The mainline pool is still 21? I thought it had shrunk by now.

Spoke with a credible source that said the Encore pool size is close to 70 now. My guess would be if they hire another 40-50 in 2015 that the pool is growing to cover continued hiring in 2016?

Best of luck to all in both the mainline/encore pool

[NickyNick]

What's the hiring minimum total time now? My 3900 hrs Total Time isn't getting me a job offer.

[loopa]

Hi Guys,
The next set of courses for WJE are as follows:
June 01st (full - class of 10 tt average of 3300hrs)
August 17th YYC
September 14th YYC
October 5th YYC
November 2nd YYC

The Aug 17th course won't be called until approximatey 30 days out.

As for WJ we have three courses left as mentioned in earlier threads (Aug class of 8/Oct - 2 classes of 8 )All have 50% flow from WJE. The TT class averages for WS are still north of 5000 hours and WJE ytd class averages are 3900hrs.

Respective pool sizes are 21 for WestJet and 61 for WestJet Encore with 51 pilots in the cue for interviewing.

Take care,
Dave

Looks like the June class was 3300 hours, and ytd 3900 hours. Guys in the low 2000's have been on courses too.

How does your cover letter and overall profile fit in with the culture? Any internal recommendations? Try xsbanks for input on your resume and cover letter. I think he was helping people a while back.

Best of luck dude!

[duramaxguy]

With all due respect. Regardless of how many hours of multi turbine pic you have, you still have to pass the interview. There have been several very experienced guys and gals get pfo'd.

Encore isn't the, apply with 1500 hours and ATPL and instantly get a job, place it was in the early days. They now have a pile of applicants and can pick and choose the best. Also as mentioned above, there is 70 ish pilots who have successfully interviewed and are in the pool which satisfies their needs through till next year. So even though the posting is still up I"m sure interviews are slowing down until they deplete the pool a wee bit.

That said, I wish you the best of luck. I'm in The same boat.

[NickyNick]

They now have a pile of applicants and can pick and choose the best.


Sure they choose the best? What does "best" mean to Westjet?
Or is it who you know and not what you know? Do a lot of new pilot hires work other jobs within Westjet? They say internal references help, very hard to have an internal reference if you are not in the organization at application time for someone in the flight department to know if you are good enough for an aircraft.

When you have guys/gals that don't get an interview let alone a job offer and First Officers they fly with get jobs there's a definite problem with the hiring process.

[Navaids]

When you have guys/gals that don't get an interview let alone a job offer and First Officers they fly with get jobs there's a definite problem with the hiring process.

Internal references are a great way to keep the assholes out...... Looks like it's working

[NickyNick]

When you have guys/gals that don't get an interview let alone a job offer and First Officers they fly with get jobs there's a definite problem with the hiring process.

Internal references are a great way to keep the assholes out...... Looks like it's working

How does one have an internal reference if they don't work at the organization? If a job posting at my current company comes up, a collegue can be my internal reference. But if I'm not at a company how can I have an internal reference !!!!!!

[loopa]

Have you ever worked with anyone in your 3900 hours of flying that has ended up at WJ/Encore? Would they be willing to give you a good internal reference? The answers to those question should help clarify your situation.

Hope everything works out for you man!

[NickyNick]

Have you ever worked with anyone in your 3900 hours of flying that has ended up at WJ/Encore? Would they be willing to give you a good internal reference? The answers to those question should help clarify your situation.

Hope everything works out for you man!

I know many that I've flown with at Westjet mainline and encore but don't keep in contact with any of them. I'm not type of person to use people to get ahead.
Is King Air hrs not the type Westjet Encore likes applicants to have?

[aerobod]

I have hired dozens of people into IT roles in WestJet over the past number of years, about half have had internal references before hiring. The proportion of those who have continued employment with WestJet is much higher if they had that internal reference. I believe that is due to the fact that an internal reference knows what the job entails and will only recommend people they know will fit the organization and role well, whereas external references can only describe what the candidate has done in the past and not know whether they will fit WestJet's needs and culture well or not.

[loopa]

Have you ever worked with anyone in your 3900 hours of flying that has ended up at WJ/Encore? Would they be willing to give you a good internal reference? The answers to those question should help clarify your situation.

Hope everything works out for you man!

I know many that I've flown with at Westjet mainline and encore but don't keep in contact with any of them. I'm not type of person to use people to get ahead.
Is King Air hrs not the type Westjet Encore likes applicants to have?

I don't think you'd be using these people to get ahead. If you would regenerate a pleasant working relationship, get in touch with your contacts and see if they'd be willing to improve your chances.

As for your second question: If you have filled out an application to Encore, you should get a good feeling as to what it is they like. They ask a lot of questions about your PIC (mpic preferred), any 705 time? FMS time? Multi Crew Time? Scheduled Airline Time? Instructing Time? And culture with their question on what you'll bring to WestJet.

If you want my advice, I would venture to guess that it's not your lack of flight ops qualifications preventing an invitation to interview. It's probably a combination of a lot of laid off pilot's right now in queue for interview, a bigger pool, summer month vacations in the office, and maybe a tad bit coming off as entitled that 3900 hours with 2500 mpic should get you a job; especially if the same tone we observe here is maintained in your application as well. I saw your post in the Jazz forum and you made a similar comment there. I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, so I'm going to assume you're not entitled - but more so just frustrated that you haven't received a call yet. Keep your A game on and be persistent, and try not having your frustration elongated with such transparency. If it's one thing I've learned about getting on with an airline it's that it can take a very long time.

Hope you get the call! Then the real waiting begins

[NickyNick]

Have you ever worked with anyone in your 3900 hours of flying that has ended up at WJ/Encore? Would they be willing to give you a good internal reference? The answers to those question should help clarify your situation.

Hope everything works out for you man!

I know many that I've flown with at Westjet mainline and encore but don't keep in contact with any of them. I'm not type of person to use people to get ahead.
Is King Air hrs not the type Westjet Encore likes applicants to have?

I don't think you'd be using these people to get ahead. If you would regenerate a pleasant working relationship, get in touch with your contacts and see if they'd be willing to improve your chances.

As for your second question: If you have filled out an application to Encore, you should get a good feeling as to what it is they like. They ask a lot of questions about your PIC (mpic preferred), any 705 time? FMS time? Multi Crew Time? Scheduled Airline Time? Instructing Time? And culture with their question on what you'll bring to WestJet.

If you want my advice, I would venture to guess that it's not your lack of flight ops qualifications preventing an invitation to interview. It's probably a combination of a lot of laid off pilot's right now in queue for interview, a bigger pool, summer month vacations in the office, and maybe a tad bit coming off as entitled that 3900 hours with 2500 mpic should get you a job; especially if the same tone we observe here is maintained in your application as well. I saw your post in the Jazz forum and you made a similar comment there. I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, so I'm going to assume you're not entitled - but more so just frustrated that you haven't received a call yet. Keep your A game on and be persistent, and try not having your frustration elongated with such transparency. If it's one thing I've learned about getting on with an airline it's that it can take a very long time.

Hope you get the call! Then the real waiting begins

Waiting will continue for me. I'm sure I'm not the only one that is confused as to what the actual requirements are, clearly the posted ones aren't correct, I meet and exceed all requirements when compared to others I know that received jobs offers.
Westjetters promote as caring etc, actions show they aren't when you have qualified guys/gals not getting hired who meet requirements !!

[NickyNick]

I have hired dozens of people into IT roles in WestJet over the past number of years, about half have had internal references before hiring. The proportion of those who have continued employment with WestJet is much higher if they had that internal reference. I believe that is due to the fact that an internal reference knows what the job entails and will only recommend people they know will fit the organization and role well, whereas external references can only describe what the candidate has done in the past and not know whether they will fit WestJet's needs and culture well or not.

May I ask how someone can have an internal reference if they're not current employee of Westjet?

[loopa]

May I ask how someone can have an internal reference if they're not current employee of Westjet?

Answer:

Have you ever worked with anyone in your 3900 hours of flying that has ended up at WJ/Encore?

You said:

I know many that I've flown with at Westjet mainline and encore

Talk to your ex-colleagues. Those would be the ones that would be an internal reference for you.

[cdnpilot77]

Nicky,

There is way more to hiring than hours in your book.

Have you ever had people critique your resume? Maybe it's poorly written
Maybe you just don't sell yourself well. But asking repeatedly how someone who doesn't work there could possibly have internal references, even after it's been explained in laymens terms, makes me think you are trolling.

[NickyNick]

Nicky,

There is way more to hiring than hours in your book.

Have you ever had people critique your resume? Maybe it's poorly written
Maybe you just don't sell yourself well. But asking repeatedly how someone who doesn't work there could possibly have internal references, even after it's been explained in laymens terms, makes me think you are trolling.

An internal reference to me is someone that you currently work with that will be a reference for you for a position within the company. For example, if one of my First Officers is applying for upgrade to a captain position I could be an internal reference for them as I'm within the company. But for me to have an internal reference at Westjet I would have to be a current employee.

[loopa]

Nicky,

There is way more to hiring than hours in your book.

Have you ever had people critique your resume? Maybe it's poorly written
Maybe you just don't sell yourself well. But asking repeatedly how someone who doesn't work there could possibly have internal references, even after it's been explained in laymens terms, makes me think you are trolling.

An internal reference to me is someone that you currently work with that will be a reference for you for a position within the company. For example, if one of my First Officers is applying for upgrade to a captain position I could be an internal reference for them as I'm within the company. But for me to have an internal reference at Westjet I would have to be a current employee.

You have the wrong idea of an internal reference. An internal in this case is someone that you have worked with in the past, who is at WJ, that is willing to tell WJ about you. I think that's really as clear as I can make it. I'm starting to think cdnpilot77 is right. Are you trolling us?

[seniorpumpkin]

Waiting will continue for me. I'm sure I'm not the only one that is confused as to what the actual requirements are, clearly the posted ones aren't correct, I meet and exceed all requirements when compared to others I know that received jobs offers.
Westjetters promote as caring etc, actions show they aren't when you have qualified guys/gals not getting hired who meet requirements !!

Dude, relaaaaaaxxxxxx. The people in the HR department don't wait around and call people the second a resume lands on their desk. I'm in the same boat as you, I've got good experience, likeable guy with great references, I've got applications in with WJE, Jazz, and Sunwing, and it's all crickets over here too. These things take time, I feel your pain but panicking won't help. Just try and enjoy this glorious summer, which is probably what those pesky HR departments are doing these days.

[NickyNick]

quote]

Dude, relaaaaaaxxxxxx. The people in the HR department don't wait around and call people the second a resume lands on their desk. I'm in the same boat as you, I've got good experience, likeable guy with great references, I've got applications in with WJE, Jazz, and Sunwing, and it's all crickets over here too. These things take time, I feel your pain but panicking won't help. Just try and enjoy this glorious summer, which is probably what those pesky HR departments are doing these days.[/quote]


Over 2 years for me applying at Encore, I've applied Jazz, Sunwing, Sky Regional, Georgian, Porter, Evas. I have a lot of BE20 PIC time, maybe I need to change aircraft to move up although lots of former collegues have gone to those carriers with King Air time. Sure beats me as to what the problem is !
It does take time but when many with a lot less hours get job offers it makes you wonder.

[esp803]

Over 2 years for me applying at Encore, I've applied Jazz, Sunwing, Sky Regional, Georgian, Porter, Evas. I have a lot of BE20 PIC time, maybe I need to change aircraft to move up although lots of former collegues have gone to those carriers with King Air time. Sure beats me as to what the problem is !

Nicky,

I hate to be the asshole, but... Your recent string of posts might indicate why you have not been successful with these job application. I find it shocking that after your 3900hrs you think that just because you have the time, you get a job. And to insinuate that people with less experience are less deserving for a position simply because you have plenty of BE20 time is insanity. I know many people who were hired into airlines and very good corporate positions that had substantially less than the average time of the other applicants, they got the job because they were not only skilled in their field, but they were genuinely great people, who most people would be honored to work next to. Hours are only a small piece of the pie that makes a person employable. I hope you find a something, but I suspect this is not an issue of not having enough bigger airplane time, or not enough tt or MPIC.

E