Questions

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DCTNstudentpilot1987

New Member
I have some dispatch questions. I am getting pretty depressed. I worked so hard in dispatch school and finished top of the class. Yet Im not getting hired by anyone. I figured I would ask the people that have made it some questions.

What are the real requirements for the job? Almost every regional lists age 23, high school diploma, and dispatch license as the job requirements. Some say 121 experience preferred. Based on those, I meet and exceed them all. Obviously, they want more than that but what? How much overall work experience do they want? I have a college degree and dispatch license but admittedly am lacking in overall work experience. The Mesaba HR lady that called me to ask if I was interested in working said it was fine that I just got out of college. The HR manager must have thought different though.

How long do you have to wait to re-apply? What chances are there to be hired at a place that turned down previously? Republic told me during the interview, the only face to face Ive gotten, that I can re-appply in 6 months. They didnt tell me why I didnt get hired or what I need to improve on for the future. Anyways, some places say in their rejection letter when you can re-apply. Others do not.

Why the lack of respect? I applied to Republic and the next morning got a call asking me to go to IND for an interview. I got a date, time and email confirmation. The woman told me they could only fly me standby and refused IAD but only from DCA, which is an hour and 45 mins away in rush hour. She highly recommended I didnt take a chance flying standby because it was Thanksgiving week. So I forked out about $600 in airfare to get to IND. I didnt mind paying the airfare until I arrived there and found that they werent ready for an interview. Neither the HR woman nor the dispatch manager had read or reviewed my application or resume beforehand. The dispatch manager admitted as such. You would expect that if they are asking you to come Thanksgiving week that would at least have reviewed and read your stuff before hand and would be ready for the interview. Why bring someone in for an interview if you dont pre-screen before doing so? It seems very unprofessional. Why not at least tell someone why they didnt get hired if they are coming from a long way away during Thanksgiving week? It is common courtesy. Half of the questions they did ask would have been easily answered by looking at the resume and application I submitted to them. I called the HR lady from the number she gave me when she called to ask me to come to IND and I thanked her for bringing me in and giving me a chance to interview. I asked her to call me if she had any advice on how to improve for the future. I never got a call back. I guess it goes to show how little respect some airlines have for their employees and interviewees. They seemed caught off guard and surprised that I was there for the interview. I think they forgot I was coming.
 
Just be persistent. Others have mentioned that Republic's interview leaves a bit to be desired, so I wouldn't take anything too personally on that front. I was able to land my first job through networking. A close friend walked in my résumé and that helped significantly. If you have contacts at an air carrier that can be of great assistance. Good luck to you.
 
It will take some time but there is movement going on now through the industry.

Skywest has listed an opening. Good Company from what I have heard
 
Omg I can't believe they asked you to pay for a ticket!!! That airline is evil man. They did the exact same thing to me. Called me next day asking if I wanted to come up. No prequestions at all. Positive spaced me then my own limo to their HQ. Never even looked at my resume prior to me showing up and they misread everything. Thought I was a A&P when I wasn't lol. they were very unprepared and rude the entire time. After 5 hours of traveling they interviewed me for 15 minutes! The kicker, I got a thanks but no thanks letter as soon as I got off the elevator! Before I even got back in the limo. Total s that management team was and I see I'm not the only one they do it to. It eventually worked out for me though I got a call a few months later with another airline and got the 1 Spot open. Trust me buddy that airline crushes souls but I was in the same positon as you and everything eventually works out. I feel for ya. I just feel bad you paid to go up there. Keep looking, you will eventually land a job.
 
DCTNstudentpilot1987 said:
What are the real requirements for the job? Almost every regional lists age 23, high school diploma, and dispatch license as the job requirements. Some say 121 experience preferred. Based on those, I meet and exceed them all. Obviously, they want more than that but what? How much overall work experience do they want? I have a college degree and dispatch license but admittedly am lacking in overall work experience. The Mesaba HR lady that called me to ask if I was interested in working said it was fine that I just got out of college. The HR manager must have thought different though.

How long do you have to wait to re-apply? What chances are there to be hired at a place that turned down previously? Republic told me during the interview, the only face to face Ive gotten, that I can re-appply in 6 months. They didnt tell me why I didnt get hired or what I need to improve on for the future. Anyways, some places say in their rejection letter when you can re-apply. Others do not.

Why the lack of respect? I applied to Republic and the next morning got a call asking me to go to IND for an interview. I got a date, time and email confirmation. The woman told me they could only fly me standby and refused IAD but only from DCA, which is an hour and 45 mins away in rush hour. She highly recommended I didnt take a chance flying standby because it was Thanksgiving week. So I forked out about $600 in airfare to get to IND. I didnt mind paying the airfare until I arrived there and found that they werent ready for an interview. Neither the HR woman nor the dispatch manager had read or reviewed my application or resume beforehand. The dispatch manager admitted as such. You would expect that if they are asking you to come Thanksgiving week that would at least have reviewed and read your stuff before hand and would be ready for the interview. Why bring someone in for an interview if you dont pre-screen before doing so? It seems very unprofessional. Why not at least tell someone why they didnt get hired if they are coming from a long way away during Thanksgiving week? It is common courtesy. Half of the questions they did ask would have been easily answered by looking at the resume and application I submitted to them. I called the HR lady from the number she gave me when she called to ask me to come to IND and I thanked her for bringing me in and giving me a chance to interview. I asked her to call me if she had any advice on how to improve for the future. I never got a call back. I guess it goes to show how little respect some airlines have for their employees and interviewees. They seemed caught off guard and surprised that I was there for the interview. I think they forgot I was coming.
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For someone without any airline experience, the first dispatch job is always the hardest one to get. It took me several months after graduation before I got a job offer. I was offered space-available travel on my future employer's flights, but as it was far away this wasn't a big help to me...I ended up purchasing a ticket to a hub close to where they operated out of, and flying on them to the corporate HQ location.

I've had some memorably bad aviation interview experiences. I should probably write an article about them. I would occasionally apply and get interviewed with a company just based on the fact that it was in a location I liked, and some of those interviews were the scariest ones. At one place that didn't have a dedicated dispatch department but was in the process of setting up flight following, I was told by a person who could have found work as an extra on The Sopranos, "We want you to be like the Big Daddy, you understand what I'm sayin'?"

Anyway, my point of all this is to say hang in there, keep sending out resumes, and you will find a job offer before you know it. My first job didn't pay great but it was in a part of the country I hadn't visited before (New England) and I really enjoyed it, and got some good experience there...enabling me to later find work at a larger regional airline, and eventually at a major one.

As far as re-applying at a particular employer goes...if someone doesn't hire you after you interview someplace and you get a rejection letter, I wouldn't bother re-applying...for whatever reason they didn't see what you had to offer, and you should think of that as their loss and look for an employer who will appreciate your skills. (Just my opinion based on personal experience, of course...your mileage may vary.)
 
I currently work at Republic (though I'm on my way to Southern Air) and I'm a bit miffed at a lot of the interview horror stories and negative reputation they appear to be building from qualified dispatchers in the job market. I know the hiring process for the Frontier dispatchers once they relocated their HQ to IND was frenetic and a bit disorganized but I'm surprised by the stories of DCTN and Azanti. When I was hired over a year ago, my interview experience couldn't have been more pleasant. Makes me wonder just what the heck is going on here.

Keep your head up DCTN. I remember the depression coming out of school looking for that first gig. Looking back I'm surprised it only lasted 3 months. What we're seeing now in the regional hiring pools is that people with prior experience are being hired. When last Republic hired for several positions, almost all of the candidates came over from Pinnacle. In my hiring class, before that, they brought in four without prior dispatch experience; two with pilots licenses, one with station ops experience and me with zero experience (other than marshalling planes at UPS Worldport). A lot of people are bailing from regionals with poor reputations for retention and coming to operations that are growing and more financially sound (albeit, apparently, ones with poor interview reputations). This is not to say that the job market in the near future will not improve for those coming out of school. Dispatchers with previous experience at regionals have more opportunities available to them to advance to heavy jet carriers than I have seen since I've been following this ballgame.

Anyway, I want to throw in my two cents and recommend Republic as a place to work. One colleague from Pinnacle who came over likes it much better, they pay more than Mesaba or Mesa, are located somewhere other than St. George or MEM and you probably don't have to worry about getting furloughed any time soon. Once my chair opens up, you'll have the opportunity (on the Republic certificate) to dispatch EMB-190s (99 seats), 175s and 170s, all of which are fine planes that are in demand as the regionals start ixnaying the CRJs, to 79 destinations throughout the US and Canada. I spent one year at Republic, hired with no previous experience, and now get to plan 747 and 777s all over the world. Of course, I busted my ass at Sheffield and took their International workshops, but I wouldn't have started my dispatch career any differently.
 
DCTN

I don't mean to sound rude but you asked so I thought I'd give you an honest answer. Based on some of your previous post you come across as a bit of a know it all and seem to be quite full of yourself. "Top of my class", "I taught the class", etc.... I'm sorry to tell you but how and what you did in class means absolutely nothing now. If you go into an interview with this same kind of -I already know everything- attitude then you are really going to have a tough time getting a job. First, because you don't really know anything yet. Second, because that kind of attitude is a big turn off for hiring managers. I acknowledge that my impression of you could be way off the mark but that's just the way you come across to me based on the forum posts.

Try and stop patting yourself on the back for being top of the class and try and be a little more humble.
 
upsadx said:
Try and stop patting yourself on the back for being top of the class and try and be a little more humble.
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He's right, hiring and DX managers want someone who is demonstrably friendly and eager to work, very thankful for the chance to interview, doesn't arrive with a sense of entitlement, confident that he is right for the position but meek enough to show a certain malleability to conform with how they do things. It's a tricky act to balance; confidence and entitlement, for all jobs.

Dispatch offices all throughout this country are spattered with cocky blowhards who are quick to assume dominance, denigrate others, may know their stuff, but are caustic elements to the workplace who have nothing positive on a personal level to contribute (as are most professions where a college degree is not a requirement). Some dispatchers are HR's worst nightmare. I wouldn't say these people are in the majority, but they're there and managers are acutely aware that they don't want to add another to the mix.

Don't give anyone a reason to think that you aren't humbly grateful and gracious for the mere opportunity for an interview. Show your inherent enthusiasm for the field of aviation and your excitement to get started. If you know you're the right guy for the gig then relax, make eye contact frequently with every single person in that room, smile and joke a little. Have many questions ready to ask them, especially a few very technical ones for the dispatch manager. Be proactive if you think the interview went well and you are still interested in the company. Say just that at the end, or find a better way to express it. Assume you'll never talk to them again (because if you call them or send e-mails you may very well not), so seal the deal there and tell them how well it went for you and how interested you are in the company, and how you look forward to speaking with them again soon. Write a hand-written thank you card that very night and mail it to them.

Once you have a face-to-face interview the onus is all on you to make it happen and show them that you're the right person for the job, and in a lot of ways it comes right down to your personality, how you conduct yourself, and the touch you have to maintain a proactive stance to scream "hire me!" without being too loud. They're trying to get a good read on you; are you a good person? Are you enthusiastic? Are you going to whine at work? Are you professional? How will you work with others? How excited are you to learn? etc.

Good luck! When all else fails, I say channel President Clinton and you'll do nicely.
 
So how many resumes have you sent out? How many interviews have you actually had? You only got your license a short time ago. You need to have a little patience.

Kev's advise is right on. Read it careful and follow it.

One last comment....the dispatch community is quite small. Having a bad interview and then coming onto this forum and posting about how unprofessional RP is is really a dumb move. People in dispatch are only seperated by maybe one or two other people. It wouldn't be too hard to figure out who the person is that interviewed with RP the week of Thanksgiving who bought his own ticket and came from DCA. Dispatch managers do talk you know. I'm sure I could find out who you are in exactly one phone call.

Just suck it up and stick with it. Follow Kev's advise and you'll do OK. However, if after only two months of job hunting you are already depressed then maybe you need to reevaluate your choice of careers. Two months is nothing. It will take you years to get where you ultimately want to be. Accept that fact or cut your loses now and move on to something else.
 
By the way Kev....congrats on the Southern Air job. Now get that heavy jet international experience and come on back to SDF in a couple of years.
 
This has been a GREAT thread to read! I am one of MANY out there looking to get into the industry. I live in the DFW area and have noticed multiple post by charters, regionals looking for dispatchers. I just want to find a gig where I wont be working 60-70 every week. (I currently have two jobs) In addition, I plan on transferring my credits from IFOD to a local JUCO to continue my job hunt. I know a degree isnt required, but with my lack of experiance/ knowledge I know it may be what seperates me from someone else. In addition, Im willing to accept a logistics/dispatch job outside of the industry if it is available. BURLINGTON NORTHERN (In Ft. Worth) Just hired 15 people in November. One of their requirements was 2 years in aviation disptach. Their STARTING pay was 77K PLUS benefits. I just want a trade & have a life long skill. These discussion boards are GREAT for an inside leg.
 
upsadx said:
By the way Kev....congrats on the Southern Air job. Now get that heavy jet international experience and come on back to SDF in a couple of years.
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Thanks! I'm very excited to work internationally and Southern seems like a fine place to work. They're making it very much worth my while to stick around and have an impressive SOC director of whom I had a great first impression. The folks around the office seem to like him a lot as well. I'd encourage all those who notice an opening in the future to apply as they continue to expand their fleet of new aircraft. It will prove to be very challenging; a whole different ballgame than scheduled pax. Yet in many respects it seems the perfect place to reach your career potential as a dispatcher and if learning how to apply your skill to the fullest of all potential is a strong desire, give them a serious look folks.
 
upsadx said:
So how many resumes have you sent out? How many interviews have you actually had? You only got your license a short time ago. You need to have a little patience.

Kev's advise is right on. Read it careful and follow it.

One last comment....the dispatch community is quite small. Having a bad interview and then coming onto this forum and posting about how unprofessional RP is is really a dumb move. People in dispatch are only seperated by maybe one or two other people. It wouldn't be too hard to figure out who the person is that interviewed with RP the week of Thanksgiving who bought his own ticket and came from DCA. Dispatch managers do talk you know. I'm sure I could find out who you are in exactly one phone call.

Just suck it up and stick with it. Follow Kev's advise and you'll do OK. However, if after only two months of job hunting you are already depressed then maybe you need to reevaluate your choice of careers. Two months is nothing. It will take you years to get where you ultimately want to be. Accept that fact or cut your loses now and move on to something else.
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I think that's a little harsh. It does sound like it was a bad interview experience at Republic (that many other people have had as well) so it doesn't hurt to share that so future applicants know what to expect. And, of course, the job hunt can be frustrating for someone newly certificated without experience. I would advise DCTN to hang in their and keep applying!
 
manniax said:
I think that's a little harsh. It does sound like it was a bad interview experience at Republic (that many other people have had as well) so it doesn't hurt to share that so future applicants know what to expect. And, of course, the job hunt can be frustrating for someone newly certificated without experience. I would advise DCTN to hang in their and keep applying!
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I agree...it is a little harsh. It's also reality. I also advise DCTN to hang in there and keep applying but to follow Kev's advice and not enter into the interview with a sense of entitlement.

DCTN....you'll get that job. Just rethink your approach a little.
 
Well I suppose I should man up about what I said prior before getting labeled as an airline basher. I know republic is a good airline, many of my college roommates fly for them now but I just felt bad for what the kid went through cause I experienced the same thing not too long ago. I just don't understand why republic refuses to do a prescreening interview over the phone. They fly every applicant to HQ and then begin to look at the resume and ask questions. Honestly I feel it just gives false hope because what other business in any industry does that? call someone next day, fly them up, limo service to the office 10 minutes of basic Q/A then thanks well let you know if you made the stand by pool. My current employer did things very differently, it was much harder, only one position and I got the job. 1 hour phone interview, 50 question test and another hour face to face. I know each company does things differently but I know I wish I knew the things I did now before saying yes to an interview with republic and thinking I had a good chance of getting the job.
 
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