747Dispatcher
Well-Known Member
i was told that even the DL internal now got a long line even with their managers recommendation - i believe DL is not in the near future for most of us
Big 6 Experience Requirements
- Thread starter Mainline_or_bust
- Start date
i was told that even the DL internal now got a long line even with their managers recommendation - i believe DL is not in the near future for most of us
manniax
Well-met in the Ka-tet
WN hires externally but also likes internals! I would consider trying to get a position in the NOC such as crew scheduling to get more visibility. The test you have to pass to get an interview might be challenging without any practical experience though, so be sure to study up if you go that route before you test.
TaxiBack
Plane planes planes
Hey Mainliner, dont worry, as soon as you get tired of MI, you call me! I know a guy. We will build the best union evah!
Mainline_or_bust
Airplanes fly on PFM, Change my mind
You make the move to the parent company's location and I just might have to take you up on that. Text me if/when the rumor mill is spinning.
jrdownunder
Well-Known Member
Networking for "Mainline" doesn't work because no one likes him !!! lol. When are you going to put your two cents in on the PSA thread???
av8or757
Well-Known Member
Don't let it. As a dispatcher at a Major told me...." the fact that you left Company X means you have an open mind and will succeed." I believe that too.
I left my major after 15 years. I am now 39. Young still in one sense,but by no means starting out in my 20's like other dispatchers.
I stepped way outside of my comfort zone to take a risk basically. I hope to get to a major one day,but right now I feel for myself...practical experience may be the best route for ME. Everyone is different and gets there a different way.
Right now I'm betting on myself. Unless someone is in Crew Scheduling,DSC , or being a flight follower in the same room I'd say go regional.
Making the jump from the airport to NOC, SOC, or IOC.......you have to jump a lot of people. Never mind the ones already THERE.
Personally I noticed if you did make it from the airport...they had multiple licenses. Some with hours or previous DX experience. Same with those in the room. Or they'd been in the room so long they had picked up a vast amount of knowledge working alongside dispatch.
That's just what I saw for my situation. I realized it was get in the room or dispatch. For me....I felt I really needed to learn to actually dispatch the longer I thought about it.
Don't regret going into dispatch. You were going to have to learn how eventually.
If you want something bad you'll get there however you can.
Flagship_dxer
Penske Material
Lots of changes and unknowns are present currently at AA in terms of hiring. The amount of desks needed still has not been decided and it still is not certain when the new joint schedule will take place. Tentatively supposed to be January next year but my confidence in that right now is low. They still have not decided how the next new hire class will be trained, who the OJT trainers would be or what the training department will look like. All those positions will be possibly/probably changing in the coming months as the two groups continue to integrate and job responsibilities change.
How we hire could easily change too. L-US and L-AA had two different ways of hiring. The current director of dispatch is L-AA but the people above him are L-NWA. No idea yet on what the philosophy going forward will be for dispatch hiring. The union leadership has changed and the union leader who previously did hiring for L-AA may or may not be a part of hiring going forward. It is unknown how much the union will be involved in hiring. It is unknown who in management will be a part of the hiring process. Previously, the L-AA director let the union leader and a center manager have a lot of leeway in hiring decisions and did not conduct interviews. Unknown if this will continue going forward.
What is known is that there are a lot of internals both IOC and throughout the company that want in to dispatch. Before anyone can be hired, sector managers and L-US voluntary furloughs will be given a chance to come back or for many of the managers, their chance to come into dispatch for the first time. The new dispatch contract may sway some of the sector managers who are still in the union or just now joining the union to take the better pay and job security you now have on a dispatch desk.
Envoy just hired a sizable class and by the time we hire have our next class, they will be likely be eligible to apply and will likely get preference in hiring in addition to any of the more senior Envoy dispatchers who may apply.
For other externals, the amount hired externally will be determined by whoever does the hiring going forward. Unknown until it happens so there is still hope for those who want in to AA and are not internal or Envoy.
As far as when we may hire next, I think mid to late next year at the earliest. It could be longer if the L-US furloughs cover a decent portion of the hiring needed.
How we hire could easily change too. L-US and L-AA had two different ways of hiring. The current director of dispatch is L-AA but the people above him are L-NWA. No idea yet on what the philosophy going forward will be for dispatch hiring. The union leadership has changed and the union leader who previously did hiring for L-AA may or may not be a part of hiring going forward. It is unknown how much the union will be involved in hiring. It is unknown who in management will be a part of the hiring process. Previously, the L-AA director let the union leader and a center manager have a lot of leeway in hiring decisions and did not conduct interviews. Unknown if this will continue going forward.
What is known is that there are a lot of internals both IOC and throughout the company that want in to dispatch. Before anyone can be hired, sector managers and L-US voluntary furloughs will be given a chance to come back or for many of the managers, their chance to come into dispatch for the first time. The new dispatch contract may sway some of the sector managers who are still in the union or just now joining the union to take the better pay and job security you now have on a dispatch desk.
Envoy just hired a sizable class and by the time we hire have our next class, they will be likely be eligible to apply and will likely get preference in hiring in addition to any of the more senior Envoy dispatchers who may apply.
For other externals, the amount hired externally will be determined by whoever does the hiring going forward. Unknown until it happens so there is still hope for those who want in to AA and are not internal or Envoy.
As far as when we may hire next, I think mid to late next year at the earliest. It could be longer if the L-US furloughs cover a decent portion of the hiring needed.
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PlaneFan82
Well-Known Member
Dispatch experience is dispatch experience. You don't get a leg up working for a FedEx feeder. As far as a recommendation , it may help you get a phone interview, but the rest is up to you. As far as getting hired, it really is determined upon many things, years of experience, education, and most importantly, how you interviewed.
I have not seen an external hire at FX since 2013.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Mainline_or_bust
Airplanes fly on PFM, Change my mind
Oh I've got dollars worth my friend, but I do believe there is a real attempt to head in the right direction from some of management. May never transpire but things change, who knows.
CPZ9900
Well-Known Member
Then you're delusional. The 'new' manager is nothing but a lap dog. The whole demotion/promotion scheme was just smoke and mirrors. JH is running the show, and that's the problem.
January is all but a done deal now. We have been told the bid will be in August and the schedule will go into effect late January.
I agree with you about the hiring. The hiring here is a big unknown. Nobody knows how the operation is going to even look after single FOS, and there are also new positions being created and some being eliminated with the new JCBA. There are too many unknowns at this point. Throw in the fact that a good majority of the LUS dispatchers who did not come down from PIT and took furlough are rumored to be coming back now, and its all but a big unknown.
As for the OJT people, I would not read much into that. Historically on the LUS side, the OJT schedule wasn't completed until near the end of training, and most of the dispatchers used don't get a lot of notice that they will be OJT. Historically, any qualified dispatcher can be used for OJT, and the Union has frowned on people refusing to OJT new hires. I know it may be different on the AA side.
Flagship_dxer
Penske Material
I will believe it when I see it. For the bid to start in August, they need to have hired all the select positions prior. All select positions including equipment coordinators, ATC coordinators, and the new chief dispatcher positions all have to be opened up to interviews. Sure, some interviews in the equipment and ATC positions may be simple formalities but it is required under the JCBA for these to happen and a job posting to allow everyone qualified to apply for it. Especially on the relief side of things with new positions on ATC and equipment possibly opening up, the amount applying and interviewing could take some time. Even longer if the grievance on stacked quals or the straight midnights forces a junior man in these positions.
For an August bid, there is still a lot that needs to be done in a short amount of time. It is possible that it will go as scheduled but Im not yet a believer.
On the L-AA side, there were a lot of dispatchers that refused to do OJT. That is why I was doing OJT training just weeks after I finished my training. The lack of OJT trainers at several points significantly slowed down some of the new hire classes. The JCBA has a small increase in OJT trainer pay. Not sure how many will now want to train.
Burrito
Position And Hold My Beer
Don't let that stop you if you have... connections.
All of that being said and considered, the majors have an ebb and flow - they must. It may look backed up and clogged to hell for this time being but in another few months, or as retirees in the workforce start cashing in on Boat #3 and Kitchen #4, "the happening" will take place. United's was last year, Delta is preventing one to an extent by growing dispatchers in a Delta Garden (on night shift they read Velveteen Rabbit)....It's only fair for AA to take a nosedive here shortly.
SWA/B6...Let's go, kids.
CPZ9900
Well-Known Member
Southwest hired quite a bit the past two years or so... they are most likely slowing down at this point as well.
I don't think its going to be as bad as you think. Both sides already have sufficient people classified already as coordinators and ATC specialists. LUS already has four people classified as Regional Ops Coordinators. And per the contract, you keep your classification unless you are demoted, and everyone is grandfathered into current classifications without going through the interview process. A couple of things that are going to happen is the AOM and ANM positions go away on the LUS side, and the Chief Dispatcher position is introduced. I would venture a guess and say that no more than 20 people not already qualified to a select position need to be added for all the bid lines to be full.
As for the OJT, I look at it like this. We complain about the workload and beg for more people, but then when the people show up we don't train them? That makes no sense. The only way that we can get people signed off to ease the workload is to train them and by not doing so, you not only hurt the new hires, but yourself as well. Just my 2 cents though.
Mainline_or_bust
Airplanes fly on PFM, Change my mind
I just think that given enough time in rough seas hopefully upper management will find out who is steering the boat in the wrong direction. Maybe it is delusional to believe common sense will prevail, it is JS. You just never know.
IADspotter
Well-Known Member
I honestly thought that the question (first quote) was a "stupid" question that got a sarcastic response (for those quizzed by the quotation sign around stupid, please refer to the discussion on stupid questions on my recent thread 'seriously considering dispatch profession...').
Is DL the only major that trains/licenses its own dispatchers?
R2D
ACK
In the last few years, many employees have gotten their license. I assume there is a backlog of willing candidates at many of the majors.
F9DXER
Well-Known Member
There was one major airline that did have a recent class that was all internal candidates. The training department had their work cut out for them. Training took way way longer than needed. A lot of the candidates couldn't read a TAF. OJT was a nightmare. It wasn't pretty per se.
Avgirl
Well-Known Member
But is this same airline continuing the internal recruiting and training anyway?