Delta Disqualifiers

Trip7 said:
Unfortunately low GPA and long time to complete degree is a tough combo to have. That's very likely what's dropping your score down from the interview tier level
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I certainly understand that HR needs to make the 12,000 application stack more manageable by weeding people out, but it sure would make a lot more sense to weed people out by, you know, actual flying qualifications.
 
Unfortunately, kids, especially in the internet age, need to be taught that the things they do early in life and in college have terrible lasting consequences. I have a mugshot on the internet from a speeding ticket that I received when I was 17, about 15 years ago,and there's nothing I can ever do to take it down. Any employer will probably find that when they throw my name into google. Oh well. If you want the best jobs, you need to be damn near perfect and even that sometimes isn't good enough.
 
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Dan208B said:
Info from someone that sits on the hiring panel: this isn't entirely true. It depends on the type of degree you're getting. If it took you 6 years to get a 4 year, yes that's a problem. Even taking 5 years to get a 4-year will lower your score somewhat. Beyond a bachelors degree, they are just happy that you did post-grad education unless it looks fishy or took excessively long.
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You're kidding me? So...because I went to school 6 credits a semester for multiple years and college stretched out to 7.5 years I have a lower score because I worked full time after my first year? You mean to say that if Delta would have been my "end game" (it's not, I'm not even sure that it appeals to me at all to be honest - especially after reading things like this) I would have been better off to finance the latter half of my education as opposed to paying out of pocket? That's hilarious. If anything, this selects against working class families who don't have the same access to higher education that upper-class families may have access to. What's particularly funny to me is that I was flying for a living during that time period while I went to college - both in a brick and mortar institution and when I switched to "internet school." I just can't possibly see why this is a barrier to entry HR would like to erect. I could see GPA being a target (and even that is a stretch, and I say that with a "good" GPA), or special consideration given to people with challenging degree programs, or even giving extra credit to higher education beyond your bachelors...but point reduction for not being timely enough? Good to know that HR is really focusing on things that matter during the hiring process.

What does that possibly show HR? That you can be decisive when you're 18? Hell, I didn't even know what I wanted to do with my life when I started going to college. I studied Russian (I was an exchange student in Ukraine in high school so it was a natural pick), anthropology, and math. I have upper divisions in all three as well as aviation. When I finally decided I wanted to focus on flying airplanes for a living (which in a round-about way meant going to college online) I already had 3 years of school under my belt and 3,000 hours of flight time. Even if I would have stuck with what I was doing and TRIPLE majored (which I was actually fairly close to doing) it would have taken me 5 years of full-time school to do it.

I just pulled up my transcript - I graduated with 212 credits across a wide array of subjects, I have the definition of a "well rounded" education. The truth is, I love learning, and studied everything. In fact, I'm going back to school to study engineering starting next month. Don't tell Delta, but continuing education has become (and remains) my greatest hobby in adult-hood, and I'll probably keep going to school for my entire life. To think that I would be judged negatively for that makes me chuckle a little bit.
 
Alchemy said:
Unfortunately, kids, especially in the internet age, need to be taught that the things they do early in life and in college have terrible lasting consequences. I have a mugshot on the internet from a speeding ticket when I got when I was 17, about 15 years ago,and there's nothing I can ever do to take it down. Any employer will probably find that when they throw my name into google. Oh well. If you want the best jobs, you need to be damn near perfect and even that sometimes isn't good enough.
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Link? Let's see!
 
ppragman said:
You're kidding me? So...because I went to school 6 credits a semester for multiple years and college stretched out to 7.5 years I have a lower score because I worked full time after my first year? You mean to say that if Delta would have been my "end game" (it's not, I'm not even sure that it appeals to me at all to be honest - especially after reading things like this) I would have been better off to finance the latter half of my education as opposed to paying out of pocket? That's hilarious. If anything, this selects against working class families who don't have the same access to higher education that upper-class families may have access to. What's particularly funny to me is that I was flying for a living during that time period while I went to college - both in a brick and mortar institution and when I switched to "internet school." I just can't possibly see why this is a barrier to entry HR would like to erect. I could see GPA being a target (and even that is a stretch, and I say that with a "good" GPA), or special consideration given to people with challenging degree programs, or even giving extra credit to higher education beyond your bachelors...but point reduction for not being timely enough? Good to know that HR is really focusing on things that matter during the hiring process.

What does that possibly show HR? That you can be decisive when you're 18? Hell, I didn't even know what I wanted to do with my life when I started going to college. I studied Russian (I was an exchange student in Ukraine in high school so it was a natural pick), anthropology, and math. I have upper divisions in all three as well as aviation. When I finally decided I wanted to focus on flying airplanes for a living (which in a round-about way meant going to college online) I already had 3 years of school under my belt and 3,000 hours of flight time. Even if I would have stuck with what I was doing and TRIPLE majored (which I was actually fairly close to doing) it would have taken me 5 years of full-time school to do it.

I just pulled up my transcript - I graduated with 212 credits across a wide array of subjects, I have the definition of a "well rounded" education. The truth is, I love learning, and studied everything. In fact, I'm going back to school to study engineering starting next month. Don't tell Delta, but continuing education has become (and remains) my greatest hobby in adult-hood, and I'll probably keep going to school for my entire life. To think that I would be judged negatively for that makes me chuckle a little bit.
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I agree...Delta would describe you as directionless...the rest of the world describes it as normal
 
ATN_Pilot said:
I certainly understand that HR needs to make the 12,000 application stack more manageable by weeding people out, but it sure would make a lot more sense to weed people out by, you know, actual flying qualifications.
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Delta has found that their algorithms while not perfect, has been highly successful in targeting and hiring their ideal candidates for decades. It's highly data driven. New hire performance is tracked deep into their career and placed into a large database.
 
I'll try and dig around some contacts and get some answers for you guys. No promises, however. AND DON'T FLIPPING PRIVATE MESSAGE ME ABOUT IT because I'm already several hundred behind. :)
 
ian said:
we will facebook message you instead
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That would be a huge mistake.

1. Cat videos.
2. Stand up comedy.
3. Fun pictures.

If you Facebook me about Jetcareers stuff, or contact my wife in order to have me contact you about anything, it's goes straight to the back of the "response line" and it's deep. :)
 
Has anyone even confirmed if this is true? It sounds like something that has a lot of debunking potential and possibly made up to discourage people from applying.
 
Trip7 said:
Unfortunately low GPA and long time to complete degree is a tough combo to have. That's very likely what's dropping your score down from the interview tier level
Click to expand...

Makes perfect sense...at OBAP last year the Delta recruiter told me that with my GPA I needed more TPIC time....even though I was a 737 captain flying 90hrs a month to and from Central America.

Little did they know my mother passed away my sophomore year and I took two years off from college to get my life together and yes my GPA suffered. BUT, I guess I took too long to graduate.
 
SmoothLanderJ said:
Makes perfect sense...at OBAP last year the Delta recruiter told me that with my GPA I needed more TPIC time....even though I was a 737 captain flying 90hrs a month to and from Central America.

Little did they know my mother passed away my sophomore year and I took two years off from college to get my life together and yes my GPA suffered. BUT, I guess I took too long to graduate.
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I was once asked about my undergraduate GPA at an interview and I think I stammered out something like, "Erm...aren't you more curious about how law school went?"


Pilots hire like they fly; by running a checklist. Not on the checklist? Not important.
 
Alchemy said:
Unfortunately, kids, especially in the internet age, need to be taught that the things they do early in life and in college have terrible lasting consequences. I have a mugshot on the internet from a speeding ticket when I got when I was 17, about 15 years ago,and there's nothing I can ever do to take it down. Any employer will probably find that when they throw my name into google. Oh well. If you want the best jobs, you need to be damn near perfect and even that sometimes isn't good enough.
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This is not necessarily a good thing. Hell, Chester F-ing Nimitz ran a destroyer aground and was courtmartialed when he was an ensign. He went on to be one of the biggest billy-badasses ever. I feel like people need to be allowed to make some mistakes in their lives to progress - lord knows I've made plenty, and some of the most amazing people of all time made tremendous mistakes early on. Squeaky clean doesn't necessarily equate to excellence in the profession.

As an anecdote, I worked across the field from an outfit that ran float planes around. The nicest one they had was a beautiful beaver that had "never been crashed or wreck or sunk - no, not even once!" It was immaculate. The others had all been crashed multiple times in their lifetime and had been gone through thoroughly and put back together with all the love and care a beaver mechanic could give, but they all looked and flew a little bit worse. This one had never had the "special treatment" and when it finally got a minor ding that required a more hardy working-over than the usual annuals and 100-hrs it'd been getting, they ended up checking deep in places that probably hadn't been touched in 30 years. What they found on the inside was scary - corrosion city. Moral of the story I guess is that sometimes it's better to have a "checkered" past where someone's gone through and cleaned you up a bit and you're better for it than for you to never have had an instance of bad judgment or adversity in your life.

EDIT: Typo
 
Derg said:
That would be a huge mistake.

1. Cat videos.
2. Stand up comedy.
3. Fun pictures.

If you Facebook me about Jetcareers stuff, or contact my wife in order to have me contact you about anything, it's goes straight to the back of the "response line" and it's deep. :)
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you sold me at cat videos
 
@ATN_Pilot Delta has decided to use a set of metrics based upon their past successes and failures with newhires and flying qualifications is only a small part of that puzzle.
 
@ComplexHiAv8r I think someone with career changes would still have a chance, but Delta absolutely looks at an "early interest in aviation" as part of their equation during an interview. However the issue here is getting selected for an interview in the first place and I'm not sure how that would play in. I would say it probably wouldn't help though.
 
@ppragman I completely understand what you're saying. And I don't agree with what Delta uses. But it's their company and they are hiring people and can use whatever metrics they desire whether we like it or not. My goal is simply to try to help people understand why they may not be getting a call based upon the information I've received.
 
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