Delta Testing/Interview

Flagship_dxer said:
Good point. A major airline dispatcher or assistant dispatcher generally starts out at 45,000-55,000 a year and tops out a 100,000-120,000 per year range. All this for a job that requires a month of schooling. The $2,000 you pay for dispatch school quickly pays for itself.

Now I can see the work hours being an issue. A junior dispatcher is going to get the worst working hours and a schedule that can be all over the place. You will likely see a lot of midnights and start times in the 2-5 AM range with 8-10 hour shifts. It will be highly likely to work most weekends and holidays. If you are a ramper or customer service agent or any other internal with any kind of seniority or good schedule, I can see some being reluctant to get into such a situation where your life routine needs to change so much. The working hours dispatchers do aren't for everybody. You can be junior as a dispatcher for ten to twenty years.
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Well if shift work isn't your bag I don't think you are going to find happiness at any gig in the airline biz.

Good schedules are relative. What you like isn't necessarily what I like. Anyway if having the pick of your line is most important, get on with a solid regional and ride your way to the top of the seniority list in quick fashion. If working for a major is the priority, then be ready to get a shift you might not be expecting.

For what it's worth, I've been at WN for less then 2 years, and I can count on two hands the number of involuntary midnight shifts I've worked. Don't assume that going to a major means you are going to get shafted schedule wise. Yeah it's not going to be what you want necessarily, but it's not going to kill you.
 
pljenkins said:
Well if shift work isn't your bag I don't think you are going to find happiness at any gig in the airline biz.

Good schedules are relative. What you like isn't necessarily what I like. Anyway if having the pick of your line is most important, get on with a solid regional and ride your way to the top of the seniority list in quick fashion. If working for a major is the priority, then be ready to get a shift you might not be expecting.

For what it's worth, I've been at WN for less then 2 years, and I can count on two hands the number of involuntary midnight shifts I've worked. Don't assume that going to a major means you are going to get shafted schedule wise. Yeah it's not going to be what you want necessarily, but it's not going to kill you.
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Excellent advice. In my case, I think I bid a line of midnight shifts the second year I was at a major so that I could have a line - but from my 3rd year on, I've been able to hold an afternoon international line (which is what I like to work.) At this point, I am pretty sure I could hold a day shift line also but I like afternoons better. The only thing lately I see with seniority is that when it comes to bidding vacations - trying to get Christmas week off is a challenge and goes to the most senior people. Also, the lines that have Christmas off go pretty senior. I don't find this a big deal myself - in my opinion, having all the extra days off that I do compared to a regular 9-5 job more than makes up for it.
 
pljenkins said:
Well if shift work isn't your bag I don't think you are going to find happiness at any gig in the airline biz.

Good schedules are relative. What you like isn't necessarily what I like. Anyway if having the pick of your line is most important, get on with a solid regional and ride your way to the top of the seniority list in quick fashion. If working for a major is the priority, then be ready to get a shift you might not be expecting.

For what it's worth, I've been at WN for less then 2 years, and I can count on two hands the number of involuntary midnight shifts I've worked. Don't assume that going to a major means you are going to get shafted schedule wise. Yeah it's not going to be what you want necessarily, but it's not going to kill you.
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This.

I always tell people it's amazing how quickly one can move up. People get burned out, retire, move locations, jump airlines, etc all the time and before you know it you have SUN/MON/TUE off and are home in time to see the family.

I've only been here a year and I have held a line with Sat and Sunday off for the last 4 months. I was the bottom of seniority for my class.
 
I had the opportunity to take the test yesterday. If I passed the test, I would have had the opportunity to interview for a spot in the Dispatcher training class starting in September. Unfortunately I along with about 6 others in a group of about 11 or 12 did not pass. We were told to try again in 6 months. Before last Thursday I had no experience with the Wonderlic test. The time span from me finding out I would have the opportunity to interview to actually taking the test was about 5 days. In that time I took practice test online and my scores were all over the place. They did not share our individual test scores with us, so I can't say what I answered incorrectly. I felt confident with my answers though; I'm guessing I just didn't answer enough of them in the time provided.
 
justinisapilot said:
I had the opportunity to take the test yesterday. If I passed the test, I would have had the opportunity to interview for a spot in the Dispatcher training class starting in September. Unfortunately I along with about 6 others in a group of about 11 or 12 did not pass. We were told to try again in 6 months. Before last Thursday I had no experience with the Wonderlic test. The time span from me finding out I would have the opportunity to interview to actually taking the test was about 5 days. In that time I took practice test online and my scores were all over the place. They did not share our individual test scores with us, so I can't say what I answered incorrectly. I felt confident with my answers though; I'm guessing I just didn't answer enough of them in the time provided.
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The first time I took the test one of the reasons I was given for not passing was not answering enough of the math questions.
 
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