ExpressJet Airlines Internship Questions???

Pilotwannabe1123

Pilotwannabe1123

New Member
Airline Internship Questions???



I recently got an email for an interview for an unpaid internship at ExpressJet Airlines. The internship is unpaid but I think that this would be great experience for me to work at an airline for 3 months. The only thing is that the internship has 3 locations at which none of them are near where I live. EWR, IAH, and CLE. My question to you is, how often do people have the chance to take an airline internship? Is it really worth it? The internship is unpaid so I think that I would have to provide my own housing and so forth. I am really not sure what to do.




What are your thought?


 
Simple answer...Yes, interships are definitely worth it. Even unpaid ones. You get to meet a lot of people and get a possible job out of it in the future. The job being the most important. So think about where you are going for your intership. Express has something like 600 pilots on furlough or soemthing. So when you get the time are you going to be able to get a job there? Who knows. I would do the intership, but get some more options.
 
b2boma said:
Simple answer...Yes, interships are definitely worth it. Even unpaid ones. You get to meet a lot of people and get a possible job out of it in the future. The job being the most important. So think about where you are going for your intership. Express has something like 600 pilots on furlough or soemthing. So when you get the time are you going to be able to get a job there? Who knows. I would do the intership, but get some more options.
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Right now it is only me. I want to take it but my thing is the living situation. Not to sure where I would live those 3 months.
 
Any of those rent by the week motels nearby?

They paid us years ago at my internship (MCD Coop program), but it was like 9 and hour then they took out the cost of the taxes on the place they gave us to live (3 guys in a 2 bedroom). For 8 weeks the check was like $124......
 
b2boma said:
Express has something like 600 pilots on furlough or soemthing.
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LOL. A little excessive...

Pilotwannabe1123 said:


What are your thought?
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I would recommend you do an internship with a major airline. Southwest has a great internship program, which is paid but also more competitive. Look at Alaska, Delta, American and all the cargo airlines. Don't pick a company just because you'll be able to travel for free and jumpseat around, actually try and get something out of it! I did an internship in Flight Operations many years ago with a Pt. 121 Cargo airline. It gave me a good perspective on how the company operates, day-to-day operations and what goes on from beginning to end of a flight and what happens if things don't go as planned. I communicated with pilots, operations agents, and flight management personnel on a daily basis. My internship was only 2 months over the summer, but it was paid and housing was also paid for. Internships are definitely a good way to make contacts, as well as gain practical career experience before college graduation.
 
Pilotwannabe1123 said:
Right now it is only me. I want to take it but my thing is the living situation. Not to sure where I would live those 3 months.
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I did the internship at expressjet a few years ago. There's a captain or two that has a house in houston they rent to interns pretty cheap.

The problem with an expressjet internship is the 347 pilots on furlough. That's quite a few, probably 2-3 years before all of the current pilots get recalled, then they can start hiring interns. The good news is if the same intern coordinator initials AB is still there then I'm confident they'll treat the interns right. I wouldn't be surprised if the first several classes of new hires (years from now) were all former interns.

I'm highly skeptical about the value of an internship at a regional airline if you're not planning on working there however. "Networking" is great, but often times an internship is a guaranteed interview at the company you interned at...not at every OTHER regional. If you'd like to do an internship make sure you do one at the regional you'd like to work at (and is likely to be hiring when you're ready).

Also I'd highly recommend doing an internship at a major airline as a priority over an internship at a regional. But if you can swing it then do both (for example a major airline internship the summer before your junior year of college, and a regional airline internship the summer before your senior year).
 
Killtron2000 said:
What does an intern do at expressjet?
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The chief pilot interns file papers, make copies of pilot medicals, BS with the pilots who come in to see the chief, run random errands, reports or projects the chief needs, jumpseat around on repo's and MX flights on the rare event those work out (the only time you can get into the cockpit), go in the level D sims at 2am when they're empty, jumpseat around in the back on weekends sometimes with the other interns. Oh yeah and you go through the full 2 week systems class + take the test at the end. We got to do it with a new hire class, who were fun to hang out with. I'm sure its just all the interns together now though.

The people at the training center or downtown in the main office probably had much different experiences though.
 
Internships are a great way to network and test drive different jobs with no strings attached. As far as location goes for this particular internship, everything else being equal, I would consider working near HQ (IAH). This might allow you to see more sides of the airline business. You should also be able to find a cheap place to live in Houston.

I would also consider it telling that some (most?) airline internships are unpaid, while in other industries the company pays you, helps you relocate, and assists with housing costs.
 
Clocks said:
Yes. Positive space too on one of the highest seating priorities (enjoy it for the 1 time you'll get it lol)
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Lol, thanks! I applied. I figure I can just see what will happen. Does anyone have a basic idea of how much housing down there costs?
 
you can find housing that is crashpad style, there was 8 in a house when I did a CAL internship downtown, not sure of the exact price but it wasn't that bad. If you end up at the schoolhouse near the airport there is a CA that has a crashpad that will rent to interns. You should find out that info at the interview. Also, I'd suggest to intern at a major but any is better then none.
 
kaudbron said:
you can find housing that is crashpad style, there was 8 in a house when I did a CAL internship downtown, not sure of the exact price but it wasn't that bad. If you end up at the schoolhouse near the airport there is a CA that has a crashpad that will rent to interns. You should find out that info at the interview. Also, I'd suggest to intern at a major but any is better then none.
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Thanks! But the only problem is the fact that all the majors that I have looked at require you to be an upperclassmen, which I am not. I figure I could also intern at a major in a couple years.
 
I did the XJT internship a few years back too. The interview is pretty straight forward, I only remember being asked 3 basic questions. Don't just answer them using a couple words, try to turn it into a dialogue between yourself and the interviewer. Don't just give canned or rehearsed answers either and most importantly, show some character in the interview, that's what they want to see.

I worked in the Chief Pilots office in CLE. Like others have said, it's mainly paper and office work. You'll be a pro at Jepp revisions by the time you're done too. None of the work is tough, just keep a good attitude and show up on time. I wound up staying at an extended-stay hotel and it SUCKED. Don't go that route whatever you do. It wound up being way too expensive and the place wasn't all that great to begin with...

By far the most valuable part of the internship was being able to sit in on the new-hire systems class. Unfortunately all the guys who were in my class are now on the street. I'm not sure they even offer this to interns anymore since there are no new-hire classes.

Having the internship behind me definitely helped during my interview as an FO at XJT a few months later. I was hired into the pool, but they ended up furloughing big time shortly afterwards so I went elsewhere.

Knowing what I do now I definitely would have interned at a major instead, using XJT only as a backup if nothing better came along. Not that I had a bad attitude at all, quite the opposite, but the fact is I busted ass for 3 months to earn a job at that company, and it didn't pay off. With 300+ pilots on the streets now it's gonna be a loooong time before XJT hires again, so I'd go into this with the mindset that it's a resume builder and nothing more.

That said, the systems class looks really good to potential employers if you can say you aced the test. I got lucky because I ended up flying the ERJ at another airline, so having a basic understanding of the plane and knowing the limitations made initial training alot easier.

Good luck!
 
Also look into CO. My friend did one over the summer in Houston and he seemed to enjoy it and get a lot out of it. Nonrev benefits and a bit of 737 sim time.
 
Personaly, I think that there are other effective ways to network that are paid; for example working ground, line or other operational crews. But that's just my opinion. Maybe I value getting paid for work.
 
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