Re: What\'s acceptable?
Powerlift, I disagree about the walking in being equivalent to PFT for this reason, there's more to pilot qualifications than just the ability to fly an aircraft and the number of hours one has logged, WAY more.
Anyone who has the required mins has demonstrated the reasonable ability to fly an airplane. However, it has been mentioned over and over on this board that some pilots with X number of hours can "out-fly" another pilot with double that number. There's really no way to look at an applicant on paper and discover, truly, how qualified he is to fly the airplane, because you're just looking at logged numbers, which isn't a true indication of skill at all. That's why in the interview process you fly in the sim, to test your skills. So what is the HR person looking for in the apps? Well rounded, stable professionals with good work ethic who won't embarrass the airline, be a pain in the tail to work with, etc. And that kind of information can best be found through personal referrals. Brother-in-law or not, if he's a jerk, even if I do walk in his resume out of family obligation, I'm gonna tell the HR person "He's my brother-in-law. He can fly, but he's a pill to deal with," so I don't look bad if she hires him anyway. So, walk-ins and networking, I submit, DO make a person more qualified. It lets the HR person know before calling them in that the applicant has the personal characteristics they're looking for. They'll test for skill at the sim part of the interview So I don't think it displaces more qualified applicants at all, it floats the cream to the top. Because, in my experience, people who are hard working and get along well with others are the ones who network well and end up getting the referrals. The networking system just saves the HR person time and money by avoiding interview with some of the jerks and idiots out there, because NO ONE will walk in there resume.
That's just my humble opinion from 10+ years in the corporate world.
Heath