If you miss NetworkJC...

derg

Apparently a "terse" writer
Staff member
…because of finances (we've got people that want to donate both rooms and tickets and some of us are paying for at least one member to fly in from Chicago), or "Oh man, I've been too lazy to work on getting the time off for the last X months" and you dare complain in the next 12 months about not having networking contacts or the ability to reach out to various recruiters in a relaxed "non career fair" environment, I'm not going to listen. :)
 
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Was really looking forward to going this year. But don't think it would be wise only a week or so after starting the new job.

Great to see that there is an active attempt and making sure that everyone has a chance to attend! Just another reason this community is so great!
 
Every year it's "Oh man, I went to go buy shoes with my girlfriend because she didn't want me going to Vegas, oh she could have come too? Oh, I didn't read the 15 JIGGABYTES of details about how it would have been great to bring her along, Oh, do you uhhhhh, have any contact information for that recruiter? Oh man maybe next year"

I know it's going to happen and we've been doing the song-and-dance about the where, the when and the how for months.

Just simply forewarning the next person that sends me one of the above examples of email.
 
Was really looking forward to going this year. But don't think it would be wise only a week or so after starting the new job.

Great to see that there is an active attempt and making sure that everyone has a chance to attend! Just another reason this community is so great!
I went in 2010 within a few weeks of starting a new job.

Random point, had a guy I met then who was on my JS the other day. He remembered our convo about that new job at the time. Random small world.

Anyways, it was worth me going then, even when I had a new job. My employer didn't mind at the time.
 
I can't go because of my stellar work schedule but I will make it eventually... And until I do I pay the price of not being able to hang out with some really cool people.
 
Was really looking forward to going this year. But don't think it would be wise only a week or so after starting the new job.

Great to see that there is an active attempt and making sure that everyone has a chance to attend! Just another reason this community is so great!
I just started a new job a month ago, and I'm short in total time anyway, but Ill definitely be there resume in hand if the stars align. Even if I'm not looking to make the jump anytime soon you never know how it could pay off down the road.

On that note, I'm gonna be super bummed out if I miss this year again while stuck in a crappy hotel in a crappy little town again getting everybody's texts about how awesome of a time they're having. :D
 
Wish I could make it happen, but finances and responsibilities overlapping the NJC time frame are keeping me away this year. Everyone's situation is different. I really wish I could make it, and it's especially torture now knowing you have Horizon and SkyWest recruiters going.
 
Wish I could make it happen, but finances and responsibilities overlapping the NJC time frame are keeping me away this year. Everyone's situation is different. I really wish I could make it, and it's especially torture now knowing you have Horizon and SkyWest recruiters going.

If it's a matter of finance, how did you miss the six trillion people looking to sponsor someone?
 
If it's a matter of finance, how did you miss the six trillion people looking to sponsor someone?

It's more then that. It's missed time at work which is a lot of $$$ lost, and I have an aviation event I'm in charge of planning that happens same time as NJC.

If it was as simple as taking off a few days of work and no other commitments I would gladly allow someone to help, but unfortunately that's not all I need... I didn't miss all the offers/opportunities. I've been paying attention...
 
I've told about 10-20 FO friends of mine and I send them all the link. Each one comes back with, "why no mainline employers there."

Any advice what to tell them? I try saying it's not about the employers there, but the attendees there and the chance to talk pilots that are already at mainline.
 
I've told about 10-20 FO friends of mine and I send them all the link. Each one comes back with, "why no mainline employers there."

Any advice what to tell them? I try saying it's not about the employers there, but the attendees there and the chance to talk pilots that are already at mainline.

I think it the "horse, water, why don't he drink" concept.

A traditional career fair, there are going to be a kajillion people standing in line like lego people that get to shake a hand, show their resume and it's not going to go anywhere unless you're an exceptional candidate and you're already on the radar.

This is networking. You're making internal contacts with people who are where you want to be and want to help get you there.

Most of the larger "mainline" companies will do OBAP and WIA, dust the powder off their hands and disappear for the rest of the year and leave the rest to the internal recommendation process. My employer is quite honest about doing a couple of the big ones because otherwise it's not beneficial to meeting their hiring goals for the most part.

FedEx isn't going to come to a career fair because they don't need to. The people that want to work for them, they know, are the type of people that know a handful of people on the inside and they're letting their more 'organic' process work.

Jetblue doesn't do job fairs, but there are people in attendance that are going to help qualified candidates make it happen. Hell, I know half the guys in the hiring process and if a person walked up to me and said, "I really want to work for Jetblue" guess what, they're probably going to get in direct contact with the people that can make that happen because they're personal friends of mine.

So we're not a career fair, we're a networking event with some recruiters from very hungry carriers that understand how we do things.

You need internal reccs and someone on the inside to help. This is how to do it.

You can't sit on your ass, stand in line and expect magic to happen in 2014. Those days are behind us. You're not a career fair away from success, you're about three or four strong networking contacts away from your goals. That's a very important distinction in this era.
 
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I think it the "horse, water, why don't he drink" concept.

A traditional career fair, there are going to be a kajillion people standing in line like lego people that get to shake a hand, show their resume and it's not going to go anywhere unless you're an exceptional candidate and you're already on the radar.

This is networking. You're making internal contacts with people who are where you want to be and want to help get you there.

Most of the larger "mainline" companies will do OBAP and WIA, dust the powder off their hands and disappear for the rest of the year and leave the rest to the internal recommendation process. My employer is quite honest about doing a couple of the big ones because otherwise it's not beneficial to meeting their hiring goals for the most part.

FedEx isn't going to come to a career fair because they don't need to. The people that want to work for them, they know, are the type of people that know a handful of people on the inside and they're letting their more 'organic' process work.

Jetblue doesn't do job fairs, but there are people in attendance that are going to help qualified candidates make it happen. Hell, I know half the guys in the hiring process and if a person walked up to me and said, "I really want to work for Jetblue" guess what, they're probably going to get in direct contact with the people that can make that happen because they're personal friends of mine.

You need internal reccs and someone on the inside to help. This is how to do it.

You can't sit on your ass, stand in line and expect magic to happen in 2014. Those days are behind us.

"But Derg, I got 5,000 TPIC!!! I'm more qualified than that well-connected FO."
 
Speaking of that, one of my good friends was a pilot recruiter who was just complaining about having to find quality applicants that someone was willing to vouch for.

Five minutes later, I saw another guy who was upset about getting furloughed from Comair.

A day later he's going on and on about how he's been trying to get into "XYZ" forever but couldn't find a hand up and I had to ask him, "Why did you mention that yesterday when I saw you because I was about to go meet their pilot recruiter for a cocktail?"

I preach and preach about making connections and talking about your career ambitions because you never know who is listening or who can help. But some think I'm a jackwagon for getting hired at a major in my mid-20's from practicing those core principles which I've made it a mission to teach and create those opportunities for folks to move ahead.

Ehh, I just think it's time for retirement because I keep building a bigger and bigger trough for the thirsty horses and there's just a bigger team of horses wondering "Hey Mr. Ed, I'm thirsty too, there's this big trough of water, but I don't know what we should do with it!"
 
I know I and a lot of others have met people and provide assistance as we can. Once we do that, it is up to the individuals to ace the process. Getting that resume pulled out from the stack of qualified candidates can be huge.
 
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