Now what?

P

Phil Schuyler

Well-Known Member
The last six months has seen a lot of hiring at the majors. United, American, and Southwest have all hired a couple of big classes. Alaska hired a large class. Delta has hired one and the scuttlebutt around the watercooler is that they will be hiring again soon as well. Have I left anyone out?

Congratulations to all those who made it to the big time. But now I'm wondering about the future. Seems to me this has been a pretty big hiring wave, and I can't imagine that the majors will need to hire that many more people for a while. So, is that it? Are they finished? Will those of us who didn't make the cut this time be waiting for a while?
 
Retirements, expansion... There is still plenty of opportunity out there. With oil at $40something a barrel a lot of companies are starting to feel good about growth. I see at least another 6 months of strong hiring at the majors before it's all said and done.

I know for a fact we ain't done here at the LUV shack
 
Well there really isn't any age limit to dispatch so you'll find some pretty leathery folk in the seats at some places.

Generally speaking though we are past the baby boomer thing, methinks.
 
First of all, let me stress this: STAY IN ONE PLACE FOR A LONG PERIOD OF TIME. Majors take notice of people who hop around. Sometimes you can't help it if Corporate America takes a dump on you, but if you skip on a carrier because you are unhappy, and your resume looks like a roller coaster, they take notice and it will reflect negatively on you.
 
Rumor has it UA is trying to fit another class in this yr after the current one they just hired for.
 
I was thinking the same thing. Would it be to late in about two or so years from now? I know nobody can accurately predict the future but it's always nice to know what the futures forecast for hiring will look like.
 
From what I hear Delta is basically
going to be internal. Southwest is hiring like crazy and United is still understaffed. BTW is United all done calling with job offers
 
cdndx said:
Rumor has it UA is trying to fit another class in this yr after the current one they just hired for.
Click to expand...

At least one more. So there's one class in training, one class just hired/hasn't started yet, one class still to come, and possibly another one after that for this year. The new contract, which reduced the number of hours worked per year on for the ex-CO group, is driving a lot of the growth, I think. At any rate - hiring certainly isn't slowing down at United right now, although I would presume it will next year - time will tell.
 
Well historically hiring in the airlines is cyclical. So there's periods of frantic hiring and then things take a break for a while... As Manniax said though, both UA and WN are hiring like mad, which means the regionals are going to be hiring like mad. If you wanna get into the business, this is a good time.
 
529797.jpg
 
This seemed like an appropriate thread for asking:
Anybody have any insight or hear any rumors as to what JetBlue's hiring outlook might be? Did a search of the forum, not much chatter about the company in recent times here.
 
American is far from done IMO. Will need people to replace the U.S. people not moving to DFW, then I would imagine there are going to be tons of retirements in the next few years. I am already hearing talk of another class on the LUS side and based on the timing I would imagine they would begin OJT right after colocation. It's all speculation at this point though.
 
So let's say those of us that are trying to get hired with a regional right now, are lucky and get on with this hiring frenzy. Like someone else posted above, nobody really knows for sure what the future holds. However, does anybody have a rough prediction of what the hiring at majors may be like 2-10 years down the road? Would the odds of being stuck at a regional making low pay for a very long time be above average with the hiring at the majors happening now? Or would there be about an equal chance of getting on at a major sometime within the next 10 years? Again, I know a lot can happen in a short amount of time. And I know with aviation anything can happen. I just want to get some input from those seasoned DXers out there. I want to be able to start a family, but I also want to have a career I enjoy. If I have to stay at the regionals a while I will, but I am hoping at some point I can move on to the real money.
 
My advice would be to get on with a regional and keep applying to the majors until you get on with one, just make sure you meet their minimum requirements when applying. Remember that nobody owes you anything. Good luck!
 
CF34, I can certainly understand where you are coming from. To invest so much time in something that isn't an iron clad guarantee is a scary prospect. I will say this. Regional pay is a livable wage for raising a family once you get past the first year at pretty much any reputable airline. No, you won't get rich working at regional dispatch, but you will be able to provide for your family and have a reasonably good quality of life. Don't look at it strictly as a numbers game. 30k in Appleton Wisconsin will go as far (and likely farther) then 60k in Chicago. The fact that regionals are generally outside of metropolitan areas really helps to mitigate the sting of lower pay.

As to the hiring outlook for the majors, there are just too many factors at play to accurately predict long term hiring. There will always be turnover, so in a general sense there will always be a baseline need for dispatchers. This period in time is unusual as there quite literally is a hiring frenzy going on. This is largely due to the economic recovery and the price of oil. Airlines are making profits and expanding service and fleets. Obviously at some point this will taper off and we will go into a lull for a little bit. Best thing you can do is keep your lines of communication open, be ready to jump on things as they come up.
 
Thank you guys for your advice. I understand nothing is owed to me. I definitely don't have that attitude at all. I knew going into taking the dispatch course that nothing was promised. I still like to have a general plan though. I will just work my butt off and hope for the best!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top