Volunteer Opportunities.... Created Equal?

This is driven by Marketing. Every corp wants to be seen as socially responsible.

We have a legacy as a Corporate Sponsor. But to get volunteers require at least 20 with major photo ops. So, they don't want their staff to volunteer unless they can get a big photo op.
Sure, but none of them actually want to be responsible.
 
You guys have it all wrong. They are looking for well rounded individuals, not box checkers. The kind of people that do volunteer work because THEY WANT TO. Don't bother doing it to fill the box because a good interviewer is going to see right through you in the first ten minutes.

Volunteer because you want to help others. Don't do it to help yourselves.

My employer, time and time, ad nauseam at times, talks about customer engagement.

For better or worse, during irregular operations, delays, or even normal ops, they want you interfacing with the customer in the terminal, onboard, yadda yadda yadda. There's a million schools of thought about this and a number of opinions, but I think part of the volunteer spirit means that you probably won't be 'above' stopping in the terminal to ask a person who looks lost if you could provide assistance. We get a good letter about a "Grunt does good" and a good letter about "Grunt does bad or underachieved" every week and they're serious.

I think that's why they ask the question and want to know if you're a volunteer at heart. If you check it, you'd better be ready to talk about it.

If it's nonsensical, a waste of your time, etc, there are many other airlines that you can apply for that may not find it important in a new job candidate. *shrug*

If you want to be a Submarine Commander, well, do what you think you have to do to get command of your own vessel. But I think they're trying to elucidate that flying a jet is only part of what they expect out of a job applicant.

Anyone can fly a jet. But can you fly a jet, handle a abnormal passenger situation smoothly and are you going to sigh loudly when someone asks you for help in the terminal? Or are you expecting to sit in the cockpit with the door closed and your ipad out during a two hour long delay?

Speaking of that, one of my captains was on a flight on another airline that was delayed with passengers boarded. The two pilots had the door open, laptop out, watching a movie and said nothing for two hours. I can guarantee you that would be a carpet dance.
 
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I still find this thread bizarre. I think it gives the wrong impression that by volunteering or buying girl scout cookies it will give you some sort of advantage with getting an interview with a legacy. I've been volunteering with bbbs for 10 years now, do a little from time to time with habitat, and I foster special needs cats. Never have I gotten the impression that this was on any recruiters radar or scoring system. Trust me when I say volunteering is somewhere in between a tiebreaker and doesn't matter. Any legacy would much rather you check the f-16 box. So if you would rather be playing xbox, for the sake of all those who volunteer cause they want to, don't be that guy.
 
This is driven by Marketing. Every corp wants to be seen as socially responsible.

We have a legacy as a Corporate Sponsor. But to get volunteers require at least 20 with major photo ops. So, they don't want their staff to volunteer unless they can get a big photo op.

 
I still find this thread bizarre. I think it gives the wrong impression that by volunteering or buying girl scout cookies it will give you some sort of advantage with getting an interview with a legacy. I've been volunteering with bbbs for 10 years now, do a little from time to time with habitat, and I foster special needs cats. Never have I gotten the impression that this was on any recruiters radar or scoring system. Trust me when I say volunteering is somewhere in between a tiebreaker and doesn't matter. Any legacy would much rather you check the f-16 box. So if you would rather be playing xbox, for the sake of all those who volunteer cause they want to, don't be that guy.

Again, depends on the place you're applying.

Everyone's equal when they walk through the door for the interview.

And no, buying girl scout cookies and claiming that as a philanthropic endeavor should get you kicked in the nads.
 
Again, depends on the place you're applying.

Everyone's equal when they walk through the door for the interview.

And no, buying girl scout cookies and claiming that as a philanthropic endeavor should get you kicked in the nads.

Why is EVERYONE stuck on that. It was meant as an example of donating money (though I suppose you get some crappy cookies back).

Don't worry, I won't volunteer just to pad my résumé.

When I come back here wondering why I keep getting asked why I don't volunteer at interviews, then get shown the door, what say you all then.


Let me ask you this: for any of you who volunteer, @BobDDuck comes to mind, why do you put it on your résumé and/or application. You are clearly only doing it for yourself if you even MENTION it.
 
Why is EVERYONE stuck on that. It was meant as an example of donating money (though I suppose you get some crappy cookies back).

Don't worry, I won't volunteer just to pad my résumé.

When I come back here wondering why I keep getting asked why I don't volunteer at interviews, then get shown the door, what say you all then.

If you read closely, I saw the 'cookies' as a rhetorical question however I think some took it as a direct "does this qualify?" type of question which is what I was addressing.

Koppla! :)
 
Let me ask you this: for any of you who volunteer, @BobDDuck comes to mind, why do you put it on your résumé and/or application. You are clearly only doing it for yourself if you even MENTION it.

I don't put it on my resume. I think if you've done volunteer work that promoted some sort of job skill (especially one relate to the job you are applying for) you would be justified in listing it on a resume. Otherwise, it has no place there. The only place I've ever confirmed I have done any sort of volunteer work, outside of an interview, was a check box on an application. It didn't ask anything other than "have you done volunteer work outside of your current job in the last 5 years".

In all three interviews I did last year they asked me about what I did outside of flying. That's where I mentioned some of my volunteer work, but it was discussed right along with the sports I play, the outdoor activities I do, the web design and coding I mess around with and the instruments and languages I am always trying (and mostly failing) to learn

Yes you need to be able to check that box to get the interview so if you really don't have anything you can use to check the box, then you should probably find something but chances are most applicants who are going to pass the "is this guy interesting to sit next to for four days" test are going to have things they can use to check the box already.
 
ComplexHiAv8r said:
Slippery slope in a seniority based system. If done to get the job they might do it to advance as well to CA.

Union contracts determine upgrades. They don't determine hiring criteria. Besides, it more closely aligns with a seniority based system than the current HR lead process does.
 
ATN_Pilot said:
Union contracts determine upgrades. They don't determine hiring criteria. Besides, it more closely aligns with a seniority based system than the current HR lead process does.

If they did determine hiring criteria would that help a person get a job at another company at some sort of credit for time served somewhere else? Get the ball somewhat rolling on one list perhaps?
 
That's certainly an idea that's been floated around.

Seems like a logical jumping off point to me, and one worth working towards. NOT at the expense of major negotiating capital however. No sense in taking one step forward and two steps back. The question to ask is: what are people willing to give up for a solid career stability platform, and how do you deal with other unions pilots outside of ALPA? I'd guess that would either make a great case for getting all the pilot groups under one union umbrella, but the legal battle that would ensue between, say....ALPA and IBT would be massive and expensive.

Lots of logistics.
 
My employer, time and time, ad nauseam at times, talks about customer engagement.

For better or worse, during irregular operations, delays, or even normal ops, they want you interfacing with the customer in the terminal, onboard, yadda yadda yadda. There's a million schools of thought about this and a number of opinions, but I think part of the volunteer spirit means that you probably won't be 'above' stopping in the terminal to ask a person who looks lost if you could provide assistance. We get a good letter about a "Grunt does good" and a good letter about "Grunt does bad or underachieved" every week and they're serious.

I think that's why they ask the question and want to know if you're a volunteer at heart. If you check it, you'd better be ready to talk about it.

If it's nonsensical, a waste of your time, etc, there are many other airlines that you can apply for that may not find it important in a new job candidate. *shrug*

If you want to be a Submarine Commander, well, do what you think you have to do to get command of your own vessel. But I think they're trying to elucidate that flying a jet is only part of what they expect out of a job applicant.

Anyone can fly a jet. But can you fly a jet, handle a abnormal passenger situation smoothly and are you going to sigh loudly when someone asks you for help in the terminal? Or are you expecting to sit in the cockpit with the door closed and your ipad out during a two hour long delay?

Speaking of that, one of my captains was on a flight on another airline that was delayed with passengers boarded. The two pilots had the door open, laptop out, watching a movie and said nothing for two hours. I can guarantee you that would be a carpet dance.

I don't think those aren't the same things though. I am well aware my job is customer service. It always has and it always will be. That means keeping the pax informed on the plane and being a walking information desk in the terminal. It's my job and I'm happy to do it, even on days where the last thing I want to do is interact with anyone at all because, well, it's my job. The ability or desire to do that though has zero to do with volunteer work outside of work. I tend to think Todd and Roz are more accurate in their reasoning of why it's appearing on applications. Then again, my opinion and ten bucks gets you a latte at Starbucks so who knows.
 
[quote="Rocketman99, post: 2178754, member: 3208". Then again, my opinion and ten bucks gets you a latte at Starbucks so who knows.[/quote]

What the hell kind of latte are you getting if it costs that much?
 
Speaking of that, one of my captains was on a flight on another airline that was delayed with passengers boarded. The two pilots had the door open, laptop out, watching a movie and said nothing for two hours. I can guarantee you that would be a carpet dance.
Well, the crapshow that is operations at most regionals probably breeds that kind of behavior. From all that I've heard at a lot of companies all trying to help out does is get the same results with more effort expended. So I guess a lot of guys just give up at some point.
 
Well, the crapshow that is operations at most regionals probably breeds that kind of behavior. From all that I've heard at a lot of companies all trying to help out does is get the same results with more effort expended. So I guess a lot of guys just give up at some point.
Apathy is a tremendous threat to the operation.

And that's all I'll say about that.
 
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