Western Global looking for Flt. Followers

[Burrito]

Western Global Airlines - Careers

Located just outside Ft. Myers, FL, if anyone's got a desire to live where climate is "Warm" or "Humid," and literally nothing else.

Good luck to all who apply.

 

[van12]

Anyone worked for this company before?

And if you were given this or being a dx at a regional, which would you choose?

 

[Wingy]

It depends on what you're looking for.

Regionals don't have the pay scale but have the flight benefits for others like your spouse and generally have large amounts of flights during a duty limited shift. This type of ops has CASS agreements with some airlines, but not all, that will get you around. There's more heavy and international experience but you're not limited to 10 hours duty because cargo. And although there are fewer flights during a shift they take just as much work to prepare, if not more, than those at regionals and outfitters like this don't always have the best tools so you'll learn how to find the weather and NOTAMs through means other than the flight planning system, usually through individual websites. And the heavier workload is usually at night since cargo. But you'll live in RSW, which is affordable on their pay, and can go to the beach year round.

 

[van12]

It seems like the majors hire more from regionals than cargo?

 

[Wingy]

Seems like majors hire more right handed people than left handed people too... or is it that a regional could need 30 dispatchers and some cargo places only need 8? (That's if you're not counting cargo majors like UPS and FedEx.)

There's also something about being called a flight follower vs a dispatcher. Really they both do the same. Especially when it's 121. But some hiring managers who haven't worked in a place like this don't see that since they have no first hand experience with it. They think the pilots are doing it all and the flight followers are just watching it since they are delegated power by a DO. But no DO is going to be up at 3am checking their work. And if a flight follower screws up a flight plan, there's still the same chance of getting in trouble with the FAA. Think about it, what kinda DO is going to say they'll step down instead of the flight follower getting it? Besides this is all still business. Why hire 10 people with duty limitations when you could get by with 8 and have them work 12 hour shifts?

It's up to the individual. Some people just don't want to go into a major at this point in their lives. They'd rather live in FL, go home every night, and not deal with the usual ground delay programs of the day time shifts. Or maybe the constant same thing is boring whereas with some shops it was going to be India today and Colombia tomorrow, but now it's Japan today and Germany tomorrow.

 

[who'swho]

It seems like the majors hire more from regionals than cargo?

Because there are a gazillion regional dispatchers and very few cargo dispatchers. Simply a numbers game.

 

[who'swho]

It depends on what you're looking for.

Regionals don't have the pay scale but have the flight benefits for others like your spouse and generally have large amounts of flights during a duty limited shift. This type of ops has CASS agreements with some airlines, but not all, that will get you around. There's more heavy and international experience but you're not limited to 10 hours duty because cargo. And although there are fewer flights during a shift they take just as much work to prepare, if not more, than those at regionals and outfitters like this don't always have the best tools so you'll learn how to find the weather and NOTAMs through means other than the flight planning system, usually through individual websites. And the heavier workload is usually at night since cargo. But you'll live in RSW, which is affordable on their pay, and can go to the beach year round.

Cargo dispatchers are beholden to the same duty regs as pax dispatchers. There is literally no difference in the regs or the responsibilities. Now when you're talking a flight follower position at a 121 supplemental, that's a different story. WGA is supplemental just like netjets. For some reason most dispatchers seem confused when the word "cargo" is thrown out there.

 

[4EngineETOPS]

Cargo dispatchers are beholden to the same duty regs as pax dispatchers. There is literally no difference in the regs or the responsibilities. Now when you're talking a flight follower position at a 121 supplemental, that's a different story. WGA is supplemental just like netjets. For some reason most dispatchers seem confused when the word "cargo" is thrown out there.

There are major differences in 121 supplemental carriers, as well. A small supplemental Alaskan carrier is much different than a supplemental cargo carrier with 20+ tails and intercontinental reach. From a dispatch perspective, a few of the larger cargo supplementals are essentially UPS/FedEx on a smaller scale (in terms of routes, various fuel reserves, airspace complexity, possible ETOPS, etc).

 

[retrodx]

There are major differences in 121 supplemental carriers, as well. A small supplemental Alaskan carrier is much different than a supplemental cargo carrier with 20+ tails and intercontinental reach. From a dispatch perspective, a few of the larger cargo supplementals are essentially UPS/FedEx on a smaller scale (in terms of routes, various fuel reserves, airspace complexity, possible ETOPS, etc).

This is so true. Unfortunately, it almost seems like those who come from the larger 121 supplementals are easily overlooked (now and prior to 01/2020). Even if they're essentially dispatchers under different rules. That issue that Wingy described likely doesn't help.

There's also something about being called a flight follower vs a dispatcher. Really they both do the same. Especially when it's 121. But some hiring managers who haven't worked in a place like this don't see that since they have no first hand experience with it.

Perhaps its just my perspective though, and I could be completely wrong. Seems like 121 scheduled is king, but a well-rounded background can easily be achieved under a 121 supp and likely with different situations that are just as challenging, if not more.

 

[Wingy]

Perhaps its just my perspective though, and I could be completely wrong. Seems like 121 scheduled is king, but a well-rounded background can easily be achieved under a 121 supp and likely with different situations that are just as challenging, if not more.

Yea that's what I'm trying to say. Places like WGA have both. They have contracts with FedEx. Just look at the jumpseat schedule on their site. There's FedEx call sings on the list. They basically have scheduled ops in regards to those flights plus the random routes for the military flights and other customers. But not ever one knows well rounded backgrounds can come from such shops. You got heavies, international ops, maybe ETOPS, reclears, whatever else. But the job title does a disservice to their experience when they do apply to passenger airlines. It's not the word cargo that confuses people, it's the flight follower title. No they don't have 50 flights per shift but international desks at the big airlines don't either. There are groups on fb where dispatcher hiring managers put down 121 supplemental flight followers due to their lack of understanding of our industry. It's a rabbit hole.

 

[retrodx]

Yea that's what I'm trying to say. Places like WGA have both. They have contracts with FedEx. Just look at the jumpseat schedule on their site. There's FedEx call sings on the list. They basically have scheduled ops in regards to those flights plus the random routes for the military flights and other customers. But not ever one knows well rounded backgrounds can come from such shops. You got heavies, international ops, maybe ETOPS, reclears, whatever else. But the job title does a disservice to their experience when they do apply to passenger airlines. It's not the word cargo that confuses people, it's the flight follower title. No they don't have 50 flights per shift but international desks at the big airlines don't either. There are groups on fb where dispatcher hiring managers put down 121 supplemental flight followers due to their lack of understanding of our industry. It's a rabbit hole.

Agreed. Perhaps it will change in the future if more 121 supp folks make it to the hiring positions at larger carriers. Part of the issue with flight followers is the title being used across the board with 91, 135 and 121. I'm not discounting any of them at all, but I won't forget an interview with a scheduled operator when they asked, "Flight follower? What did you do, book flight services?" C'mon man, it's on the resume! It was described nearly identical as a dispatcher, without the duty limitations. Maybe it was poor delivery on my resume, but yeah for sure it's a rabbit hole.

 

[Wingy]

Agreed. Perhaps it will change in the future if more 121 supp folks make it to the hiring positions at larger carriers. Part of the issue with flight followers is the title being used across the board with 91, 135 and 121. I'm not discounting any of them at all, but I won't forget an interview with a scheduled operator when they asked, "Flight follower? What did you do, book flight services?" C'mon man, it's on the resume! It was described nearly identical as a dispatcher, without the duty limitations. Maybe it was poor delivery on my resume, but yeah for sure it's a rabbit hole.

Exactly. It could be a resume issue but you could copy and paste the duties and responsibilities from this very post, which does say a requirement for FAA dispatcher certification, go to passenger shop, and you'll still be asked if you ordered catering or have a license or something. I'm not against shops like WGA. They have liveable salaries but that's in part because they have fewer people. I don't know too many folks who went straight from this type of ops to the big 3 legacies but I know many who went from regional to this to mainline, including a major cargo shops. And none of them had any student loans left to pay off. While the regional to mainline people walk in with it. Uber driving while in ojt. Rooming with fellow indebted co workers. Mean while someone else in RSW forgetting winter ops is a thing until that ANC tech stop.

After all of 2020, how can we not reconsider rethinking what these folks do? Let's not act like we didn't go through the pandemic ordering things on Amazon, which uses shops like WGA to move what they can't handle. These folks move our military equipment, n95 masks, pharmaceuticals, mothers day flowers, rubber dog poop, vaccines, go into places hit by natural disasters first, and someone going to ask them if they booked flight services. Like that guy didn't just have to talk his captain into going into a disaster area, looking at books and charts to figure weights and restrictions off the new PCN with all navaids and the tower knocked out, and also convince the other captain that he did enter all the permits into the strip and followed all airspace restrictions for the daily rotation through Afghanistan, stopping at such hotspots as Bagram and Kabul, during the first part of that 12 hour shift while one plane is leaving HKG and another landing in ORD. And the one other guy scheduled to work with him that night called out sick.

But retrodx, you got my flight services, right??

 

[QXDX]

It seems like the majors hire more from regionals than cargo?

As others have pointed out, the majority of Dispatcher positions are at the regional airlines. It follows logically that the majority of hires come from the regionals.

What has consistently struck me is the "ignorance" that mainline/major people suffer from regarding their regional counterparts. I still remember a conversation I had with a Delta Dispatcher, back when I was just starting out. He expressed genuine astonishment when I told him what I earned. He'd spent his entire Dispatch career at Delta, and had no idea how the other half lived. It logically follows that this ignorance exists at the leadership and recruiting arenas as well. If there is a bias against hiring from Supplementals, this could be part of the reason why.

There isn't a career formula for getting hired at a major. There are too many variables at work that you have no control over. If you understand that, you then realize there are a couple of things you can and should do.

The first is to evaluate any job opportunity strictly on its own merits; compensation, working conditions, duties and responsibilities, stability and outlook, location, opportunities for advancement, etc. Don't evaluate a job on what you think might come after it. That way lies madness, because things happen, and you'll drive yourself crazy with the "what ifs" and "if onlys." Play the hand you're dealt, not the hand you wish you had.

The other thing you can do is actively work to advance your knowledge and skills. I've said it before. After a couple of years in your first, entry-level position, you'd better be working to either move up to a position of greater responsibility, or move on to a position that offers the opportunity to acquire new skills.

And of course there is professional activism; networking, professional group membership, etc.

 

[van12]

Anyone know if they hired their new class yet?

 

[Aeroscout840]

Getting to a major is much more about your professional network than your previous experience. People with ZERO dispatch experience get hired all the time at the major's. Consider focusing like a laser on these 3 areas:

1. Build professional network
2. Develop a reputation for being hard worker and having a professional, friendly office demeanor.
2. Become an expert in getting, and acing interviews.

There are of plenty of podcasts and books dedicated to these "soft skills". As I've posted before here, getting a job at a major is like a lotto ticket - it's going to bring you millions of dollars over your life. Take a class, pay for a seminar, visit NOC's , polish up your LinkedIn.

Do you have a "million dollar" network? Do you have "million dollar" interview skills? If not the competition just might.

 

[van12]

Getting to a major is much more about your professional network than your previous experience. People with ZERO dispatch experience get hired all the time at the major's. Consider focusing like a laser on these 3 areas:

Are you referring to internals? Because I thought an exam was given before interviewing, and I don't see how you can score well without dx experience.

 

[Aeroscout840]

You're right there is a written exam before hiring, and all the folks taking the test have a dispatch ticket.

The thread was more about work experience and how it relates to getting hired at a major. People get hired all the time that have never released a flight. They do just fine in training and most are excellent dispatchers.

I hope you are in your dream job and loving life. If you're still on your way, please consider my advice and pm me if I can be of assistance.

 

[QXDX]

Are you referring to internals? Because I thought an exam was given before interviewing, and I don't see how you can score well without dx experience.

In my experience, Dispatch interview exams are objective in nature. There is only one correct answer to the question. If you've passed the FAA written exam, you should be able to pass any airline exam. No experience required. That said, I've seen some poorly written exams in my career.

Where experience comes into play is during the technical portion of an interview, where you will likely be given some scenario questions. In these, there can be any number of correct answers. The interviewer is checking your decision making and judgment. Experience is definitely helpful in these cases.

One piece of advice I have always given my trainees is to be able to explain why you made a given decision. For example:

Question: Why did you list an alternate? It's not required by the METAR/TAF.

Answer: An alternate is ALWAYS required, except when (1/2/3 rule). In other words, the regulations stipulate when an alternate can be omitted, not when it must be added. In my experience, the only time LAX has SCT is either when skies are transitioning to CLR or BKN. Since previous METARs showed a trend of CLR to FEW to SCT, I suspect it's going to go BKN, in which case there is no justification for removing the alternate.

 

[rlweitzner]

I've applied to the position and am just across alligator alley in Ft. Lauderdale. Sheffield Grad. Any tips on getting an interview with Western Global? Anyone have any contacts that I can reach out to? I'm close and highly motivated, and have heard great things! I've tried calling but the HR line is just a voicemail box, I'm not sure if anyone has heard my message. Any advice?

Best regards,
Robert

 

[nolayup]

I've applied to the position and am just across alligator alley in Ft. Lauderdale. Sheffield Grad. Any tips on getting an interview with Western Global? Anyone have any contacts that I can reach out to? I'm close and highly motivated, and have heard great things! I've tried calling but the HR line is just a voicemail box, I'm not sure if anyone has heard my message. Any advice?

Best regards,
Robert

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