Originally Posted by
vp89
Dear Members of the forum,
After a handful of applications being rejected for myself and my colleagues, after meeting numerous jobless pilots during the airline interviews, I am trying to understand, how it is possible that the industry experiences the shortage of pilots, even though there are loads of licence holders ready to fly and unable to get a position.
Unfortunately, simply holding a licence does not necessarily equate to being a fit for the position on offer. I think it has been said a lot... it's not a "pilot shortage"... it's an "
experienced/skilled pilot shortage". I know where I am, they stated during the interview and during initial training that while they really really really needed pilots, they had not, and would not, lower their standards.
So, despite the jokes to contrary, airlines in general, require a lot more than "a licence and a pulse"... Unfortunately, in a place like Europe where recruitment of 200 hr pilots onto jets is seen as the "norm"... it's ridiculously easy to get the 200hr part, not so easy to get the "what the airlines want" part. So you end up with a lot of 200hr pilots, a lot of whom cannot get jobs as this particular market is saturated and/or they simply don't have the other qualities that airlines are looking for.
Elsewhere in the world, where things like 1000+ TT for a regional turboprop job is the "norm", there is more of a shortage because, while it is still easy to get the 200hr part (pay your money, do your flight training), it isn't so easy to get the other 800+ hours... and on top of that, the airlines generally want "quality" 800+ hours... like ATO or Turbine or Multi time.
And even if you manage to crack the hours... airlines still want the other things like personality, attitude, ability to cope under pressure etc... I know several experienced guys who were unsuccessful at interviews.