Originally Posted by
N1EPR
There are thousands of US pilots commuting to work in foreign lands. I know most or all of them would be quick to take a job in the US if the pay was right.
Well, in many but not all places in the US, the pay
IS right but will come with some affiliated considerations that might not suit everyone, e.g., going to the bottom of a seniority list, etc. Some expats have come back with success while others tried and failed. They can claim there's no age bias in their hiring but I just don't believe that despite seeing them trot out an example or two of some 50 y/o candidate. And experience ? Do they think you might just have a little too much experience to be trainable according to their notions of cultural fit ? They'll never admit that...
But more importantly, it's not as easy as just agreeing to come home to one of those positions with the good pay and career potential. The HR types (and that includes those with a license and medical in their pockets) have some notion of ignoring experience and technical competence in favor of something called a good "cultural" fit...you know, a proper
employee. These 30 potential years of employment suitability are determined by 30 minutes across from an interview panel and some shrink-related testing.
They will (and currently do...even the lesser quality carriers) pass up untold numbers of experienced candidates here in the US and have constructed a gauntlet of hurdles to even getting an interview: career "expos" where you spend money and time just getting there to stand in lines for hours for the "opportunity" for a few minutes face to face with some recruiter, meet-the-chief-pilot events (same idea as expo but fewer numbers and much harder to get an invitation), video interviews, online application processes that stymie even the most astute applicant if not completely prevent his data from being submitted at all in the form allegedly demanded by the HR types. All this to just get an interview.
So, all of this mumbo-jumbo in lieu of hiring experienced aviators... proven entities...and then convincing them they made the right choice in accepting the job by not treating them like dirt once on the payroll thereby creating a suitable employee.
[and no, I'm not looking for a job nor is any job looking for me...I just observe]