Originally Posted by
tbfka
Regarding the FO positions, how likely is it that a male (I know just about every female will progress) with just over those mins would even progress through the initial cull? There are GA operators with significantly higher mins than that..
It is more related to the sampling problem a limited population presents: Airlines "look" for certain attributes. Contrary to airline management mantra (especially around contract season) those attributes are not widely dispersed in the general population.
Thus, given dwindling supply they are simply attempting to identify more applicants (with a bigger sample) having those desired attributes.
Former Australian airline (Ansett subsidiary) Kendell Airlines did exactly that, halving their "application requirements"
Many carriers in both Europe and the US in response to a growing and sustained shortage are lowering minimum application requirements in order to build a larger sample with the attributes required from which to draw.
Discrimination of course is a valid issue.