Holding Pool
I joined about 2 months ago, just doing my line-training at the moment. Speaking from personal experience, the whole process from interview to starting the JOC course took about 6 months. However, I spoke to a guy recently who said that he had the selection and sim ride in the same week and started his JOC course about 4 weeks after that. I don’t think there is a hold pool as such, and on our fleet (A320) there’s between 4 and 8 new FO’s being trained each month. I’m sure it’s about the same on the 737 at Gatwick.
I think that there sometimes is a bit of a delay in the system as the guys who do the recruitment process and sim checks also fly on the line and so are very busy and sometimes don’t get enough time to get the paperwork done, so everything gets put back a bit. Also, once you get the OK you’ll have to get security clearance which sometimes can take a while to come through.
When I did my selection and sim ride, all the people in charge of the process where really great, and made a real effort to make you feel at ease during what is quite a stressful period. Hope this helps a bit, good luck for the selection.