Boofhead,
I don't know how long you've been in Alaska, do you recall the 1990's ? Back then Air taxis had all the pilots they wanted and more. As an example, back in that era Yute Air (Yes, the same Yute Air which recently went out of business ... again.) required applicants to go through a training program. They called it "Alaska Transition Training" or some such nonsense. It cost the applicant something like $2800 (or was it $3800 ? ) cash up front. Successful completion of the training didn't get you a job. No, it got you in the "Hiring pool". The "hiring pool", for a job flying single engine Cessnas.
Guess what? those days are over. Things are different now in the pilot market, and if you want to hire pilots, you have to be competitive in the market. All the nostalgia about how great things used to be when pilots would pay you isn't going to make pilots take a job which pays less than other jobs.
Originally Posted by
A Squared
So, what's are you offering? Give me a complete run-down of the terms and conditions. Salary? Monthly Guarantee? Per flight hour? Schedule? Days off per month? How long am I on call for on a reserve day? 8 hr? 12 Hr/day? 24 hr/day? What's the company contribution to the 401K? Medical benefits? How much is the employee co-pay for the medical? What's covered? How much paid vacation per year?
Last time I asked this, you got awfully quiet and didn't answer the question. Not sure why; if you're looking to hire pilots, and you believe that your terms and conditions are competitive, there's no reason I can see to be shy about posting them.
So, how about it?????
Yeah, about what I expected, crickets. And we all know why.
Look, you can yap on all you want about how you can't make a pilot better by paying more, but you're not that stupid. You understand as well as everyone else that if you want to attract well qualified, experienced applicants, the terms and conditions you are offering have to be attractive to the applicants, compared to their other employment options. That's market economics.
Why would an experienced pilot go to work being on call 24 hours a day, with few or no scheduled days off per month, pay which is substantially lower than other pilot positions and few benefits, when he could have better pay, a better schedule, more time off and better benefits elsewhere?
Look, you can jump up and down all you want and should that your terms and conditions are "reasonable" but if pilots aren't applying, then they're not reasonable. Not in today's Job Market.
"reasonable" doesn't mean "no more than what I want to pay".
"Reasonable" means what it takes to get pilots to go to work for you, given their other options.
It's that simple.