Calling airlines to check ok your application- bad idea?

[YourControls]

Does it annoy airline recruitment departments when you call to check on your applications? I know someone who has been blacklisted at four airlines for this (he apparently called two to three times in a month with each) and I'm worried about annoying them as the correspondence has been good thus far. Any ideas?

[Bealzebub]

Do you think maybe you answered your own question!

Airlines are busy places and whilst anybody is happy to help with a genuine enquiry, they are likely to have already indicated the timescales within which you should expect to hear back on an application. The person who answers the phone is unlikely to be able to update you, and the people involved with the process are unlikely to be available or inclined to deal with a speculative enquiry. When applying for a professional position it is assumed you will also possess the professional qualities commensurate with that application including patience.

I have never seen a "blacklist" and frankly, I seriously doubt anybody has the time or inclination to construct one. Airlines get hundreds of applications and the process involves whittling those applications down to the best ones for invitation to interview. If you irritate anybody as this stage, it is doubtful you would be perceived as likely to irritate them any less in the future.

[mask14]

word on the street is: don't do it.
you gain nothing and can only damage your application..

[skyblue12]

I have never seen a "blacklist" and frankly, I seriously doubt anybody has the time or inclination to construct one

I was told by someone at an FTO that an applicant emailed recruitment staff at an airline via LinkedIn. Safe to say their application was not progressed any further.

[Bealzebub]

Airline recruitment is usually a seasonal event rather than a consistent requirement. A couple of points to bear in mind: It is usually a collaboration between a companies HR dept and the flight operations department. In the case of the latter that means utilising people who are normally tied up doing other things (like flying!). Recruitment has a cost, and airlines ( like most businesses with tight operating margins) hate cost. With the constraints of cost and resources, it is important to complete the task as efficiently as possible. Add to that the usual ingredient of ever changing requirements and other dynamics, and the result is a very busy and pressurised department.

That said, the recruitment team are looking for the best applicants within each recruiting round. Usually there is no shortage of well qualified applicants. Everybody is aware that applicants are looking for a timely response and they completely understand that. Sometimes the changing dynamics results in delays but generally it is important to complete the task as quickly as possible.

Applicants may well contact the airline in order to change an address or telephone number or any number of valid reasons. However, the "daddy are we there yet?" Type of enquiry is irritating, unhelpful, and never going to achieve anything that is likely to enhance an individuals application.

From the submitted applications there will usually be a "yes" "no" and "maybe" pile. The "no" pile will be large and the other two quite small. Plenty of applicants will meet the basic qualification requirements (of the advertised criteria rather than the licence,) but it will far exceed the number of interview slots available. From those interviewed some will be considered unsuitable, some will withdraw their applications, some will not turn up. Any slots freed up will then be satisfied from the remaining successful applications. From the successful interviewees the next stage in the process becomes even more expensive and hungry of training resources as it often involves the use of simulators. The best applicants from this stage are offered the available positions usually on a probationary basis. Again (although to a much smaller degree) there will be people who elect to leave the process.

There is always an element of luck involved, but the best chances of success are to submit a well written and constructed, professional CV, that satisfies the airlines stated requirements. Then to present a professional, mature, keen, researched and prepared demeanour if selected for interview.

[pfvspnf]

Best not to do it, at my current airline if you email personally or walk in you'll be asked to leave and will not be entertained , we are a fairly big company .

In Canada , the USA and certain parts of Africa , walk ins are encouraged at smaller companies.

Really depends on the type of company