As if in Europe we are doing any better

I actually know quite a few people who halved their pay just to be able to live and fly in the Netherlands, but they of course, are Dutch :)

It’s just a small caveat. Most pilots I know would give an arm and a leg to work from their home country, to not have to commute. Once all the glitter and glam settles, people just want to be close to their family. Keep that in mind. To fully benefit from all that KLM has to offer, you are really in it for the long run. If you can commit to that, fantastic!

That's short term thinking. Which side of the pond will have the upper hand in 10, 20 or 30 years? Seniority is everything at a legacy. You would start at the bottom again. Have you thought about a possible furlough or lay off when the next crisis hits aviation?

Sorry to interrupt your Europe-USA comparison, but has anyone completed a KLM assessment step lately? Or any good recommendations on how to prepare? Thanks so much!

HAHAHAHA.

The USA is big, something for everyone.

The orange man?

Really the only thing you need to know is "Ja maar "and you'll be fine.

I've been working quite a while now for a flag carrier, but I'm entertaining the idea of applying because why not. My current pension is not promising and I enjoy middle european culture. Is there any way for DE fo in the a350 when they're coming? I have some thousand hours with it and I like the long haul. Not really interested in hopping around in europe anymore. Sorry if this been already asked..

Perhaps consider entertaining the idea of continuing enjoying your middle european culture, because why not?

Friend of mine applied despite me suggesting against it, apparently the wait to join is incredibly long, we are talking about late 2025 or early 2026 maybe.
No choice whatsover on what fleet or even what AOC, you can get embraer with cityhopper or first officer on the 737 / second officer 787 with mainline. Zero choice, you go where is needed, no discussion.
Another friend of ours (Dutch) has gone through the process, expect abrasive attitudes in the sim and interview, one of the panel flipped his CV in a dismissive manner, he got surprisingly the job, SO on boeing long haul, he decided to stay in Emirates :)

Remember, SO is just cruise relief pilot only.

wow, really? Did it happen recently?

I thought they were quite nice and polite.

can someone else give updates on the interview and initial Sim? How do they treat you and how is the training?

At AA I can tell the training instructors are REALLY nice and it’s a no-threat environment as long as you do your part, they are very supportive and wanna help you to succeed all they way.
I thought KLM was the same thing somehow.

I started my carrier in the biggest low cost of EU. Training there was like very one sided. the trainers all thought they where sky gods from heaven(with exceptions ofc). Every sim was like a uber test to please the trainer and make sure hes happy. I even had trainer in the sim, watching live football match on his phone the entire session. The day i left, was one of the best days of my professional life.

them i moved to KLM. It was and is a world opening up for me. Everyone(with exceptions) is nice. And you are allowed to comment. Well they even expect you to comment. The good and the bad. And you are so well protected, its insane. The union, all kinds of consuls and our chief pilots are more or less always reasonable managers. Instead of being a big loud speaker from the higher management. Everyone who has doubt, I invite you to take the phone and call recruitment with your questions. You will feel from the first contact. That you are being valued.

Long answer short, no De FO a350. There are 1000+ klm pilots with 5000+ flight hours waiting in line for that position. But you can get a SO position on the A350. Being a SO you will have the best roster in the entire company. Only flight the 3/4 pilots ops. With a lots of time on the route and off days at home. 3/4 trips max a month. A month will be Like(100% work): SIN 5days trip, 5days off. Lax 3days trip, 5days off. NRT 4days trip, 6days off.

Yeah, unfortunately at the interview they play “good cop - bad cop”, just to see how you react. They will always look for something in your career to make a stupid comment, just to see if you get agitated or smile it away. I would suggest to do the latter…

Some of you above were right, it is all smoke and mirrors.
It seams just a scheme made in case they don't have enough Dutch candidates.
Then if you are "lucky" to get in and they find enough Dutch speaking candidates in the meantime you will be kicked out because your Dutch is not good enough.

Would they kick you out of the company because your Dutch is not good enough?

Seriously?

I wouldn't be surprised if they did.
In my times in Transavia I learned the evil way of working of the Dutch management.
I know that some people said not to compare Transavia with KLM, but I really struggle to see if there would be any difference to be honest.

How would they even kick you out when your dutch is not good enough knowing the fact that on the date of hiring you did not speak a word of dutch.

A judge would eat KLM alive IF they did that. And Transavia too if they would actually do that. They can never legally do this.

It's just not ganna happen. Labor laws in the Netherlands are the most strict in the world. Protection for employees could not be any better. Don't worry about that.

And both are very fair companies. Both hiring foreigners and they want them to stay.

thanks for the explanation. That’s really good to know.

Hope my efforts to get the EASA licence pay off! :-)