WestJet Mainline/Encore Hiring pool

ba31pilot · Post by **ba31pilot** » Mon Sep 21, 2015 10:40 am

JTrain, the Oct 19 GS is still happening. I have a friend who was notified 10 days ago or so that he was in that class.

watermeth · Post by **watermeth** » Mon Sep 21, 2015 12:48 pm

okay thanks ba31pilot,
I'll contact them to see from when that 1 year wait starts from.

hphalifax · Post by **hphalifax** » Tue Sep 22, 2015 10:43 pm

manyratings- can you pm me regarding your pool expiry.

I have recently expired and I am still trying to wrap my head around it. Would like to start compiling experiences from poolies re: HR treatment.

AlphaOne · Post by **AlphaOne** » Wed Sep 23, 2015 12:20 pm

Can someone shed some light on when the HR department contacts your references? Is it before the 6 to 12 month window of pool time? Or is it closer to when they are interested in bringing you in for a ground school? Because if I'm going to risk getting dropped by my current operator due to my CP getting a call from Westjet, I'd rather it be around the time that my ground school would be starting..

DaveP · Post by **DaveP** » Wed Sep 23, 2015 4:35 pm

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the comments. I haven't been on here for a while so I'll take a few minutes to answer a couple questions.

I'll start by saying the fall reduction in hours is quite normal. We have over the years - often offered up the use of time bank or leaves of absence typically in the fall (however there have been some offered in the spring as well). The shoulder seasons are often used for more allocation of vacation blocks and generally produce a lower pilot blocking average.

As for the pool questions - I've done many interviews over the years. We've recently had a change in key recruiting personnel and not 100% sure where they discuss this point, however in the past at the very start of the interview (right before it all starts) it is explained by GC that if successful (reference checks and security) - you will be placed in the pool for one year. That year starts at your interview. You are then asked if you have any questions or concerns around that. It is made clear that this does not mean you are hired or entrance to the pool is a job offer. Pools are created to handle the ever changing recruiting demands of those companies. Aviation in particular is so cyclical as we all know - companies can go from 100% hiring to 102.5% to a full stop all within weeks!

I'm not sure what more we can do to better explain these pools but we are looking at more information added explaining this at the beginning of the process. we are also looking at reducing the time you can stay in the pool.

As for future recruiting: The WestJet classes have all been selected for the 2015 year with our last class being late October. We did have some dates slide around a little and the last few classes were 10 in each. (50% flow came from WJ Encore) The WestJet pilot posting isn't expected to open again likely until later in the fall once 2016 numbers are handed down or finalized.

WestJet Encore recruiting remains busy as well with a preliminary plan to hire well over 100 next year. The new Q400 simulator should be on property by March with a few weeks of certification trials there after. this will definitely help alleviate the bottleneck we experience with regards to training.

Pool sizes are respectively 56 for WJE (5 or 6 courses) and 7 for WJ. Interviewing will continue for both.

I hope that helps!
Dave

watermeth · Post by **watermeth** » Wed Sep 23, 2015 6:51 pm

You bet,
Thanks.

metalpedal · Post by **metalpedal** » Mon Sep 28, 2015 1:26 pm

Anyone get a call for the Nov. GS? I'm sure there's quite a bit of people with their fingers crossed to get in before the end of the year...
Good luck!

metalpedal · Post by **metalpedal** » Thu Oct 01, 2015 7:16 am

Anyone know if Encore is planning for the next GS to be YYC or YYZ?

Yycaviator · Post by **Yycaviator** » Thu Oct 01, 2015 7:21 am

hphalifax wrote: Would like to start compiling experiences from poolies re: HR treatment.

Not really sure where you plan on going with that. Being placed in a pool (in any industry) is not an offer of employment by any means. Companies are not obligated to hire you. I remember being told straight up that in the event I was unsuccessful, I would not be told why. Just re-apply in a year (or whatever it is).

Justanotherpilot2 · Post by **Justanotherpilot2** » Tue Oct 06, 2015 12:03 pm

My friend just interviewed with encore. He had some interesting things to say.

Elessar_44 · Post by **Elessar_44** » Tue Oct 13, 2015 5:26 am

Got an email on Friday that recruiting team decided to pass on my application for mainline FO, which I was pretty bummed about as I was really hoping for a shot at WJ. Seems like an awesome place to work! Hopefully in the future they open up the app for mainline again. Congrats to those who did get hired or interviwew recently though!

JTrain · Post by **JTrain** » Tue Oct 13, 2015 10:33 am

Elessar_44 wrote:Got an email on Friday that recruiting team decided to pass on my application for mainline FO, which I was pretty bummed about as I was really hoping for a shot at WJ. Seems like an awesome place to work! Hopefully in the future they open up the app for mainline again. Congrats to those who did get hired or interviwew recently though!

Hi Elessar -

Sorry to hear that. Getting a mainline interview is a competitive process. There are a lot of qualified folks out there.

metalpedal
Post subject: Re: WestJet Mainline/Encore Hiring pool

Anyone know if Encore is planning for the next GS to be YYC or YYZ?

I believe the remaining Encore classes for 2015 are slated to be for YYC, but they are very flexible in terms of letting people go to YYZ, if that is where you want to be based. It probably will happen by the time you are done with training.

metalpedal · Post by **metalpedal** » Tue Oct 20, 2015 10:28 am

Thx JTrain!

Glad to see they're flexible on bases.
Are the GS already filled for this year?
What are the projections for 2016. Resuming hiring in January?

JTrain · Post by **JTrain** » Wed Oct 28, 2015 11:46 am

metalpedal wrote:Thx JTrain!

Glad to see they're flexible on bases.
Are the GS already filled for this year?
What are the projections for 2016. Resuming hiring in January?

They are quite flexible with bases. Even if you are in a class for YYC, the higher-ups will come by your groundschool, take the pulse, get a feel if anybody wants to transfer, and make it available. For example, the August 17th Encore class was slated for Calgary but based on the last seniority list I saw, there are folks in it who already are showing a YYZ base.

I know there have been classes each month this year except for July. I believe two classes are slated for November (likely none in December). Hiring will continue fairly aggressively in 2016, as there are 9 Q400s being delivered. Not sure what is going on with interviews or what the pool #s are at; at one point it was at ~70, but this was before the August class, and since then there have been two more, with another two in November. Class sizes are generally 10, but have been known to be higher.

Good luck - we need more good people and good pilots around this place!

ptc · Post by **ptc** » Thu Oct 29, 2015 7:23 am

I know that DaveP mentioned mainline jobs opening up this fall and was wondering if there was an update on this.
Thanks in advance

Tacoma · Post by **Tacoma** » Thu Oct 29, 2015 12:06 pm

New hire 737 classes will be as follows:
January 4, 2016 - 8 FO's - YYZ
January 25, 2016 - 8 FO's - YYC

At least 50% coming from Encore. I'd guess it will be 75% before it becomes 100%.

seriousflyer · Post by **seriousflyer** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 8:04 am

Application process -
I applied on the current posting about 4 months ago with less than 500 PIC, however now I have more qualifications and would like to update my application, is this possible or do I have to wait for a new job posting?
I can upload new resumes and cover letters and update my profile, but I can't change any of my answers to the short questions Encore asks when applying to pilot job posting.

Am I missing something or do I have to wait for new posting?

duramaxguy · Post by **duramaxguy** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 11:14 am

Once the application is submitted you can't update your qualifications on the application itself. The only thing you can update is your resume/cover letter on the profile. Had that same question a while back and got that answer directly from hr.

Blue Side Up · Post by **Blue Side Up** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 1:57 pm

Is mainline doing any OTS hiring?

Sky_Conqueror · Post by **Sky_Conqueror** » Mon Nov 02, 2015 1:11 am

Greetings Fellow pilots. I hope all is good. Don't know if the following question was answered or not in another form. Since a few airlines started to dip down and look at lower timed guys recently, some companies of which lowered minimums on their websites, I was wondering what Encore's situation was? Like Sunwing, I'm assuming the ATPL is a hard minimum, what about hours? Thanks.