hey pilot welcome to ready for push back after hours I'm Nick fiela you're joining me today with a special guest Justin Ritter director of hiring from United Airlines we're happy to have him today first off 1500 plus people here tonight what a big opportunity for everybody to just listen and dive deep we're thankful we're grateful that you guys are here tonight it's going to be a lot of fun we're going to answer your questions uh the first thing I want to do is tell you that if you are going to interview with United you have to be on your aame you have to be prepared Justin and his team they see thousands and thousands of Pilots every single year and a lot of them go away empty-handed and I'll tell you what don't put yourself in that position your career is worth a lot more than that and so I want you to join the Spitfire community I'm going to put up a coupon code right now for you and this coupon code is going to give you 15% off uh for our services you can use it until March 6 at midnight so that's when it expires right so write that down that is really important you'll be able to join the Spitfire Community you'll be able to understand all the academics of how we do interview prep we're never going to teach you what to say but we will teach you how to get points on the board and every word you say every choice that you make has impact and it's important so if you want to join our team right there there's your code we usually uh only do a 10% discount so special night tonight yall get a 15% discount so that's a great thing next we always give back we are focused on always always always making sure that we can do more to provide more to you the pilot and the first thing that we are doing is our webinar series and so check this out even tonight we have a my buddy Jason's going to be doing a webinar tonight you can grab that QR code grab that with your phone uh if you would like to sign up for tonight's webinar it's all focused on preparing for the women and Aviation conference coming up in Denver right around the corner just about two weeks away uh we have a lot of webinars that we do consistently and y'all are crushing so go ahead um grab that QR code right there and you can sign up for free webinars our teams are awesome uh they answer tons of questions that just help you get ready help you get focused make sure that you are on your aame all right so that's that and you always always want to know where to find the the pilots that are hiring what airlines are are hiring how can I get a job everybody's looking it always seems like we're in tight situation this year 2025 a lot of people are having difficulty finding those jobs and those pilot jobs are easier to get when you network and they are they are um there are conferences that we have multiple times a year here's our conference list for this year uh Spitfire is uh is a big sponsor of all of these different organizations you will see our teams there and you know grab a screenshot of that because it is really important to be able to show up at these conference is get in front of the recruiters get your networking game sharp and this is how you do it uh it's a great time to meet up it's a great time to meet those recruiters but it's also a great time to meet other Pilots that are just like you that have the same kind of concerns the same kind of life goals the same kind of excitement those are the people that win and so we'll see you there uh so I think that's it as far as the pregame goes I'm getting ready to bring my man Justin Ritter out here the he's director of hiring at United and we are G to ask some questions I've got a list of questions that I'm GNA start off with that are going to kind of prime the pump but there's a Q&A box there on your screen and you guys can take those questions and drop them into the Q&A as you guys drop things into the Q&A um I as you guys drop things in the Q&A I will go through and pull them out ask them to Justin and you will get firsthand knowledge like right from Justin so uh without further Ado my man Justin Ritter are you in the house how are you buddy I'm doing great how are you Nick good to see you I'm doing great uh it's good to see you my man it's a great day here in Denver here at United Airlines today we are doing interviews we are uh going through our regular process for uh hopefully some new pilot hires here today so uh just a great day in Denver um are you get how many how many people did you guys interview today uh I believe we had 23 today big number the team has got to be doing a lot um now I would love for you to kind of set the stage everybody every time I get on social media there's like a hot take about hiring at United everybody you know stuff's left stuff's right they're hiring a million Pilots they're hiring no Pilots there's uh there's chaos can you help just just level the playing field what do you know how can what can you tell the pilots absolutely no great question thanks for letting me share and kind of dispel some of these myths as well um the first highlight is that number one United is still hiring Pilots this year we're expecting to hire quite a few Pilots this year we're looking to hire quite a bit of Pilots next year and we believe that hiring will be robust uh in in the pilot space at least for the next five or so plus years um now that's not to say though that we're going to be hiring the same volumes as we were in 2022 2023 as well uh you know the the industry has changed the the delivery of aircraft has been difficult recently um and so it's it's going to be a different environment than it was in years past but without that you know kind of dispel some of the rumors and the myth I just got out of a meeting when we talked about our hiring projections for the rest of the year and we're looking at hiring at least well over 1,200 Pilots this year um which is still a very large number of pilots and and even if you were to think back to pre-co times if we talked about hiring 00 Pilots That's a huge number of Pilots so uh you know we're very happy we're very pleased with the growth at United we're really excited about what we have coming up and uh you know there's still lots of opportunity here at United talk to me with 1,200 Pilots for the year and so many Pilots trying to get jobs you've you've just got to have such high such high numbers like what does the average pilot coming in look for like look look like can you describe kind of the the resume of that pilot absolutely yeah that's a really good question so again I think with United being one of the only carriers that's actively hiring at such large volumes um we have become uh really competitive uh more so than we were particularly in in you know years past and so what I think about when I think about a competitive applicant is a few things I think number one is that having good quality flight time is always going to be important so that is you know good turbine time that is having pic time flying complex aircraft is going to be important for us um we also very much value individuals who have flown as either captains or commanders or leaders on board their aircraft that is that is something that we've seen separates uh candidates from the rest of the pack um and then we also look for individuals who are just good social stewards as well um I I truly believe that even if you have 151 hours and you got your your ATP it's unrestricted it's fresh ready to go you should be submitting your application to United Airlines um I know that there you know even if it's got more competitive and we are looking for individuals with more competitive time more competitive experience it does not mean that we have not hired anyone with 153 hours we have we have done so recently we've also hired someone that had 24,000 hours recently as well so having somewhere in that range is going to be important and it's going to be competitive what is the differen maker for 1500 and 3 hour typically those individuals with the lower hours are those that are coming directly from the military um individuals who've been flying Fighters or um attack aircraft in the military that's what we're typically seeing at that lower end of the the Spectrum got it what about people coming in that are are still younger that are building time uh that that are just at that 1500 hour mark is a lot of the questions I get are should I go to a part 135 carrier or should I go to a regional airline does is there any difference in like 121 versus 135 as far as like the hiring team's concerned from our concern no my best recommendation would be go where anywhere you can get ours right if you if that's a 135 carrier or if that's a regional wherever you can get out those hours wherever you can build that time and hopefully uh upgrade to a captain position you should be going to that carrier okay how about this I have been speaking with a ton of Pilots at FedEx and they're they're not hiring people people saw the saw the carrot in front of them jumped over all the hiring stopped and now they just feel stuck there's reduced hour lines and all sorts of things but the the FedEx Pilots some of them are getting a little antsy some of them are really interested in in coming to uh United so if somebody if somebody had a um had an interview with United before and chose not to uh accept a class date would that uh professional pilot be uh be kind of welcome back or is it kind of one you had your shot oh no we would certainly welcome them back I think going to an airline uh or a carrier like FedEx is exceptional experience complex aircraft flying in a difficult regulatory environment um we would very much be interested in in any Fedex pilot who decides to apply to United even if they have uh turned down once before all right how about if they were a a United pilot and and left the seniority list so interestingly enough we have actually seen that happen I believe at least five times in the last year or so individuals who have left United gone to particularly FedEx or UPS and have now made their way back to united we welcome them with open arms all right how about that man that's awesome um okay how about this okay a pilot who is is currently at a regional and maybe they're maybe they're at something like Sky West and there there's a possibility to flow to United um but then they they get a job at uh like Frontier or some other some other part one 121 carrier if they were previously in the flow is there any moratorium on hiring them or is there opportunity is there a cooling off period how do you guys handle that so it does Depend and there's a difference between carrier and program as well in the aviate program for example if you're at one of our UA X3 carriers such as gojet commer or Mesa and you decided to go to a frontier or an aviate or Allegiance excuse me uh you must wait one year from the date that you left that carrier before you can reapply uh at United and try and join uh that way now that is a possibility and we have seen people make that jump but I do caution that when you leave aviate you you are leaving that cjo right you have a cjo to come to United Airlines once you meet the requirements at the uxx carrier if you're to leave the ux carrier you're forfeiting that cgo and taking a risk by going to another carrier and if you come back and you interview and you're unsuccessful in that interview you will not be able to come work at United Airlines um because you will have us your opportunities okay so that you it's basically two swings of the bat you you have two two chances so if I if I've interviewed once on the off the street and I did not get uh a cjo then there might be another opportunity but if i' if I failed it twice that's it that's correct that's a current policy y okay okay that's cool that makes sense how about recency that that to me is one of the things that's becoming more and more prevalent this year is people are people are especially leaving the military they're they're trying to get the opportunity they're they're applying and maybe they're not maybe they don't have a job just yet as they're leaving the military and they're scrambling to try to find some way to keep flying what first off what are the recenty um requirements and then if you are staying staying current flying a plane is assass okay do I need to rent uh some kind of uh light twin what what is the policy yeah excellent question so and particularly right now at some of our other competing carriers Pilots are just not getting hours and so they're getting concerned about their their recency and that is certainly concern and something that we we keep top of mind as well here at United um we have no recency requirement we have recency preferences and so we preference that a civilian pilot has at least 100 hours of recency in the last 12 Rolling months so if today's you know March 5th then within March 5th 2024 you should have about a 100 hours or so um of recency but again that is only a preference and there is obviously wiggle rim to that as well if you had you know only 89 hours but you're a pilot at Spirit you're not being able to get hours because of um you know the Block hours have fallen there or or something that that's something that we take in consideration as well um for the military it's a little bit different our preference is that you must have at least 20 hours of recency in the last 12 Rolling months um but again that does not mean 12 20 hours excuse me in a F-16 or an Air Force 2 that means you should have about you know 20 hours in any in any aircraft it could be assass 172 or could be a C130 does a typ rating restart that currency that recency as well it does not no okay the military especially getting out my if you have a desk job and and it's the last three years of your career like sorting that out that's that is such a difficult thing I I can't tell you how many people I talk to that are you know have so many hours and they're they're wildly successful and that some o5 or 06 and now they're they're done with their staff job and and feel like they're out in the breeze so that's good to know absolutely and I will say to that too we've had some really exceptional candidates come through here recently in the last year or two who were high ranking in the military had a desk job you know it hadn't flown very often maybe two or three or four hours every year um and have been able to come to United get got hired and have been extremely successful here so certainly something that we we we take in consideration as well which is why it's not a requirement right this is why we keep it at a preference to give us that flexibility do you think that going to one of the conferences and and seeing your Recruiters in person is a great way to differentiate yourself I yes absolutely I think it's a great way to meet the United Team to meet the individuals who will review your application to meet and speak with our pilots and get an idea about what life is like at United as a pilot here so I think it's a really great opportunity now we had someone that asked a question uh when we were at ngpa a couple weeks ago that said they raised their hand and said hey I've heard on the gouge that I need to go to every seven conference and meet United at every one of those conferences to even be considered and I wanted to Spill the myth that is not true we do not require you to come to every single conference we did not require you to meet us every single time um I think it's beneficial for you but it's certainly not a requirement I think that you should tell them just to go ahead and listen to the r for push back podcast and then you just get like 80% less questions I will tell them that next that's a really good idea yeah that's what I'm talking about um okay here's an interesting question kind of circleing back to the FedEx and United or UPS and that a lot of or any of the ACMI carriers a lot of the Long Haul flights have three or four Pilots if I'm building my application how do I count that time do I just count it from Block in to block out do I count it do I have to like okay there are three Pilots so I should reduce it by oneir what does what is the right formula yeah block and block out that's what we consider it as perfect man that makes it so much easier Lord have mercy no weird equations nothing you have to do with that yeah block and block out okay so what does a currently a new higher class what are your percentages between the flows military people and civilian straight civilian really good question and it depends month to month and I think one thing that I I want to share is that in the past couple of years probably to 2024 uh we were hiring consistently the same number of Pilots every single month throughout the entire year and so for example if we had to hire you know 2400 pilots in 2020 um three for example we hired about 200 Pilots every single month um however that has changed this year because we have a much different system in which we are hiring Pilots for when we need them so right now in January February March and April for example these are really really really high hiring months for us because they're going to be supporting our summer schedule now June July August we will still be hiring Pilots but probably at a much smaller number because we don't need to have a whole bunch of pilots on property for um September October November time frame when seems to be a little bit lower uh for Block hours so what that means is that that percentage changes every single month um we have seen a a large percentage of umpp or United military pilot program Pilots that are coming in through our hiring in in in these last few months so they've made up a substantial percentage of our hiring but they have not made up a majority and so it's a pretty good split among all of the different uh programs that we have um while we're talking with Justin um while he's answered these questions I know that you guys are really focused and everybody's got um very specific questions the the thing I will tell you the best thing that you can do is be consistent and and build your network as you go um if you guys haven't already connected with me on LinkedIn that is a great place to start uh cleaning up your LinkedIn profile make sure making sure that it's legit you've got a good picture if you want some kind of good background to put up there some kind of good information about yourself just go over to mine and grab it copy paste it stick it in uh stick it on yours and and adjust the adjust the uh the wording however you want uh that's you know no need to recreate the wheel on that your LinkedIn profile believe it or not it's a great way to um to build the uh your community as well as as engage with other uh other uh aviators and recruiters and stuff like that and that's really what I see uh a lot happening right now are people engaging day in and day out uh and and being able to kind of move the ball forward I just spoke with somebody um I just spoke with somebody the other day um who got a cjo based on a LinkedIn uh message that they uh they had worked on and uh so definitely great opportunity one of the other things I want to do is uh talk about this platform we on right now we're using Vimeo and the reason we're using Vimeo is because obap has allowed us to the organization of black Aerospace professionals one of our favorite organizations um they are really really focused on helping Pilots helping people um helping people grow helping people understand that the aviation industry is for everybody and they're a big big part of our Spitfire life so thank you to obap and all the people there uh if you guys want to hear a cool podcast the United Airlines Union podcast just did a uh a couple episodes with some of the uh obap leadership it's super awesome listen let's see back at it because I do want to jump into some of the questions for um that the listeners have put in we've been going for about 25 minutes and so I'm gonna question number one comes out and it says uh what is the outlook for military pilots in the traditional applicant pool will there be any demographic uh space at at United for military folks who are not umpp eligible will military uh Pilots uh pilot and command time be looked at all compar comparatively to 121 pic for civilian applicants excellent question and thank you to Anonymous for asking it uh the answer is 100% yes there is plenty of space for really well-qualified military Pilots through our traditional Pathways umpp was designed to give that security to individuals who are uh separating from the military at a future date so they when they separate they know that they have a place and a home here at United um but it doesn't work out for everyone right timing doesn't isn't always going to be perfect uh but yes we we've D many Pilots through our traditional pathway uh program uh that have come from the military and they've been exceptional Pilots talk to me about v22 Pilots uh do you accept v22 time do you not accept it uh where do we stand I love that question and I'm I I've been prepped for that so I knew that was going to come uh so the v22 is a very unique aircraft um in fact when I was watching the Super Bowl I saw a bunch of v-22s flying over the uh the super do New Orleans I was like oh I know all about that aircraft now um so what's really interesting about the v22 is that it is a powerlift aircraft right and in the way that it flies and the way that it takes off in particularly lands um is different than an F-16 or a C130 or any other traditional fix we military aircraft um and so we certainly accept v22 time uh ospry time is valid time you are flying and it is part of your total time package now I think where the disconnect has come from is that V2 two time does not count towards umpp transition requirements so in our umpp program guide it states that a pilot must have at least a thousand hours of fixed wi turb and time to be able to transition from the military to United at their separation date um and so if an individual had 2 200 hours and a thousand of that was in a v22 and then, 1500 hours of that was in another you know C130 for example that individual would be certainly well qualified and they' have met that requirement now if a had v20 all v22 time and no fix wi time according to United standards uh that person would not be eligible to transition to United at that time so uh it is valid time it counts towards your total time but the only difference is that it doesn't count towards the Thousand hours of uh umpp transition requirements you know I can probably dig up the v22 pilots that flew over the Super Bowl and they probably give you guys a ride in the in the ploter if uh you want to change the rules a little I'm just saying very interested in that yeah because I might I might have to change my mind then gosh oh man all right well uh women and aviation's coming up it's right in your backyard right are you guys doing anything from my hometown that's right yeah we are that's a really great question so uh we are changing our approach a little bit this year at women Aviation and we are going to be doing uh meet and greets now we recognize that at previous conferences we've had a tremendous line and quite frankly I don't mind having a really long line B you know it means that people are interested they want to come to United um but we also want to make sure that everyone has a really good experience uh whether they're talking to United or another airline at women Aviation so we're doing a couple different things uh we have a meet and greet room uh in which you can pilot any pilot that's qualified can come in they can uh sit with a recruiter go over their resume go over their application and share their experiences with that recruiter um and then they also can go to the booth and they can chat with a couple United Folks at the booth as well the main meet of the conference though for us is going to be at those meet and greet rooms and you cannot sign up for the meet and greets beforehand you can be able to use a an iPad that we'll have at the meet and greet room and at the booth as well in which you can sign up for a virtual queue so there's no pre-registrations but you'll be able to sign up uh for those meet and greets on a first come first serve basis what's cool about this virtual Q to is that you can see where your placement is on that on that list you can you sign up then you can go enjoy the rest of the conference and then when your name is called you have head back to the meet and greet room as well so uh we're trying to make it a much more candidate friendly experience uh and and give all the pilots that are coming to women in aviation um a really truly great you know experience get to speak with their recruiter share their experience and also make sure that they um they they're not waiting in line for for the entire time yeah you know it's a funny as a person who has stood in all the lines right it's a funny thing because that first off I love that because you don't have to sit there and wait for for an hour two hours two and a half hours to just see a person but also the per the people plus and minus three or four that you're S standing next to like they end up becoming lifelong friends because you spent so much time together so so hopefully everybody else still looks out to uh try to find some excellent friends are you guys also going to go to tpn the following month uh so this year we are not going to tpn in April but we will be going to Papa in June okay great awesome uh could you explain what happened to those in the umpp that who were six months out from their availability date uh when the switch to uh one-year H um requirement happened right can they reapply with a new date if they received a now selectable for umpp email great question yes and we had recently changed our requirement from having at least 6 months of availabil left in the military to apply to now a 12 month window and the reason for that quite frankly was that we are full for 2025 at least from the umpp standpoint and so we are considering individuals uh with 2026 availability now if you are a military pilot with 2025 availability we still very much encourage you to switch your application to a traditional application and apply and go through our process on the traditional side because we still have a ton of room on the traditional side for military and civilian Pilots as well um and so that's kind of what we're looking at right now just because your your your separation date is now greater than or less than that that 12-month window uh you should certainly reapply you're not blacklisted you're not you know unable to submit your application we just want to encourage you to change it to a traditional application there as well if your availability date changes and is now outside of that 12 month or it's now 12 months or greater you can keep your umpp application just make sure that you update your availability to reflect what that new availability date would be perfect all right uh how about this I recently made a lateral move from one Regional to another for quality of life reasons is there a good way to notate this on the application to avoid getting passed over boy I understand that one for sure yeah that's a great question and you know this is United uh while I love working here this is not my first Airline I worked another airline before coming here so um I understand the need for quality of life changes and my recommendation is just be honest in your application we have recruiters who have done the same thing we've had pilots on our interview team who've also made those switches as well so um simply putting saying I led working for this outline it was great but I want some quality of life uh improvements and that's why I switched here we'd be we'd be very open to that as well I would also tell that pilot to make sure that's the reason why because there there I have I have had the sad opportunity to to have conversations with people who have left an airline for one not great reason or another and what you said in your answer is honesty is the most important part of this and absolutely you have to be honest because you will like if when you get found out it's over and Lord of Mercy yeah those those are probably the the more difficult conversations I have to have in my uh in my role and and we don't like to have them so being open honest and just being uh straight up on your application is the best thing you can do for yourself yeah absolutely I think that's I think that's so important uh okay how about this one as a high time fo flying 80 plus hours a month for regional should I upgrade to sit on reserve as Captain and not get any flying or continue to build my total time as a first officer I'm just over 3,000 hours of Total time o good luck with that one that is a oh that's a real tough one I would probably say to upgrade um our typical Philosophy for anyone that wants to to United is and they ask how do I get to United the quickest the two things we tell them is fly as much as you possibly can and take the first available upgrade um so having pic time particularly in a 121 environment makes you extremely competitive um whether at a you know a ulcc or Regional that Captain time is just so valuable and so I think I'm going to stick with our our normal feedback and just say take the first available upgrade that you can then you got to figure out other ways to start differentiating yourself if you're sitting on reserve too that's tricky right yeah yeah all right I like also like passing a 121 Captain upgrade training really says a lot about your capability and the and the probability that you will crush training at United like that I think is a big deal yeah it will certainly prepare you very well for training here at United and when I think about it too I know a lot of individuals don't want to take a captain upgrade for quality of life reasons or their based in you know Denver but they if they be take a captain upgrade they're going to be based in lorum which is really tough and it's a tough commute but my recommendation is even with that tough commute I would still take the the upgrade I would still go to lorum I would do that because that time was just so much more valuable to United and in really any other major as well yeah hope like whoever whoever's asking that have your spouse watch this replay on YouTube as well because that is that our conversations when Anna and I were going through this and trying to get to anywhere that would talk to me uh you know it was just we are sacrifi we are sacrificing our quality of life right now for the opportunity for greater quality of life later and hard it's hard man but hard and that's what I recommend is that we see so many great pilots who are you know working so hard right now at the Regionals or in the military sacrificing that quality of life to be able to come to a place like United Airlines uh so when they can get here they can have a much more comfortable quality of life and and I think that speaks volume to their you know their flying experience and their character as well yeah for sure I'm I'm with you person that asked that all right how about here's another one I've got an interview in two weeks in Denver congrats is there anything commonly overlooked by Apple that hurts them during the interview process start your list Justin ready go oh my there's so many things no I'm just kidding okay uh so I think the first thing is that we actually do send out a study guide once you have scheduled yourself for an interview date you get sent a study guide that lists everything you to possibly know about the interview here at United so one thing that's very overlooked is that candidates do not read that study guide um they don't understand what's being asked they don't come prepared um so it's just really important that you study that you bring everything that you're asked to bring um because that's what's going to make you most successful um I think secondly as well is that we have seen at times issues with incomplete log books or log books that are are missing certain things obviously we understand there are not not every pilot has all their log books or you know they might have been a fire or whatever and if you need to you need to bring their correct documentation we recommend you bring the correct documentation but um really just read the study guide it's there for you we've we've created it so you have a successful and enjoyable experience here in Denver and just and just make sure you you read every part of it and bring everything you need to bring I had a guy once whose ex-wife burned his log books and he God bless him and he had a police report in hand and because of that and brought a baggie Ash yeah we if we would we would be more than willing to accept that yeah yeah um also let me harp on this I know this is me asking you questions but I would like to toss this up if you have if you are going down that path and there's your log book like first off you've got to like that log book is your dissertation you've got to every tenth of an hour has to be perfectly figured out and every page signed and all the things also if there's a gap if there's a question if there's anything like your I will not speak I will speak for you your team will answer an email you guys will respond but but bring like don't come unprepared don't come and just hope for it because that that's millions of dollars you've blown right it's a huge opportunity so I mean I don't know if you have anything else to say with that yeah and and I mean if you have a discrepancy in your log book or if you have something that is unexplainable you know those are the ones that we're going to find first unfortunately um and so you know just go through your log book make sure you understand your experience if there's anything that looks different or funky or something that that that doesn't make sense understand that we will ask questions about that um and be prepared to to explain those as well that's right and wear a nice suit and shave your face and shine your shoes and start your shirt and smile very much recommend that as well yes that's right all right cool that's a great one okay here we go oh that's a good one too what is your hiring policy on hiring a passport holder versus a green card holder will preference be given to the US Passport holders over green card holders that is a really good question an extraordinarily Nuance um yeah we treat US Passport holders and green card holders equally uh US Passport holders and green card holders have the ability to inter exit the United States on a regular basis the one thing I will say though about green card holders is that your pass your your country of citizenship um is important so just recognize that we fly to a lot of uh complex destinations such as India Israel um all over South America the People's Republic of China the Republic of China so depending upon your country of citizenship that may mean that you have issues entering some of our destinations which could uh prohibit you from uh becoming United Alli pilot until you can find a way to enter all of our destinations so um there is no preference given to US Passport holders or green card holders uh but you just have to be cognizant of what your country of citizenship is if you're a green card holder I had a dear friend who I flew with whose grandfather fought in the Bay of Pigs against Castro and that became an issue when he went to the airlines because he couldn't go to Cuba because there was still a warrant for his like anybody in his lineage it was chaos anyway that's crazy yeah yeah for sure yes yeah and if there's any questions about that too feel free to email me and uh we've become quite the immigration experts here so uh we're happy to provide a list of all the destinations that we that we we fly to in kind of the Nuance to each one of those passport holders as well yeah okay cool that's great how about this is United currently actively hiring or hiring less from places like Sky West or Republic um Republic has no flow but flies as United Express great questions we are actively hiring from both those carriers um Sky West we have a pathway program called United pilot program at Sky West that we are actively recruiting from but we're also actively hiring Pilots traditionally from Sky West as well Republic is the same way but there is no uh flow through program through Republic uh but we were actively recruiting from Republic I look we we have hired um I I don't know the exact number we've we've hired just in the last two months a good handful of both Sky West and Republic Pilots directly to United Airlines all right all right that's good jumping back to the umpp questions now uh is umpp availability dates into 20128 or later or are there are you only looking for 2026 availability dates we're looking for 2026 and later in fact I just saw an application from someone that had a 2036 availability date maybe 2034 it it was it was in the 2030s uh so maybe uh it'll take a little bit till we get to that application uh but should 2026 to later yeah we'll look at him do you know do you know the presedent you would said if you brought that kid in and gave him a CJ and he's so you know he's an 03 just rolling in rolling in a C5 like that would be amazing that's what I'm talking we might consider it yeah we we have no we have no time limit on our military program so potentially we could consider this individual all right my man Connor is listening who I just met today who's a c177 pilot he's three years out and so that's per we were just talking about this today when he reached out to me so he's probably on here tonight we are doing interviews for individuals that have 2026 2027 and I believe we've done a handful of 2028 um availability date interviews in the last couple of weeks are you uh is it based are you bringing the front front loading the earlier dates is that how that you're bringing them in yeah that's a really good question and and technically not but we do have to be cognizant of these Peaks and valleys and hiring that we have now that we didn't have in place um but we are still have plenty of room uh in umpp for every year past 2026 2026 and Beyond I should say okay cool that's good these are great questions y'all way to go these are keep them coming okay here we go uh I am an American but all of my experiences overseas all part 121 mostly on 73s 4,000 hours total time and an aviation engineering experience flying the panel is there a path for someone like me at United or should I look at a part 135 carrier really good question and we definitely see a path for you here United Airlines um we very much value any type of like I said complex flying experience and so we have seen a good number of individuals who have flown overseas um as contract Pilots or they've flown for carriers like Emirates or Etihad or Cutter um or Vietnam airlands is one that I can think of recently um so yeah I think any overseas experience is is very much valued and equal teing experience in United States all right all right just got to be a US citizen all those things cool and have all your our destinations yeah yeah yeah all of your fa licenses of course too yes which is such a hassle Lord of Mercy if we could just make things more difficult with the FAA that would be great um okay here's one about uh ngpa at ngpa made it seem like traditional hiring is not currently occurring can you touch on that really good question and uh traditional hiring uh slowed down significantly particularly in the December and January time frame and that was because we had a very big pool of candidates that were waiting class uh from January through May um we never stopped and we never turned off the traditional SP but we did slow it down in those months um because as I mentioned for we have now slower hiring volumes for the summer before we pick way back up at the end of this year and so because we're picking up at the end of this year we are beginning to rurn on that that trickle into a a really robust uh flow of traditional candidates in the next couple of months currently if if I came in today and uh I didn't mess it up and I got a cjo from interview to class start date what are I know it changes and everything and the next time we is going to be different but what are you at right now really good question and in fact last year we we found ourselves in a bit of a situation based upon aircraft delivery delays which uh lowered our our hiring forecast for the year um and so what ended up happening is that we had a lot of individuals that were waiting in the pool upwards of 11 months I think the the longest I saw for anyone was 11 or 12 months from their interview to their class date just based upon our our limited number of available class slots um we are actively working to to decrease that number and I believe at this point right now it is six months or less and we're trying to aim for a two to three month interview to class uh turnaround man if it wasn't for those Pratt and Whitney gtf engines and the and the Boeing debacle this like can you imagine how different this conversation would be right now my life last year would have been exceptionally different different yeah listen man don't get me started golly I wish we could just get stuff delivered all right here we go sorry every now and then I just I lose it on deliveries where does United stand uh regarding diversity at J ngpa all cjos were awarded were uh there were no minority Pilots as well as the last Delta class had 50 was only had one minority pilot uh among them what is what is United especially with what's happening today like what is the United's policy really great question so first of all we didn't do cgos at ngpa um and so uh I'm not sure where that uh comment is coming from because we didn't we didn't have any cgos we didn't do interviews at ngpa but I will Echo what our CEO says as well and that you know as always to this day as we were a year ago and two years ago uh we have always committed to hiring based upon Merit and competitiveness um I do believe that is important to to hire the best pilots and that's what we've committed to be doing so um you know I think the the the the the pilot space you know is something that is that is has a lot of visibility and it's very important and we also we want to make sure that we continue to do the right thing which is the be hiring you know based upon Merit amen awesome love it all right as someone who has failed Captain upgrade two years ago at a regional I've successfully passed a tri 7 typ how does how do check R failures factor into being selected for an interview excellent question and again thank you Tommy for that as well so check ride failures are a part of your trading story right an individual uh at least at this point most people have one or you know two check R failures and so if we said you can't have any check ride failures interview at United Airlines we'd be really limiting the number of available Pilots that can interview with us um and so we treat each check ride uh separately and we review each single every single one of them and we make sure that we we understand the situation that occurred there um we certainly have plenty of individuals on property here today who have failed a check ride before whether it be in their primary Flight Training or at another 121 carrier um as I mentioned before too on on previous conversations is that I very much view this like a credit report right the the type of check R failure and the recency of that check R failure are going to impact that application right so if you failed Captain upgrade last month that's going to have a pretty big impact on your application but if you failed two years ago and it's your only check R failure the impact is going to be minimal at past good good good good excellent all right so I'm currently a captain at Sky West I've submitted my application at United and have updated my resume monthly unfortunately I've not heard anything back yet is there someone I could reach out to for an update or should I just stand by and wait great question and I always say our email boox is open for anyone to email that's pilot recruiting united.com if you have a question or if you like an update on your application I highly encourage you to send an email there as well um like I said traditional hiring has been uh slow over the last couple of months um and that's just a function of our lower class numbers and so it may be a while until you hear something back from us on your application itself but if you have any questions you're certainly encouraged to to send us an email okay um back with when we were talking about um umpp and av8 and traditional hiring I guess it was break we got cut off for a quick second can you tell me the ratio between umpp AV and traditional yeah so as I mentioned it it changes every single month and so we have seen some months in which we've seen 50% uh umpp uh and then we've seen other months where it's you know 15% umpp so I can't give you the I don't know the average honestly off the top of my head right now but it it fluctuates between probably 10 to 15% umpp um probably 10 to 30% aviate and then the rest traditional um but again those are all very fluid numbers all right cool thank you and how about this I was furloughed from Spirit I'm currently at Horizon how does it look to the hiring committee as someone that was at a ulcc and then went to a regional due to Furlow kind of a step down right so is there anything that is hurting my chances to get hired absolutely not and I would say actually going to Horizon and continue to fly does not hurt your uh application in fact it it greatly helps it right you're continue to get that currency you're continue to demonstrate competence in your flying career um and so that is that's probably probably the best thing that you could have done to be honest with you okay how about this question then if I'm furloughed from from Spirit is that a black mark on my application is there am I am I not going to get called in because I have recall rights absolutely not in fact we have an agreement with Alpa in the united pilot agreement it's a provision called 21r and it states that any Furlow uh pilot from another Alpa carrier gets priority review for any open positions at United Airlines and so uh any Spirit Pilots we have been able to give them priority review and review their applications uh here United it is not a black eye at all and in fact um we we give you priority over others all right that's good thank you for saying that out loud yeah the how about a degree right I know it's not required but what kind of if my kids are getting ready to go through this we're gonna have we're gon to have flight time flight school world if they want to fly and we'll have education world like like regular style education like is there still value in that or is there do I still have a chance to uh not get hired was this created just for Warrant officers to be able to you know the military people and and prior enlisted that don't have a traditional degree where do you guys stand that's a really good question and this was a actual requirement to have at least a bachelor's degree or hire to be hired at United Airlines uh in years past uh however that requirement has since changed and it is now a preferred qualification rather than a required qualification and so a degree I think is always going to be valuable um but it's certainly not required and we will still consider you uh if you do not have a bachelor's degree or or greater okay can you talk to the weight of failing a military pilot training phase check that is not a legal check right uh phase checks we do not uh count against anyone's application so if it was a phas check it would be something that does not need need to be disclosed okay awesome and what are competitive mins for military Pilots ver in the traditional application pool o uh again really good question and it really just depends on the complexity of your flying experience as I mentioned before we've had some incredibly well-qualified 151h hour you know fighter pilots that have come to United Airlines and they are performing extremely well here um we've had other individuals that are you know transport or KC aircraft uh Pilots who have come here with 2,000 3,000 hours as well who are also incredibly well competitive as well so um I think it again just depends on the type of flying you've been flying um as well as how you can differentiate yourself against those other uh military Pilots as well okay well we're just about done so you ready for the last question please yeah all right if you were going to go interview with your team tomorrow what would you do to prepare and what would you do to make sure that you were successful really good question I think the first couple things that I would do to prepare is just to make sure that I have a lot of really solid stories um we've recently changed our interview guide and so every single interview guide that a candidate gets is going to be unique no two interview guides are the same um but what that means is that I would just come in with with with five or six just really strong stories that can fit into most of the responses needed for for any of those questions right so come prepared with a lot of just really good uh responses particularly hopefully about your flying experience uh that will make you hopefully a successful candidate um secondly I would say I would read that study guide religiously and ensure that you understand what's going to be asked of you um like what I'm sharing today these are not you know Secrets these are all published in the in the study guide uh so make sure you study that make sure you like I said understand what is going to happen the following day and get ready for that as well um and then finally uh as we mentioned before the interview is divided into two parts right so the first part is a behavioral-based interview in which you're answering those tell by time when questions that you should be prepared for and then the second part is your Technical and again the technical is going to be very unique based upon each candidate's experience as well as uh you know uh the pilot that's also conducting it as well and so i' come in prepared I'd understand you know some of our United um uh policies and processes but but speak to that technical as you would fly yourself as a pilot right don't try and fly that technical as a United pilot filot as you yourself are going to fly that that that technical as well so those are a couple things that I probably would do uh to to prepare and to make sure that you have a really successful experience here in Denver man that's awesome well hopefully these 1500 Pilots that are here are going to soon be in Denver and standing in front of you that's so exciting Justin thank thank you so much for coming on thank you for speaking to the pilot the fact that you'll do this and come and reach out and spend your afternoon with us we just we really appreciate on behalf of all 1500 of us thank you for being an advocate thank you for being a friend and and just doing all the things that you do to make this less scary than it really is absolutely no this has been such a pleasure I always love talking with you um you know I love United Airlines I love working here so being able to talk uh about this company and and the things that we're doing here is very easy for me and I do encourage all everyone that's on this call today please make sure your application submitted please make sure you update it at least every month and I look forward to seeing um whoever is going to be at women Aviation uh here in Denver in a couple weeks all right well that's it for Justin Ritter folks he is heading out I'm really really really thankful yall joined us today it's been a great conversation we went we covered a lot of ground I'm really you guys had great questions so a couple things first is if you have learned a lot today and you know like you heard Justin say hey I need you to have five or six really solid stories that means you need to join our community so up on the screen is going to come up um the discount code like you see cleared for the number four hire 15 you got until tomorrow at midnight to be able to uh join our team 15% discount on whatever you guys want really really helpful for you um I'm excited to uh get to know you I'm excited for you to join our community so hit us up we're happy to do it and the last thing I will say is webinars webinars webinars webinars our webinar series is hot and it is great Jason is going on tonight at 800 pm and Eastern time and it is going to be great information we're the series that we do we bring our coaches out we answer questions there's always a top IC at hand it's preparing you for the next conference and so you need to sign up for our um Spitfire email you can do that at Spitfire elite.com and you will be able to get uh alerts on when we're doing more webinars they're always free they're always fun um great chance for you to just ask the questions that you want to ask without having to you know be vulnerable about it this is a great opportunity great learning experience for you um so that's it I appreciate you guys coming out the ready for push back podcast the Spitfire team like we are here for you we are absolutely on board and hopefully you have a better idea of why it's awesome at United I appreciate you guys I hope you had fun and I hope that you are able to land that dream job see you all right Pilots That's a Wrap on this episode and I know what you're thinking you need to make yourself a little bit better so how do you make yourself a little bit better you tighten up your resume so here's what I want you to do go over to my website Spitfire elite.com podcast and you can download my free resumé template it is tight organized and it's the perfect pilot resume it's just something I like to do for the pilot group and it is free to you so go over there Spitfire elite.com and download your free resumé template while you're over there look at all the services that we offer lots of great interview prep lots of great application review everything you need to be your professional pilot is right there Spitfire elite.com slmp podcast thanks and I'll see you on the next episode