Network, Network, Network.

So it's recently been a conversation on Facebook as well as in our personal life so I figured I'd talk about it. Networking.  You don't know how many people I see say "My husband has applied everywhere and no one is calling, he hasn't gone to job fairs and doesn't  have letters from anyone, and I don't know why no one is calling him."

While HR does somewhat run the show these days at airlines networking is still key.  We are proof of that.  When dh decided last summer that he needed to move on from his job,  he had 2 interviews in 3 months of when he decided to leave (at majors).  This is ALL because of networking, and I don't mean networking as in cold calling people you met 4 years ago for 10 minutes.  The folks that helped dh out were people we have know for at least 2+ years (and in one case 6 years).  These guys (and their wives) are our friends.  When we met them years ago our thought wasn't "how can they help us"  it was "hey these guys are cool and fun to hang out with, and we have a lot in common."  So once these guys heard dh was looking for a new job they were both happy to help out, without us even asking.  This is how networking is supposed to work.  Now we meet up with these guys every year in Vegas for Jetcareers

A tale of two Pilots

So now it's time for a real life example of networking.  We have a good friend named Dave (name changed of course) Dave and dh were in the same new hire class 14 year ago at their regional.  That's right 14 years ago.  Through the years Dave and dh have stayed in touch, we even stayed at Dave's house when I had surgery and dh used Dave's house as a crash pad.  Dave also stayed at our house on Christmas one year on a long layover.   Dave is still currently at his regional and dh want to help him out, so he takes Dave's resume to HR at his current company and Dave helped himself by going to a job fair.  Sure enough Dave now has an interview at dh's current company.

We also know a pilot named Bob (again not real name) Bob was an FO at dh's regional.  We liked Bob, Bob was fun to hang out with, we even met up for dinner a few times.  But Bob drifted off and we hadn't heard from him in 2 years.  A few days ago we got a text from Bob, Bob wanted to know if dh could help him get a job.....at the airline dh left last year.  Once we nicely told Bob he wasn't there anymore we haven't heard from him again.  Now we like Bob, but this isn't the best way to network.

So I wish everyone well in moving on, but keep in mind that networking is really important!

*Yes there will always be those few people who make it somewhere without knowing anyone, but Networking is making your own luck!