Recently i was just wondering to how pilots can stand out from each other. Obviously leadership qualities and similar aspects help make a pilot more desirable, but apart from those qualities wouldn’t seniority determine all? In other words, if we are taking the personality aspects out of the equation, even if a pilot has excellent grades in comparison to their peers, would they still be on the same standing to their colleagues? So far, everything i have come across states that seniority is all, so wouldn’t the same generation of pilots be completely equal assuming that they all did the same amount of time? I feel like i am missing something here; just a bit confused. Maybe airlines look for student pilots with better grades but i am not sure. Could someone please explain? Greatly appreciated.
“Seniority is all” within your own airline. If/when you go to a different airline, you start at the bottom of their seniority (doesn’t matter if you have 1 year or 20 years of experience).
So the younger you are and the earlier you get to your “retirement” airline, the better your QOL will be long term and likely more options for what base / metal / seat / trips you get.
Once you are at your retirement airline, you are a seniority number determines almost everything.
Some things outside of seniority that your brain, personality & networking can get you are Training Department, Recruiting, Safety / Other Auditing and Representation (ALPA rep).
Your resume / personality / networking are most important in getting you to your retirement airline as fast as possible.
Your grades, your degree, your checkride pass rate, your flight time all sets the first impressions of you when applying at an airline. Your details go in to a massive algorithm that will either reject or advance applications based on a scoring system. Once your app gets pulled, then you get interviewed and who you are, your personality and your experience gets examined. If they decide to hire you, your first day of training you get assigned a seniority number. From that point on, your ability to hold bases, aircraft, seats or a certain schedule revolves around your relative seniority.
To answer your question, everything surrounding getting a flying job is subjective. This process happens when getting your first time building job at a 135 carrier, at a regional and the majors. So each time you apply, the work you put in to strengthening your resume will determine your opportunities. Once you’re hired, your advancement within the company is objective based on your seniority number.