2016 Recruitment Update

[Eddie]

All,

We currently plan to open A-10C recruitment again at the end of April/beginning of May. For this run we are looking to accept a total of 4 new pilots, with 2 being available to fly in Europeans timezones and 2 North American time zones.

As usual we will be taking more application than we have available places, so not all those who may apply will be able to join on this occasion. As always we will select 4 new members from those who apply based on a combination of how they come across in their application, how they appear during their teamspeak interviews, and their current skill and knowledge levels. As always an individual's attitude and demeanor will have more bearing on the decision than pure ability in the sim.

Anyone interested in joining should ensure they are familiar with the recruitment process and requirements outlined on our recruitment page. As well as the training process outlined here.

And as always, feel free to ask any questions on the forum.

[Eddie]

Recruitment is now open for the first entry of 2016.

We are looking for a total of 4 new pilots, with 2 being available to fly in Europeans timezones and 2 North American time zones. Please check the recruitment page as linked above for details.

As usual we will take more applications that we have spaces so a completed application is no guarantee that you'll be accepted in this run.

[YepZ]

There has been so much hype around this upcoming class (at least in my circles), I know the training officers will have some very difficult choices to make. Best of luck to all those who decide to pursue it.

[Ragtop]

Good luck, prospectives. May the odds be ever in your favour!

[Amy]

Good luck to everyone.

[Gunny]

Good Luck Ladies and Gents

If the first round is not in your favor, try, try again

[YepZ]

So out of curiosity, will interviews start immediately or will the board wait until all applications are collected before starting interviews? Looking purely at Dojo's timeline from his Twitch profile, it seems like it was pretty quick. Admittedly, Dojo is a "special" case being the ubermensch he is, but just trying to play advocate for all those that may be waiting on pins and needles.

From his Twitch profile:

Dojo's 476th Timeline
5-2-14 - Joined 476th Web Forum
7-1-14 - Recruiting opened, application submitted.
7-4-14 - Invited for interview with Command staff.
7-7-14 - Application accepted, assigned to the 74th Flying Tigers training squadron.
8-21-14 - Graduates IQT training, with El Roto and Snoopy as his IPs.
10-15-14 - Graduates MQT training and is assigned to the 76th Vanguards vFS.
10-29-14 - Flies his first Combat sortie, as wing of Rascal of the 76th vFS.
11-21-14 - Records his first Combat kills, as wing of Trigger of the 81st vFS.
11-30-14 - Leads his first sortie, with Eddie of the 81st vFS as his wing.
07-04-15- Dojo earns CMR rating, with Eddie as lead pilot on an interdiction sortie, at 154 Flight hours.
02-14-16- Dojo qualifies for Lead Pilot rating, with Eddie as his SEFE, 276 Flight hours.

The recruitment post is pretty clear on what happens after the offer to interview has been extended, but just looking to try to put the applicants at ease in the event they don't hear anything immediately after posting their stuff.

Also, is there any chance that the 476th could start a IFS/UPT program to perhaps funnel people into the program? Would keep the riff-raff out. Not naming names. ;-)

[Eddie]

Don't expect to hear anything until next weekend. But it may go quicker, if we receive the maximum applications and everyone can make the decision on who to bring on for interviews faster.

All members are invited to join in picking which applicants to move on to the next step, and we have more applications than we're going to have in the interviews, and we'll interview more than we accept. So a lot of debating and deciding to do. Often it's quite difficult to decide who not to accept, as really we'd like to have almost everyone who applies.

[YepZ]

Awesome news. That's great feedback. I know I've been lurking around for a while now and this is the first recruitment class since that time. I am certain some of your applicants will just now be hearing about recruitment opening and it is nice to give them a chance to polish up the ol'resume.

Time definitely flies that's for sure. Was shocked when Kimi commented last night that some formation flying work that Dojo had streamed was from the middle of last year during the last IQT class.

I realize it may be too hard to say since so much of the whole training program is dependent on your training staff availability, but looking back at the past training classes, would you say you normally graduate one or two classes a year?

The reason I ask is just because as with all competitions there has to be a subset of folks who will be given a consolation prize and sent home without the opportunity to train. Just trying to perhaps map out when they may be able to re-apply. I realize that question may be a bit unfair since it would probably be in the late Fall/Winter before you would spin back up again at a minimum and the holidays are always a tough time. Considering the amount of time and effort you put into your team, I will not be surprised if you come back and say it will be unlikely that recruitment will reopen until next year.

At any rate, thanks for humoring the question.

[Eddie]

To keep everyone up to date. We've now had 11 applications, for 4 spots.

We've just sent out interview invites to all applicants which include a temp TS password.

Our intent is to let you guys come on and give you all an opportunity to get to know us, and vice versa, before we actually do the interviews proper. Dojo will provide more info.