getting hired by a large airline

extremely difficult, you need at min 800hr tt for most small commuter airlines. If you have a college degree from a well know college such as Embry-Riddle or UND to name a few then the min might drop some depending on the airline. If you did a program like ATP expect to flight instruct for some time.

 

Commercial aviation is extremely competitive. A lot of young blood out there willing to fly for next-to-nothing just to get the hours. Hope you like Macaroni and Cheese.
Ex- military pilots stand an above average chance of getting hired.
Helicopter pilots are in BIG demand and the money is good.

 

You will be swimming upstream in a very fast stream full of many would-be pilots who are vying for a limited number of jobs AND who will be happy to live on starvation wages. The ex-military pilots are first in line with many hours in big and small jets and lots of IFR experience. Your quest will be difficult. One of my sons has all kinds of experience, including airlines, and he cannot get a job with a major .
Good luck.

 

Goalie:

Good luck in your pursuit if this is truly what you want to do, fly for a living
because you would truly enjoy it, not trying to chase money etc... it's not
like it used to be. Anyway, to get hired by a regional will be much easier
than a major at this point. A lot of furloughed guys are still on the street,
and a lot of qualified guys have been stuck at the "regionals" or part 135
waiting for their chance to get to a major. You are still young, and a lot can
happen in the next few years (maybe bad, but hopefully good). As far as going to an "ATP" school, it's up to you. I flew with a lot of FOs at my previous job that went to Embry Riddle, Purdue (SP?) etc...and while it was a good experience, they are still living with their parents in their late 20s with about $100,000 in debt thinking that they should have gone to school for something other than aviation and flown on the side. I'm not knocking aviation schools, but in my opinion I would go to school for something other than aviation so you have a "back-up" in case the aviation thing doesn't work out (aside from furlough, what if for some reason you can't pass a first class medical ?) and fly in your spare time. Get your instructor certificate ASAP, start teaching and by the time you get out of College you should have the time to get hired somewhere else, wether it's at a regional or Part 135 etc....

Hope this helps, don't let anyone tell you that you can't get hired at a Major, you are still young, and while you can't "sit on your hands" you have a few years to get the experience and make the contact you need to in order to achieve your goal. Good luck, hope to see you in the cockpit someday.

 

Screw getting a job with an airline. Keep going to school, get a good job, with good pay so you can keep flying as a hobby.