After jump seating for personal travel was eliminated, the training for jump seating passengers (in a ramp environment) was limited to management of the ramp and surrounding stations (so they could travel on company business) and aircraft mechanics so they could travel on Express aircraft. The aircraft mechanics (especially those assigned to the hubs), would travel out to a ramp if an aircraft had a mechanical failure which couldn't be corrected by the mechanics at the ramp in question. If a team of mechanics were needed, Express would fly them out on one of the business jets; but most often, only one or two mechanics with specialized skills (which the ramp mechanics may not have possessed) were needed to get a broken aircraft airworthy again.
The training was necessary since there weren't 'flight attendants'. In cargo aircraft without flight attendants, any non-aircrew passengers MUST be trained in aircraft evacuation procedures and other safety protocols which are necessary due to the absence of a flight attendant (their primary job in passenger aircraft is passenger safety in the event of an emergency, NOT handing out drinks and food).
When jumpseating was shut down, the training of other Express employees for jump seat travel was terminated. Express went to moving these people around (for training), on scheduled passenger commercial aircraft.
I NEVER heard of a new hire flying on jump seat - even when it was still in effect. I think there was a 90 day prohibition on new hires flying jump seat (they had to have 90 days under their belt before they were eligible for ANY form of jump seat travel). After that 90 day period of time, they still had to be scheduled for training, which could take some time. This pretty much eliminated jump seating for new hires (they'd have to complete their necessary job training WELL before they became eligible for jump seat travel).
Other than an occasional Courier, the only 'regular' jump seat travelers (excluding management, mechanics and pilots jump seating), were individuals traveling for training for either Ramp Agent or Dangerous Goods class (they'd been with Express long enough to get the training while a handler or material hander). Getting station employees to the ramp to attend one of the infrequent training classes on jump seating was damn difficult for them - they were working more often than not...
The class had to be held while an aircraft was on the ground (obviously), and not involved in any operations or maintenance. By default, this meant Monday AMs were the only time an aircraft was sitting at the ramp (having arrived the previous Sunday PM and been unloaded), and was available for training use. Then there was the problem of training in the 'specific' types of aircraft. The smaller ramps only had 727s or A300/310s to train on. This meant getting training on the MD series was damn difficult for them.
Not true!!! FedEx pilots are the primary method of recruiting future FedEx pilots.
They don't go out of their way to do 'recruiting', but they do know plenty of other pilots from their time 'before FedEx'. I believe the minimum flight hour requirements for a new Express pilot is 4,000 hours of multi-engine turbine time (one doesn't get this in 'flight training'). This means that ALL Express pilots are either prior military or have flown for a number of years with another airline. They meet plenty of people while doing this.
The way the 'recruitment system' is set up for the pilots, is that all potential new hires (excepting those in 'protected' categories - women, minorities, etc.) MUST have their resume 'walked in' by an existing Express pilot to be considered. This serves as a 'vetting' of the candidate, and also helps keep the pilot pool made up of individuals who are like minded and from similar backgrounds. One could call it the 'good ol' boy club' if one wanted to. Without someone on the inside walking a resume in, a prospective candidate is pretty much out of luck. Along with UPS and Southwest, Express pilots are the highest paid in the scheduled commercial airlines (some corporate pilots are paid more - very, very few though).
There are plenty of non-Express pilots that seek out Express pilots to get a resume in.