As others have said, great experience overall

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Which Airline did you interview with? SWA
How many days between invite, interview, and listed availability? Date availability within 4 months…9 days between applying & invite…3 weeks between invite & interview
Did you receive a job offer? Yes
If you did not receive the CJO why do you think you weren’t chosen to continue in the process? N/A
What is your experience? Military
Total Flight Time 5,000-8,000
Total Turbine PIC Time >2,000
General Overview of Experience As others have said, great experience overall. The People department was helpful answering questions about paperwork, etc., prior to my interview. Once there, everyone goes out of their way to make you feel at home and are every bit as nice as one would expect from SWA. They also know you are interviewing them as much as they are you, so they put their best foot forward for sure.
How long did you have your application in before you received an invite? <60 days
Did you attend a job fair? No
Did you do anything special that triggered the interview invitation? Not that I know of. This was the first time I applied at SWA. I completed the Pilot Credentials portion about a week before the Apr 22-24 window opened, then applied on April 23rd. About a week after the window closed, I updated my Pilot Credentials page (flight hours & resume) and got the invite a day later. Had zero rec’s loaded on Pilot Credentials prior to getting the interview invite. All I would say is this…just make sure your resume is tight and highlights the things important to SWA. During one of our interview briefings, SWA mentioned they primarily screen the resume to determine who gets an interview invite. Fortunately, I spent a lot of time refining my resume without fully knowing how important it was.
How many internal recs did you have? 5+
How long was it from the time of your invite to the actual interview? 3 weeks
Did you have any issues with logbooks, application or paperwork? No issues…I heeded the feedback/advice from those who went before me. Also made one or two phone calls to the People department to get help with completing the paperwork prior to showing up. To recap…bring your original FAA license, Class 1 medical, and FCC radio operators permit with you for the logbook review…it’s nowhere in the directions, but they will ask to see it. Also make sure you bring your Passport as one of your two forms of ID. For military folks, tab the hours they ask for even though the directions say you don’t have to. For everyone, make sure you calculate your hours over the last 5 years, broken down by individual 12 month periods as well as a cumulative running total. Finally, make a cover sheet summarizing all your important dates and hours calculations. As a military guy, I took the 0.3 per sortie credit and said so on the pilot questionnaire. Also, I did not include any “Other” or “Student/Dual” time in the hours I submitted. Others have listed Student/Dual time as SIC and made a note of it on Pilot Credentials…they were also successful in getting the job. If you do go that route, just make sure you can explain it and that it in no way appears you are trying to misrepresent your flying time. Personally, I elected to take the conservative approach and submit only what they asked for…actual PIC, SIC, Instructor, Night, and last 24 months flying time. Bottom line…do what you’re comfortable with and can explain with a high level of confidence.
How did you prepare for the JKT/COG portion of the interview? N/A
Technical Test Questions Only technical portion of the interview is when you tell your stories. As I compiled several TMAAT stories prior to the interview, I also reviewed the related technical aspects and made sure to highlight it as applicable during the story. Nothing in depth…just big picture overview of applicable items.
What was the hardest technical question or content you experienced during the job knowledge test? The LOI is the closest thing to a job knowledge test there is, and it was the part hardest for me. It’s mainly an exercise in leadership, CRM, and time management. As everyone knows, they give you a scenario (medical, aircraft malfunction, etc) in which you as the Captain have 7 minutes to work with the rest of your crew to make a decision about what to do. All divert options will likely be out of limits in some way…vis, winds, T-storms, etc. You will have a First Officer and jump seater…the jump seater will also play the roll of everyone else (FAs, ATC, dispatch, etc). Remember…maintain aircraft control, analyze the situation, take the proper action…and make a decision! You don’ t need to know the exact names of checklists…just refer to them in standard terms like Engine Fire Checklist, Smoke & Fumes Checklist, etc. It’s the fastest 7 minutes of your life…and when it’s over, just make sure you debrief it well. There’s no way you’ll be perfect or remember everything during the 7 minutes…just make sure you cover what you missed during the debrief. I made many mistakes and debriefed them all…still got the job.
Cog Test N/A
Cog Math Questions N/A
HR Questions 1) Walk us through your resume starting with graduation from college.
2) Why SWA?
3) What are your values?
4) What do you think the top 3 qualities of a good FO are?
5) How would you handle a situation in which the CA doesn’t want to run the checklist? What if his/her checklist responses were not as prescribed in the checklist?
6) What do you think your greatest challenge will be in transitioning from the military to SWA?
7) TMAAT a younger/less experienced crew member questioned a decision you made.
8) Tell me about the airplane you currently fly (they weren’t familiar with it).
9) Asked if I had any questions for them.
How long prior to the interview did you prepare for the HR portion of the interview? 3 weeks
Which HR Prep service did you use and did it help? FAPA Aero…extremely helpful and full service flat fee for prep, resume review and app review. They don’t tell you what to say…just help bring out the best you, which is really important during a SWA interview. I was surprised SWA didn’t ask if I did interview prep, but many others were. Bottom line…the folks at FAPA Aero have a great reputation at SWA, and there is zero stigma in using them if you are asked about it during the interview.
Any additional information you would like to add. N/A
Is their anything you wish you could have done different to prepare you for this process? Would have spent some more time thinking through the LOI…practicing the time limit, rehearsing priorities, constructing a basic response plan, etc. That being said, many have warned against getting “professional” help prep-ing for the LOI, and I would agree with that assessment. SWA will see right through you…they want to get to know the real you and typically frown upon “canned” answers…this is no less true during the LOI. There’s a reason the LOI is called a Line Oriented Interview, and not Line Oriented Evaluation. Just like the rest of the interview, they want to get to know you, not the version of you that involves prepared answers, etc. That being said, it does pay to put some time into everything beforehand.
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