Great Experience

Jet Brain, November 11, 2021, American Ride Reports, CJO Offered, AA Ride Reports, 0

Which Airline did you interview with?	American Airlines
How many days between invite, interview, and listed availability?	1 week between invite and interview
Did you include volunteer work in your application?	Yes
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?	NA
What is your experience?	121
Total Flight Time	5,000-8,000
Total Turbine PIC Time	TPIC 121 hours >2000 TPIC Military hours 0 TPIC 91/135 0
General Overview of Experience	The hotel was a new selection and really nice, it has interviewees and pilots in training there as well. I had the 0845 session, I opted for the first one of the day, as later I found there was several through out the day. There is an Aries shuttle that comes by the hotel every 15 mins or you can take the hotel shuttle which leaves every 30 mins. 3 of us opted for the hotel shuttle and we got to the AA flight academy about 0810 which is just across the street. Security signed us in and escorted us to the Pilot Recruiting office. Donya will meet you and she will be a great help and the awesome welcome wagon to AA. She explained what to expect and told us how to sort our paper work and logbooks and everything was collected. If you need a copy of something or did not get a notary Donya will be your go to for everything, she was awesome! Our group did not have the virtual HR interview prior to the day and we were pulled individually to do it face to face with an HR rep. My HR rep was super nice and led me to an unused briefing room by the sims as the school house is in full motion right now with new hires, requals etc. We sat down one on one in a 757-briefing room. She went through the checklist first making sure everything basic is met. Are you interviewing with anyone else? What is your availability? Etc. She asked me to tell her about myself and how I got to where I am today. Why American Airlines? She gave me a scenario on a runway change in in LGA or JFK, I cannot remember which and to explain the situation, what my thoughts are, plan of action and result. I had to also explain as if I was talking to someone who had zero knowledge of aviation. I told her what I would, rebuild, brief, performance and ensuring ATC gave us somewhere to stop and do it. I also made a PA explain to pax what was happening as NYC airspace is cumbersome with delays and changes. She asked if I had any questions and I was led back to the office. Donya as we got back gave us an apology on the rushed scheduling and process during the scheduling as they made changes and had to get aggressive hiring and thanked us for being patient and understanding. Ted the 737-fleet manager came to say hi and welcome us and explained everything going on with the company and its growth. We told him about ourselves and he led us to the museum where the panel would be conducted. We were brought next to the DC3 and given water and coffee as our pilot panel would come to get us each! I was taken by my pilots a 787CA and a 777FO to a table by the DC3, truly an awesome setting. They did everything to make it a comfortable and fun time and made you feel welcome and like they wanted you to be there. They asked me to tell them about my flying career which also led into questions about how I got into aviation. Why American Airlines. WWYD if you’re deadheading and you see a pax starting to get hostile with the FA over fitting their carry on. TMAAT someone questioned your integrity, TMAAT you helped a co-worker who was in need, TMAAT you flew with someone who rubbed you the wrong way. I was given 2 scenarios you are in JFK taking off 31L and are given a runway change to 4R, what’s the situation, what are your thoughts, plan of action and result. Next scenario you’re flying LAX PHL and have a pressurization Issue and you descend to 10,000ft and it requires you to land at the nearest suitable airport. You are given a piece of paper to write some notes to help you and then play the scenario. Expect some follow ups to clarify information or ask you why you would do something. Overall, it was about an hour but it flew by very quickly and it felt like talking to 2 friends over dinner. I cannot describe in words how welcoming and open they were. We we’re walked out to the holding area by the DC3 and separated. We were brought to a holding lobby at the other side of the building and one of the managers of recruiting came and gave us a CJO and welcomed us to American Airlines. He gave us an official letter and shook each of our hands. We were then led to drug testing and finger printing and released to go home to our flights after. Out of all the major airline interviews I have had, American was the most genuine and professional group. They genuinely wanted you there and treated you as an equal and took great interest in your story and what you have to offer. There is a huge human factor here. Out of all the airlines I never expected to get a call from because of their flow, they came through and treated me like family.
How long did you have your application in before you received an invite?	12 months +
Did you attend a job fair?	No
Did you do anything special that triggered the interview invitation?	Probably the internal rec from a good friend of mine.
How many internal recs did you have?	1-2
How long was it from the time of your invite to the actual interview?	1 week
Did you have any issues with logbooks, application or paperwork?	Never heard anything, so they must have been straight.
HR Questions	Why AA, explain this scenario to me as if I was not an aviation person. Tell me about yourself.
How long prior to the interview did you prepare for the HR portion of the interview?	1 week
How did you prep?	reading common questions and experiences friends went through recently.

Any additional information you would like to add.	Their invitation process was a bit hectic as there was no official invite until you noticed a weird AA careers e-mail to create a profile on their site. Pilotcredentials had new tabs and it allowed me to pick an interview date. 24hrs later I received a confirmation of an invite.

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