It was great to be around so many friendly

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, , CJO Offered, SWA Ride Reports, 0
Which Airline did you interview with? Southwest
How many days between invite, interview, and listed availability? 1 month from invite to interview, available 2 months after 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 3,000-4,000
Total Turbine PIC Time >2,000
General Overview of Experience It was great to be around so many friendly people who love their company. I felt like I was talking with friends more than being on an interview. I had the 1000 showtime, and showed up a few min early. The morning group was running late, so we waited until about 1230 to start the training center tour. I’m not the most outgoing person, but I tried to be as friendly as possible and spoke with all the FA and FO candidates until the tour. After the tour we were briefed on the company in a different room. I left my snacks and briefcase in the waiting room so I was pretty hungry by 1400 when the interviews started. My interview order was logbook, HR, and LOI, and I was out by 1630.
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? No, I just applied during the open window. I did a one page cover letter with my resume explaining my love of aviation, values, family, and why I want to be at Southwest.
How many internal recs did you have? 1-2
How long was it from the time of your invite to the actual interview? 4 weeks
Did you have any issues with logbooks, application or paperwork? None, I spoke with a friend about the logbook and paperwork. I tabbed the two stacks of paperwork to be as neat as possible. I also made an excel workbook which I printed my total flying summaries and individual worksheets by year for all my flights for the last 5 years. Then I had all my military printouts in the same binder behind the summaries. I tried to have the logbook as neat as possible and put a cover sheet with a Southwest 737, my name, and the aircraft I instructed in the military on Stack 1, 2, and my logbook. The actual logbook review only took about 3 minutes, then I spoke with the former chief pilot who reviewed my logbook for about 40 minutes about: my background, challenging flights and conditions I’ve experienced, how I diffused conflict on the crew, and his flying background and family. I was asked why Southwest and responded the company inspires me with the way it treats the employees and customers. I also asked him his favorite part about Southwest, which was the people.
How did you prepare for the JKT/COG portion of the interview? N/A
Technical Test Questions N/A
What was the hardest technical question or content you experienced during the job knowledge test? N/A
Cog Test N/A
Cog Math Questions N/A
HR Questions The HR panel had 4 people, an intern to take notes, and HR interviewer, a first officer, and a chief pilot in town for recurrent training that wanted to see the interview process again since he reviewed applications at the hiring boards. They had me start out with my background from college to my current job, which I kept pretty concise but I tried to point out some of the skills I’ve developed such as crew coordination, leadership, and instruction. They also asked me about: a situation when I was the one that noticed something or had to convince the crew to go with my line of thinking, a time I disagreed with a superior on a flight and how the scenario played out, a flight where things didn’t go as planned and how I responded, how I manage conflict on the crew, how fast do they turn their jets at the gate, how many legs do I expect to fly per day, what will be my biggest challenge transitioning to the airlines, a time I provided great customer service, the qualities of a good first officer, the intern asked what superhero would I be and why, and the chief pilot asked how it would be to hang out with me for a four day trip, and why Southwest? I asked what some of their coolest experiences at Southwest were and what was their favorite thing about Southwest?
How long prior to the interview did you prepare for the HR portion of the interview? 2 weeks
Which HR Prep service did you use and did it help? I used Brenda Tillman at RGI Readiness Group after a recommendation from a friend currently at Southwest. I definitely needed interview prep and a mock interview to kill some of my military slang and tie in customer service, being humble, and safety to my stories. I also felt more confident going into the LOI with a strategy.
Any additional information you would like to add. LOI- The setup was BWI to FLL, we were currently near Norfolk at FL400 and WX was crap along the whole east coast. I asked some setup questions as far as how much fuel we burn, how close we were to landing weights, and the max crosswind component. The FA called and said we had a blue water leak. I transferred aircraft control, then asked the FO and JS if they had seen anything like this before, and they replied it could lead to an electrical issues/failure. I said I think we need to divert and asked the JS to stay engaged with the FA’s. Then I got the WX, time, and support info for 3 potential diverts. They were all crappy, 1 winds out of limits, 1 vis out of limits, and the other completely out of WX limits. I coordinated with dispatch and followed up with the FA’s, and we started to lose some lighting in the back and some FO instruments. I asked the FO and JS opinion’s, chose the FO’s recommendation and announced my decision. Then I started to coordinate with ATC for clearance and simulate the descent checks and crew notifications before I ran out of time. I kept a calm, confident, and friendly demeanor during the whole scenario. I debriefed what I did well and what I could have done better. I thought I did decent, then second guessed myself about all the little stuff I could have done better for the next week until my references were called.
I read the book NUTS, and studied the Southwest website for vision, mission, values, and read their company report. I also memorized the domiciles and # of US and international destinations, but was never asked about them. I talked with some current pilots and flight attendants about the lifestyle and how the trips and bidding work. Additionally, I followed SWA on Facebook to learn about some of the cool stuff they do like Live at 35 and employees going out of their way to help people, which ended up helping me connect with the interviewers during the HR portion.
Is their anything you wish you could have done different to prepare you for this process? Not much, maybe practiced some mock PA announcements or learned a little more about basic 737 performance for the LOI.
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