Over prepped

Which Airline did you interview with?	Delta
How many days between invite, interview, and listed availability?	Invite to Interview = 40 days / Listed availability was day after submission of application.
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	Over prepped. Which is a good thing compared to the probable result of under prepping. Stay at a hotel close by (Hilton is my recommendation) and meet up with the RST bubbas/bubbettes the night before and start relaxing.
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?	Attended Delta’s ATP-CTP training program. This guaranteed an immediate scoring of my application.
How many internal recs did you have?	3-4
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?	DID NOT produce or print any logbook/hours summaries. Handed them 4 standard issue USN logbooks. DID NOT pull out and provide copies of my NATOPS and INSTRUMENT check paperwork – left those in my NATOPS JACKET. Maybe if you’re close to the minimums you might want to “show your work”, but I had plenty of hours and was very conservative with Instructor and Cross-Country tallies.
How did you prepare for the JKT/COG portion of the interview?	Utilized the RST 15 Day Checklist – however you should give yourself at least another 5-10 days to fully grasp the concepts and absorb the material. The math trainer and formula sheets were good for those specific areas.
Technical Test Questions	Wow – ran the gambit of aero, engines, electrical, instrument approach systems, runway lighting, and weather. All of the concepts/subjects were covered in the RST prep and some of the questions were almost verbatim. Altimeter settings and affect on true altitude crushed me. Shouldn’t be that hard to remember, but when it’s crunch time some things/relationships either get mixed up or forgotten. Had 4-5 questions I wanted to review at the end but only had 2 minutes remaining. You have to click the back arrow and wait for the question to load before clicking the back button again – didn’t have time to review all the marked/annotated questions.
What was the hardest technical question or content you experienced during the job knowledge test?	I must have glossed over the electrical portion of the RST prep. Had a question regarding how to determine the load on an electrical bus. Pretty sure the answer was KiloWatt? Also had the dreaded “dutch roll – more pronounced at Hi Alt/Hi Speed or Hi Alt/Lo Speed or Lo Alt/Lo Speed or Lo Alt/Hi Speed.
Cog Test	No major issues. Read the screen and always know if you’re in a practice session or the actual test. A technique (emphasize “technique” and not “the gospel”) I used for the reverse number portion. First number that was displayed went into my right hand. Second number went into my left hand. Didn’t even try to remember them because my fingers did that for me. Utilized the RST technique for the remaining numbers (up to 4 additional numbers were possible). You can break them up into groups of 2, or 1 and 3. Repeated the 2-4 numbers in my head, and then added what was in my left hand followed by my right. Take it or leave it. OBTW – you have to understand how to display numbers greater that 5 on a single hand – a 6 is one finger turned horizontal, a 7 is two fingers turned horizontal, etc…. Military folks get it – others might not be aware.
Cog Math Questions	Very similar to those in the RST trainer. My technique for the more complicated questions that aren’t straight math/percentages (i.e. Carla, Tim and Mike have 47 cars. Tim has 5 more cars than Carla……) was to skim the question, figure out the relationships, look at the answers that match that relationship and go from there. There are at most only 2 answers with the correct relationship and it’s easier to work backwards from those answers rather than solving some multi-variable algebraic equation. At least it was for me.
HR Questions	DID NOT get any of the standard questions like “What are your strengths/weaknesses?”, “Why Delta?”, “Why should we hire you?” Instead, was asked: – What do you consider the differences to be between an office job and an airline pilot? – Why do you want to be an airline pilot? – How are you going to handle flying with a Captain that is younger than you? – WWYD if the Captain is constantly berating you and is telling you you’re slow? – WWYD if the Captain doesn’t seem to be focused on flying? (missing altitudes, headings, radio calls) – WWYD if the Captain wants you to make a PA call and say it’s a weather delay instead of a Maint delay? – What is “pro stan”? What do they do? – Did you use any prep services? Did you think it helped/was worth it/was necessary?
How long prior to the interview did you prepare for the HR portion of the interview?	Started prepping via ECIC ~6 weeks prior to the interview.
Which HR Prep service did you use and did it help?	ECIC – yes it helped. It provided a framework to shape your stories and responses to the myriad of possible questions and scenarios. I’ve never interviewed for a position/job prior to this and had a lot riding on a successful outcome. I couldn’t justify NOT using their services. You don’t have to follow it to the letter and you might even come across as disingenuous or false if you did. Use their “rules” and structure, but be yourself.
Any additional information you would like to add.	Very difficult for me to sleep the nights prior to Day 1 and Day 2. Couldn’t seem to turn off my brain. Prep early and force yourself (somehow) to get some sleep. I was running off adrenaline during both days and I crashed hard on the flight back and as soon as I got home. Avoid last minute “cramming” – at that point you either know it or you don’t.
Is their anything you wish you could have done different to prepare you for this process?	I wish I would have started the 15 Day Checklist immediately after receiving the invite vs. waiting a couple of weeks. Didn’t realize there was so much material.

It was a great experience

Very Professional and they try to put you at ease.

Ride Reports

I felt that my experience was a good one

Just like its been explained in every other Ride report

Great experience and very friendly

Recommend the RST One on One program for Delta

There is no doubt that they are motivated to fill their pilot positions

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