This was the most nervous I have ever been in my life,

Home This was the most nervous I have ever been in my life,

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Which Airline did you interview with? Delta
How many days between invite, interview, and listed availability? Aug 8th invite- Sep 27th 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? 121 only
Total Flight Time 5,000-8,000
Total Turbine PIC Time 1,000-2,000
General Overview of Experience This was the most nervous I have ever been in my life, voice shaking type of nervous, and the HR panel was awesome and helped me relax. The day is stressful and waiting around at the end to see if they call your name to tell you you didn’t get the job was tough, pit in your stomach type of a felling. Just be ready for a wide range of emotions during the day.
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? I’ve had my app in for 4 years. I threw it in when I was still an FO. I think what triggered it was the internal recommendation in April plus I hit 1000 PIC at my 121 job. Other guys that had a lot less time than me were there but they had different quals- masters, job fairs, military, etc. From my experience I could see there’s no one right answer but it’s a combination of everything you’ve done. So go get involved in your community or become a sim instructor for your company. The more you do the stronger your app will be and the sooner you’ll get the call. I did the minimum and so it took me a long time to get the interview. (7 years at a 121)
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 had a simple summery sheet- total time, multi, pic, instructor- I even had a correction line near the end of my log book and never got a single question about it. But my times were spot on- PIC+SIC+DUAL+INSTRUCTOR= TT
I also had three checkride/phase check bust and all they wanted to know is if there were any more that I forgot to list. They weren’t worried that I had a failure, most people do, they just wanted to make sure I wasn’t hiding anything.
Also for speeding tickets- I had three warnings but never a ticket- so I didn’t have anything listed. They never mentioned anything about it. In the sych eval she asked if I had and speeding tickets and I told her no. She never asked about warnings.
How did you prepare for the JKT/COG portion of the interview? Mostly RST but my 4 year degree was in aviation so a lot was review. Don’t memorize the questions/answers on RST. The questions on the test are worded differently. I was scoring 90% and above on RST for the day 15 checklist quizzes and after the JKT at the interview I felt like I had failed half of the questions. It’s one of the hardest test I have taken and the fact you don’t get results makes it worse. I want to know how I did.
Technical Test Questions Fluff math questions- they gave me all this detail about holding and weather etc. but in the end they wanted a fuel burn time calc. And it was easy. But it took 5 minutes to read through the fluff.
A few L/D questions
A couple FARs
Most of the stuff RST covers is on the test but the wording is different and it really makes you question your answers. Don’t memorize answers but know the concepts.
What was the hardest technical question or content you experienced during the job knowledge test? All statements are true except- you really had to read those carefully- one little word was all that was different and the 4 answers were all about different things so it took a wide range of knowledge to answer that one question.
Cog Test Almost exactly like RST. You use a stylus pen on a touch screen. And accuracy counts. I used my left arm to support my right wrist so I could be more precise.
The center the bar with red areas top and bottom moves more. I know I clicked center twice before it was in the red.
And the previous number one where the 1,2,3 pop up and then you recall the last digit was weird for me. Some guys said they waited for the new number to pop up before they clicked the privies one but they were only clicking a number every 2 seconds or so. When I did it I didn’t wait for the system to show me the next number and so I was Clicking much faster. The weird part is the number would just barely flash on my screen and then instead of waiting for the system to display the next number I would click the number right away. I really had to pay attention but I probably doubled my score on that one test compared to some of the other guys I talked to.
Cog Math Questions Super easy. Percentage- if you bought 2 pairs of shoes for 120 and one pair of pants for 60 and you received 9% off what’s your total.
If you bought a 4 chairs at $20 and a table for $40 and you paid 2/3 price. What was the price before the discount.
The questions give you more time than RST does (they will disappear off your screen if you take to long) but it’s all mental math on the cog. No paper and no pen. So be ready to think. And they only give you 4 or so questions. It’s not like RST where you get a minute to answer as many as you can. Once you get the four questions your done with that section.
HR Questions There were 3 people there. HR lady, current CA, and a retired CA.
They introduced them selves then asked me about myself from high school.
After that they started asking questions based off of your app to learn more about you. It put me at ease because I was able to talk about my self and my childhood and my hobbies. So I was a little more relaxed when they started asking the WWYD questions.
What’s the difference between a good pilot and a great pilot?
When I was an FO, what Captain had the biggest influence on me and why?
TAAT- your company changed a policy that you didn’t agree with?
WWYD if an hour out you learned your international airport had shut down? I asked if we already had an ALT and they said yes. I told them since I had already had an ALT then this is something I was already prepared for so it was just a matter of coordination between everyone on the team. They seamed to like that I thought diverting wasn’t a big deal. They then said, ok, now your ALT is no longer valid for what ever reason. What would you do. Now we got into an abnormal situation- so first fly the plane. Ask Dispatch for a list of good alt and then ask FO what he thought. Make sure ATC and dispatch were both on board and give the FA and Pax a PA announcement.
Policy is to not take off with TS within 3 miles of Airport. Other carriers are taking off. WWYD? Policy is policy- wait it out and talk with ATC and dispatch to coordinate when we could go. They then asked for a PA to the pax. I gave them what I thought would be good but the Retired CA said the FA calls up and says the pax are still frustrated because other planes are taking off. Why aren’t we? So I had to do a second PA explaining why we were still holding.
More than once I was asked, is that All? It made me worried I didn’t answer the questions fully. But afterwards I realized they just wanted to make sure I was confident in my answer and I was sticking to my plan.
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? I used Emerald Coast. It was helpful to have someone to talk to but I was warned many times to not have canned answers. Honestly I think anyone can do the HR without paying for the service. Just walk yourself through the situation and make sure you include everyone.
Any additional information you would like to add. Personality test and second day- read the questions like a third grader and pay attention to key words. I always let my mind wonder- I sometimes let my mind wonder- I often let my mind wonder, I seldom let my mind wonder. Just answer the test truthfully and you should have nothing to worry about.
Day two you will talk with the psychologist. Simple questions- tell me about your childhood. Tell me about any negative experiences growing up. What’s your best quality. What can you improve on.
All they want to know is if your a real human and you don’t have any weird ticks or trends. Super uneventful and relaxed.
For dinner the night before or the night after- Malone’s is good and they have plenty of room for large crowds.
Spondivits is more a dive bar and are more limited on space.
The Irish pub is a real dive bar and allows smoking inside.
Also- if you stay at the Drury or La Quinta they have a shuttle to delta HQ in the morning. They will also pick you up but it will take a while to coordinate and it’s faster to just walk back.
Is their anything you wish you could have done different to prepare you for this process? Said my 5 minute speech out loud more. You have to say it out loud. Also practice from birth, from high school, from college, and only your professional career. They may ask you it any way. Be yourself in the HR- they do this 3 days a week every week. They know when you are giving a canned answer from an HR prep company. Put your answer in your own words.
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