Went two days early to MEM

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, , CJO Offered, Fedex Ride Reports, 0
Which Airline did you interview with? FedEx
How many days between invite, interview, and listed availability?
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?
What is your experience? Military
Total Flight Time 3,000-4,000
Total Turbine PIC Time >2,000
General Overview of Experience Interviewed 3-4 Jan. Went two days early to MEM. I found the extra day of hotel/rental car a small price for piece of mind for Day 1. Stayed at the Airport Marriott Courtyard – very comfortable and convenient location. For Day 1, I did the drug testing in the AM, which made for a long afternoon of COG/JKT. Like most ride reports, plan on being at the visitor gate 30 mins early. I saw other ride reports and concur – definitely don’t wear a tie, but highly recommend a button down shirt. Look the part! Amy McNeil met our testing group and gave us a quick tour enroute to the testing location. Seeing the various sims and facilities was awesome. Ms. McNeil goes through the test very deliberately, which calmed the nerves a bit. You’ll do the COG/Psyche/JKT in order. You can take breaks in-between events. The RST trainer does an exceptional job prepping your nugget for the drills. Amy emphasizes accuracy over speed, but don’t be too slow… Fine line, I guess. Slow down, read the directions, hit a bucket of balls with the practice sessions, and surely fear the NEXT button… Make sure you’re 100% GTG on instructions before starting any test. Overall, the cadence of the tests are MUCH SLOWER than RST’s. The math COG test is a piece of work… I think I got 2 or 3 right, but stabbed at the others. You have a VERY limited amount of time for this. It’s over before you blink… No key to success here! I just recommend looking at the answers immediately. It helped. You likely have about 10-15 seconds to get through a half dozen or so Qs. Lastly concerning the COG: Remember the number/code drill like it’s your last memory on earth. Rumor has it, if you hose that, you’re done. Do whatever you have to do to keep that code in your frontal lobe… It will come back again, maybe twice, before it’s over. Next, the psyche test. It’s 240 Qs. Pretty straight forward. I answered very few things in the extreme (far left or right). It’s important to be consistent. Finally, the Job Knowledge Test. 60Q’s/60min. There’s an elapsed timer in the lower right corner. Keep that in your crosscheck… I heard one guy didn’t finish two Q’s and he failed it. Get it done on time. The CONCEPTS on the RST ground school/flashcards and practice tests are spot on. Got a call from Amy about two hours later that I passed Day 1. That was a great call… Day 2 started with an 1100 show. They provided lunch in the Pilot Recruitment area. I did the SBI first, followed by the panel interview. Finished about 1700. Got the call about 1745, and humbled to receive the CJO.
How long did you have your application in before you received an invite? 1-6 months
Did you attend a job fair? No
Did you do anything special that triggered the interview invitation? Who really knows… I updated twice weekly for about two months. Even Amy McNeil said, “Tell your buddy’s to update frequently. Anything older than about 30 days will keep your app from rising above the cut line.” Enough said.
How many internal recs did you have? 5+
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? Zero questions on logbook, app or paperwork. Put everything in two separate binders (certificates and logbook). Spent some $$$ and time in Staples getting two professional looking products. I printed and brought everything I sent to Ms. Kim Daniels in duplicate. After the panel, and before departing I gave her what I brought. It saved her time printing documents, which saved her time. Not sure about the other interviewees.
How did you prepare for the JKT/COG portion of the interview? Went through their 15-day study plan. Perused their website extensively and used EEFPP and some other aero/turbine theory/weather books. Did the full COG twice/day for two weeks, plus did multiple practice tests daily.
Technical Test Questions Of the 60 Qs, approx. 5 were verbatim from RST’s database. Another 50 or so were identifiable from the study material. No kidding, if you really understand the concepts, you’ll do fine. If nothing else, you’ll be able to kill 2 of the 4 answers, then it’s 50/50. For the remaining 5 or so Q’s, I felt like the RCA dog looking at the screen… BTW – I think we all had different tests. I had a lot of aero Qs, and very few weather Qs. The math problems are REALLY easy – RST’s are MUCH harder. BL: They know about the “gouge” and have questions that challenge your true understanding of the topics. This wasn’t your memorized ATP test from Gleim or Sheppard Air…
What was the hardest technical question or content you experienced during the job knowledge test? Sorry, can’t recall anything specific. Again, know the concepts, you’ll be fine.
Cog Test Big Picture: The real test cadence is much slower. The little F-14 thing on RST is waaaaay more crazy than the real test. SAME/DIFFERENT is easier than RST. Practice the little F-16 left/right with your LEFT (or non-dominant) hand. Also, if you have a stylus, practice with it. I repeated the code/number thing in my head while doing the other tests… If you want this career, you gotta remember it… BTW – mine was UXLTIO, just saying (5+ days later).
Cog Math Questions That was a blur. Sorry. Read the Q quickly, understand it, then scan the answers quickly…answer it, then move on. Heard most fail that portion of the COG test, so NBD. Just try and get through a half dozen or so.
HR Questions Surprisingly, very few “TMAAT” cockpit-type questions. I had my ECIC “snowballs” ready, but they knew it… They really emphasized they wanted to get to know me. I did have a few list-type questions, ie. “if you had to ID five things why we should hire you” type Q. What is the difference between being tired and fatigued? Talked about fatigue for 15 minutes… Had a few scenario Q’s, but they were all similar with previous reports. The SBI was very straight forward. They emphasize there’s no perfect answer… Hence, know the ECIC steps – write them on your piece of paper (I did). They also emphasize: You HAVE to make a decision AND brief the plan. Period. The eight minutes goes very quickly. In the debrief, be humble. It’s the one time it’s OK to tarnish your brand by talking about your mistakes. I’ve heard of guys/gals WINNING the debrief – even though their SBI didn’t go well. Keep a smile, be positive, remember their names – and BE A CAPTAIN.
How long prior to the interview did you prepare for the HR portion of the interview? 1 month+
Which HR Prep service did you use and did it help? Emerald Coast (2 x webinars) and a top-off (5 days prior). Joe Moske at ECIC was awesome. He’s a MEM Bus FO – and loves helping out.
Any additional information you would like to add. Exceptional resource. Worth EVERY penny.
Is their anything you wish you could have done different to prepare you for this process? Nope. Very grateful for RST. Calmed my COG/Tech fears going into the interview.
What can we do to improve our services? Safari (Apple) doesn’t run many of the academic videos (and the COG webinar). IM’d with Tito and he had me download Google Chrome, which worked well with everything. Maybe mention this alternative on the website.
Concepts not covered by RST N/A
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