Interview experience:
I first learned that I had been granted an interview with Air Canada when I received an email from Cathy Vining of Air Canada Pilot Recruitment. The email itself contained quite a bit of bold/underlined/coloured font. It closely resembled spam, so if you're anticipating this email anytime soon, keep an eye out! Contained within the email was a list of available interview dates/times. I had been told to pick one on a Monday or Tuesday, mid-morning, as this is when the interviewers tend to be fresh. I picked the third interview of the day on Monday morning, and was scheduled to complete the cognitive and psych testing after.
As for the 'motherly' stuff - most of the advice pertaining to comportment goes without saying: for men, wear a conservative (dark) suit/tie (avoid pin stripes), polished shoes, clean-shaven, hair cut no earlier than 5 days before your interview, etc. I went as far as polishing my leather-bound logbook, although this might have been over-kill!
My interview was at 10:30am on the Monday, and I booked a room at the Four Points Sheraton for Sunday night. Someone had suggested to me that I walk the route to the interview from the hotel the day before, and time it. This was great advice, and it allowed me to get a lay of the land before the real deal.
Make sure you bring a list of all your employers, including their addresses and contacts. You’ll also need copies of your personal flying documents, passports, university degree/college diploma and transcripts, as well as your log book (the receptionist will take it from you when you check in). It is a good idea to show up at least a half-hour before your interview is scheduled, as there are a few HR forms to fill out. These forms were attached to a clipboard - the Air Canada application form was on top, and the languages form was on the bottom. The languages form is copied in duplicate via transfer paper - and I didn't realize this until I had filled out my HR form over top of it (thus making a mess of the duplicate copy of my language form.) So make sure you take the languages form out first!
You will be sitting in the front desk area while you are filling out these forms. Naturally there is a lot of traffic around you, so make sure you're saying hello and smiling at everyone as they go by. As it turned out, one of my interviewers walked by me twice before he came out with the other interviewer for the formal introductions!
When it came time for the interview, they came out and lead me into a conference room. Both were very friendly and offered to take my jacket. From that point, they offered me a seat and continued with a bit of pleasant small talk. Use this time to relax and revel at the fact that you have made it this far in your career! For most of us, this really is the culmination of years of hard work. Either way, this is a good head-space to be in for answering the interview questions.
Your answers will be typically recorded by a panel of three people (typically two management pilots, and one HR person). I have heard there have been as many as four people, and as few as one on this panel. It is worth noting that it is this panel’s job to RECORD your answers verbatim and they will spend most of the interview scribbling away madly. They do very little (if any) assessing, and will tell you at the beginning that they have no affect on whether or not you get hired. That being said, I firmly believe that you can affect the ‘tone’ of their notes by having a good handshake, making lots of eye contact, and smiling at the appropriate times. I managed to catch a glimpse at one of the forms, and there seemed to be a few discretionary ‘yes/no’ questions for them to answer, immediately below where they were writing my answers. I assume that these were simple questions like “Does this person exhibit leadership abilities? Y/N” So try your best to win them over!
The interview itself can last up to an hour, and is deliberately set up to be relaxed. While this usually feels better for the interviewee, BE CAREFUL - this is the most dangerous kind of interview! You WILL gradually start to feel more relaxed as time goes on, and this is when we typically let our hair down! Try to make a point to stay consistently professional and positive, as this will reflect in the notes that are taken.
Below are the questions that I was asked during the interview. It comes with the usual caveat that these questions are subject to change as the powers that be become aware of their availability in the public domain.
Give us a brief overview of your career, including training.
What is the greatest achievement in your career to date?
What was the hardest decision you’ve had to make in your career?
How did you make it?
What do you like about your present job?
What do you dislike about your present job?
Pilots will frequently have to deal with stress throughout their career – tell us about a time when you experienced stress. How did you deal with it?
What are two of your strengths that make you a better pilot?
What is a weakness of yours that affects you in the flight deck?
List three qualities of a good pilot.
* The interviewer was not specific about the type of pilot. This question is often asked more specifically. Example: ‘List three qualities of an Air Canada pilot’, or ‘List three qualities of an Air Canada Captain’. Each variation requires a slightly different answer.
Give us an example of an irregular operation that you have encountered, and how you dealt with it. (He explained that it could be an emergency, a diversion, or some other type of abnormality)
Tell us about a time you had a conflict with a fellow coworker.
Tell us about a time you had to make a quick decision in the cockpit to stop something bad from happening.
Give us an example of a time when you used team work to solve a problem.
How does a pilot’s job relate to customer service?
Have you ever
Been fired?
Failed a check-ride, line check, flight test, etc? (He listed all of these)
Been investigated?
Received a TC violation?
Had an accident?
Had an incident that resulted in an investigation?
Been disciplined at work?
Required additional training for a ride?
If yes to any of the above, please explain.
Do you know what the starting salary is at Air Canada?
Would you be willing to relocate to Vancouver, Toronto, or Montreal?
Do you have any questions for us?
I have been told that the best strategy for answering most of these questions is to paint a vivid picture, be consistently positive, be very specific about the outcome, and most of all, DO NOT have something that sounds rehearsed! For example, the question regarding a conflict with a fellow coworker is best answered by giving them the where and when, the circumstances, how you handled it, and the result (which ultimately is that, as a result of your proactive approach to maintaining the professional relationship, you worked it out and still get along famously to this very day! Catch my drift?)
After the interview is over, the notes your interviewers took are gathered up and put in your file, along with the paperwork you submitted at the beginning. I’ve heard that your answers are then scrutinized by a hiring panel (separate from the interview panel) who then assign each respective answer a mark out of five (I could be a little off on this). Your points are then added up and make up the interview portion of your final score.
When my interview was over, I still had about 20 minutes to go before I was scheduled to do the cognitive and psych testing, which are conducted in another building close by. Because I wanted to grab some lunch, I went and checked in with Cathy Vining (who administered the tests) and made sure it was okay with her for me to leave for a bit. She told me that the testing times are flexible and to take my time. In hindsight, I would highly recommend bringing some snacks and a bottle of water.
The first test I wrote was the MMPI-2 test, which consisted of 567 true/false type questions completed on a laptop computer. There was no time limit for any of the psych tests. Everyone told me ‘just be honest!’, but I found this test to be the most challenging as it tends to force you to be black and white with your opinions as they relate to the questions. This is most likely intentional. If you are doing this interview, please Google MMPI-2 and do what you can to learn about this test, particularly the validity scales, as these are used to see if you are cheating.
After the MMPI-2, I completed the cognitive test on a separate computer terminal, which was a lot like playing a series of old-school computer games with a light pen that you press against the monitor. It tested everything from memory, sequencing, multi-tasking, math abilities, etc. It’s fairly straight forward, so try and relax going into this one! The name of the program is Cogscreen-AE
The last two tests were both psych tests, and were in the ball park of 130 and 150 questions respectively. Both of these were conducted on the same laptop as the MMPI-2. Your answers could range from 1-7 or so (ie. Strongly Agree, Agree, Mostly Agree, Neutral, Mostly Disagree, Disagree, Strongly Disagree). I found them much easier, as I don’t tend to see most issues as being completely black and white, so my answers reflected that.
Be prepared to not hear anything from Air Canada for quite some time after it is over. It was almost 11 weeks between interviewing and receiving the first letter indicating that I was being considered a competitive candidate, and it took a further four weeks after that to be offered a medical and a course date. The hiring committee is said to convene once a month (more or less, depending on hiring need), so if you are unsuccessful, you might hear back as early as three weeks after your interview. Applicants who do really well might also hear back two to three weeks after, but most who do well enough to be selected usually take longer.
If you take the time to prepare, regardless of the outcome, this interview will be a great experience for you. With any luck, it could be the beginning of a great career as well. Best of luck!
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